Esther RUSSELL was born about 1775 in Kent, England. She was a daughter of a foreign-born Jewish clothes dealer called Michael RUSSELL who is believed to have changed his name from LEVY. Her aunt was married to London’s Chief Rabbi, Solomon HERSCELL.
Esther’s family had changed their surname in order to sound less Jewish. Esther and four siblings took the surname Russell, after the main street in Sheerness; two other brothers took the name Davis.
Esther married ABRAHAMS and had a daughter Hannah who was born in about 1801.
After her husband died, she remarried Judah SOLOMON in Sheerness in January 1805. They each brought £100 as dowry to their marriage.
The Jewish Community in Sheerness had been established around 1790 at a time of increased activity in the dockyards due to the Napoleonic Wars. The chief founders were Isaac and Samuel ABRAHAMS. After the Napoleonic wars ended, the Community declined as people moved away to areas of greater opportunity.
Esther and Judah had about 10 children with one expected when he was convicted at Kent Assizes and transported in 1819. The prosecutor at the trial was her former father-in-law, Abraham ABRAHAMS.
Esther’s brothers Henry Davis, George Russell and her former brother-in-law Aaron Abrahams were the first free Jewish migrants to Van Diemen’s Land. Henry DAVIS arrived in Hobart in 1822 with a subscription from the Sheerness merchants to the Solomon brothers which assisted their growing business there. George RUSSELL arrived as a steerage passenger in 1826 and had so little money that his fare was paid by Davis. After working for Davis for some time he settled on a small property called "New Plain" near Launceston. Russell eventually settled in Auckland, where he managed a hotel and was one of New Zealand's first Jewish settlers.
Two of Esther's sons went to Hobart Town to join their father in 1828 and 1829, and Esther followed with three of her daughters, a son-in-law and two grandchildren, on Palamban in 1832.
By this time Judah was wealthy and living in a large house in Hobart with his housekeeper and their young son. Both families lived in the house for some time while Esther sought to regain her marital status. Judah was unable to divorce her as he did not have a full pardon of his conviction, to enable him to return to London and the Rabbi. A long and vicious correspondence began with the Colonial authorities as he sought to obtain it and Esther sought to deny him the opportunity.
Esther died at her home New Town in 1861, aged 90 deeply regretted by a large circle of friends. The informant on her death certificate was H. Abrahams, a friend, of Liverpool Street Hobart. Was this her daughter Hannah who wrote from London to Lt-Governor John Franklin in 1837 on behalf of her mother regarding her father's domestic arrangements? We do not know if she ever came to Hobart.
In April 1863 Hannah Abrahams aged 62 years, died at Liverpool Street, Hobart. She was a widow born in England. The informant was L. Abrahams, her son, of Liverpool Street.
i have been reading these with interest as I am decended from judah and his son isacc. Do you know anything about judah's parents. I have not had any luck findong anything on them.
ReplyDeleteEsther's relationship to London’s Chief Rabbi, Solomon HERSCELL is a bit more complex. Two of her brothers were married to two sisters who were daughters of the Chief Rabbi's sister Bilhah.
ReplyDeleteShe was probably born in London, as were her siblings, because the Jewish community did not move to Sheerness until the 1790s.
A minor street in Sheerness, Chapel Street, was renamed in 1876 in honour of Henry RUSSELL (1814-1900), the great Victorian Composer / Singer. It is not known why these LEVYs changed their name to RUSSELL but it is probably because they were living on the Russell estate in West London (Russell Square, Great Russell St. etc.).