Genealogists' Forum - We have branches everywhere!



Go Back   Genealogists' Forum - We have branches everywhere! > Research > Family History Stories

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 19-05-11, 21:52
Sally's Avatar
Sally Sally is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 274
Default Eduard (Edward) Josephy

This man is not a direct ancestor, but is very much a part of my family history. He was a rare failure in a Jewish family that specialised in doing well for themselves!

Eduard was born in Ludwigslust/Mecklenburg, Germany, and in his late twenties migrated to England - (261,000 Meckleburgers left Germany due to social and political changes, between 1820 and 1890, heading for America, Australia and Britain) - where the spelling of his name changed to Edward before his Naturalization in 1851. He was followed a decade later by my great grandfather Heinrich and Heinrich's brother Bernard.......both of whom set up textile exporting companies in Leeds, and Edward decided to leave Bradford where he had been living and working for a relation with a Woollen Mill, and set up another Textile Exporting Company in direct competition with my great grandfather and his brother. This in theory should not have mattered as at that time the woollen trade in Yorkshire was booming and there would have been ample business available for everyone.

However, Edward was not a patient man, and he did not believe in building firm foundations for his Company before expanding; not finding anyone within the family to join him, he went into partnership with an acquaintance from Hamburg and they immediately purchased vast premises on arguably the most valuable plot in Leeds. They filled their warehouses with the finest wool worsteds, silks, tweeds, and for a few years managed to stay afloat but before long he was in serious trouble. Heinrich and Bernard had employees who regularly travelled to see their buyers in Argentina etc., and were going from strength to strength with their respective Companies but Edward had failed to earn the respect of the world's wool traders.

On 10th September 1864 an advertisement appeared in the Leeds Mercury, for the sale of "Very valuable freehold Estate" - Edward had no choice but to sell up. It must have been a very large site indeed, as there were three woollen mills, with all the steam engines etc., and many warehouses plus a large plot of vacant land. The premises were described as being the very best in Leeds, and improving almost daily in value.

Just over a year later, on 5th November 1865 the partnership between Edward and his colleague was dissolved then a month after that an auction was held to sell all the stock. Notices appeared in papers all over the Country announcing that Edward's company had failed and they were calling their creditors together.......the liabilities of the firm were estimated at a massive £40,000 and from many newspaper articles it is clear that some of the larger creditors were very disgruntled indeed.

In April 1866 all the money raised was assigned to the creditors, and after a final sale in December 1866 of nearly two thousand bales of cloth (retrieved from America, France and Italy) Edward had finally managed to pay every single one of his creditors. There was a balance left of £39, which Edward donated to the Leeds General Infirmary, before fleeing from England and going to stay with his brother in America where he lived briefly before committing suicide. This was sadly not uncommon amongst German Jews who had left their home country and failed to make a go of things.

Edward never married, but throughout those years in Leeds, Edward had regularly written letters to his sister in Germany as well as his brother in America, so although it seems unlikely that he was thought of in fond terms by Heinrich and Bernard (or surely they would have taken him in and looked after him) his immediate family had kept in touch and his brother was not only willing to offer him a home, but he also named his first born child after him.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 07:49.


Hosted by Photon IT

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7 PL3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.