Hull Western Synagogue

Overview
Culture
Demography
Early History
The Great Migration
Charities and Clubs
Synagogues
Cemeteries
Schools
Anti-Semitism
Later Businesses and Professions
Civil Leaders
War Service
Other Notable People

Overview

Kingston-upon-Hull had long been a major port of entry into Britain for traders and migrants, and by about 1750, a few Jews from German and Dutch cities had lodged and settled there. Selling jewellery in the growing market town, they maintained contacts with Europe, London and northern British towns. The small community produced its own institutions and leaders, tested by some anti-Jewish sentiment, and especially by a later influx of East-European refugees. Communal efforts to support the arrivals, mostly bound for America, encouraged some to stay, who thrived particularly in retail trades. By the end of the twentieth century, the Jews of Hull had made a prominent contribution to the life of the city, and to the wider world, with sons and daughters including two Fellows of the Royal Society, the world’s leading art dealer and its largest furniture maker, as well as Dame Maureen Lipman.

Culture

As elsewhere, Jews gathered for Hebrew rites in hastily-opened synagogues. North-European Ashkenazis intermarried with some Dutch Sephardis, and early rival congregations united. Excluded from society in Britain as in Europe, their livelihoods were jewellery, pawnbroking, dealing in valuables, later silver and gold work, watch- and clockmaking. Prosperity brought better synagogues, new arrangements for kosher meat, and wider charitable, civic and professional activity.

After 1881, newcomers fleeing Russian oppression came via North Sea and Baltic ports - skilled tailors, drapers, cobblers, cabinet-makers, market traders and travellers. Established English and German Jews assisted those struggling in lodgings and terraces near the docks, as tensions and growing families spawned multiple synagogues. Jewish life in Hull soon reflected the restrained Litvak observance and standard Yiddish of the old Lithuanian empire, a culture wiped out by the Tsars, Nazis and Soviets. More refugees and Holocaust survivors were added by world wars which, with the Blitz and the drama of the State of Israel, furthered communal spirit. Career and family have since drawn most Hull Jewry away, into observant or secular lives, in a diaspora across the UK and abroad.

Demography

Jewish life in Hull grew right in the bustling Old Town, perhaps 40 souls in 1793, 60 in 1815, and 200 in 1835, with a few out in York, Scarborough and Lincolnshire towns. A move West along Hessle and Anlaby Roads centered on Porter Street and the upscale Coltman Street. The proportion of new young immigrants was always high, from mid-century settling around Osborne Street, swelling to 550 in 1870, and two thousand by 1900. These families also progressed, out along the same thoroughfares, accelerated by wartime bombing. The old housing and shops of Osborne Street were obliterated by the Luftwaffe and slum clearance. Post-war, motor-cars enabled residence in western suburbs - Anlaby, Kirkella, Willerby, Hessle and Ferriby. By 1960, the Hull-born predominated at a peak of 2,500 (maybe 3,000, some unlisted at synagogue or census); however most now live around London, Manchester, Leeds and Tel Aviv, leaving by 2020 about 150 older people in the Hull area.

Early History

From at least the mid-1700’s, Jews arrived into Hull from the ports of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Poland and Baltic provinces, sometimes claiming to be converts, typically bound for large towns in the North of England or London (Bennett 2005, 2007). Traders began settling in the Old Town, huddled around Holy Trinity Church and its marketplace, where thereafter, Jews ran numerous stalls and shops, for two centuries or so. Whilst some arrivals scraped to survive, a number as unlicensed hawkers, others were merchants attracted from other English ports by, for example, Hull’s role as a Naval Prize Court during the Napoleonic Wars (Evans 2017).

The earliest-known resident was Isaac Levy of Church Lane in 1760, first of the Levy watch- and clockmakers, with soon other families in Dagger Lane and Posterngate, off Marketplace. Hadley’s History of Hull tells how the equestrian statue of William III in the Marketplace was, for the 1788 centenary of the Protestant Accession, decorated with an elegant crown over the King’s head. Aaron Jacobs presented this on behalf of a community of half-a-dozen families; jeweller and silversmith in Manor Alley, he was forbear of synagogue presidents and clockmakers.

Whilst some diversified into market bazaars and general trading, there were soon Jewish barbers (Abraham Levis 1791), cobblers (Michael Levy 1812), tailors (Henry Levy 1812) and cabinet-makers (Henry Meyer 1826). By the 1830’s a professional class appeared - Isaac Lyon surgeon of 24 Bishop Lane, L.J. Levison dentist 21 Mason Street, Abraham Davidson surgeon-chiropodist 28 King Street, and Elias Isaiah, teacher in modern languages. Minister Samuel Simon sold spectacles in the 1820’s, and Henry Frank was optician on Whitefriargate in 1842. Moses Symons, bullion dealer and watchmaker of 6 Queen Street, was a founder member of the Humber Lodge of Freemasons c.1810; Simeon Mosely, by 1848 dental surgeon at 15 Whitefriargate, patentor of an artificial palate, was synagogue president, and Master of the Minerva Masonic Lodge, and in 1864 founding Worshipful Master of the Kingston Lodge. Alderman Solomon Cohen (1827-1907), a Sheffield-born clothier, served on the Hull Town council c.1870, as chairman of Hull School Board, and in the Humber Masonic Lodge for 50 years.

A Master of the Humber Masonic Lodge was Bethel Jacobs (1812-1869), son of jeweller Israel Jacobs and son-in-law of Joseph Lyon (see synagogues). Studying in Leipzig, he returned to follow his father as Whitefriargate silversmith and clockmaker, opening a large workshop. Bethel was a polymath, inventor, charismatic lecturer, and philanthropist. A Town Councillor 1849-52, President of Hull Literary & Philosophical Society, and of the Mechanics’ Institute, he led Hull’s outstanding contribution to the 1851 Great Exhibition. Enticing the Association for the Advancement of Science to Hull in 1853, and Victoria and Albert to stay in 1854 at the Station Hotel, he was made jeweller to Her Majesty that year. In 1859 Lieutenant and paymaster of Hull Volunteer Rifle Corps and President of the Royal Institution in Albion Street in 1860, he founded Hull College of Art in 1861.

Small mid-century businesses later became merchant firms: Lewis & Godfrey’s fancy bazaar of the 1850’s, and Haberland & Glassman’s 1867 grocers of Humber Street. Dumoulin & Gosschalk of Finkle Street were classic “Port Jews”, hide, wool and produce importers. Victor Dumoulin (Flemish b.Lille 1836) became Hull’s Imperial Ottoman Vice-Consul in 1870, later Consul for the Austrian Empire, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and in 1902 Sheriff of Hull, as was son Edward in 1910. The Dutch Gosschalks’ son Edward founded one of the firms of Hull Jewish solicitors, and was Sheriff in 1905; a son Lieut. Edward M. Gosschalk b.1883, volunteer, was killed on the Somme 1916. See Businesses and Professions, below.

The Great Migration

Of the tens of millions who left Europe for America 1850-1914, most took direct steamer to New York, but the Wilson Line ensured over two million traversed Hull’s docks and railways, and a million Grimsby’s, destined via Liverpool for New York or Buenos Aires, as well as for the Cape, and British towns (Evans 2001). About 1 in 4 of these trans-migrants were Jews, Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazis from Russia’s Pale of Settlement, where work restrictions, special taxes, and the conscription and conversion of boys fueled emigration. Murderous anti-Semitic pogroms after 1881, and famine in 1891/2, further escalated numbers leaving into the new century.

The hope of a New Jerusalem across the water was underpinned by correspondence with relatives, but passage was booked through often unscrupulous agents. Husbands or eldest sons left first, arduous journeys by foot, cart, and train, to Baltic ports Riga and Libau, or Hamburg or Bremen (Evans 2017). Cargo boats took the Kiel canal (from 1895) toward Hull, offering nights on straw pallets, wood boards or the deck, and herring with stale bread. Some lost luggage or had no onward tickets. On landing many trudged into the Old Town to temporary lodgings, like Posterngate’s Harry Lazarus Hotel (a grave name in Delhi St. cemetery). Most proceeded west, past Osborne Street to Anlaby Road, busy with horse-drawn trams and buses, to the segregated Emigrant Waiting Room. Built 1871 by the North Eastern Railway, now Hull City FC’s Tigers Lair pub, a kosher kitchen and washing rooms were later added. Behind, platform 13 of Paragon Station took extra-long Monday or Wednesday trains, bound via Leeds for Liverpool. In 1885 Alexandra dock opened a railway hall.

Charities and Clubs

Living in a great port, Hull’s Jewish community has a proud history of charity to residents, transient and settling immigrants. The Philanthropic Society of 1848 was early among many voluntary groups, running soup kitchens and clothing shelters, giving financial relief to indigents and travellers. In 1854, there was a collection for poor Jews in Palestine, and women were aided by the Lady’s Hebrew Benevolent Society of 1861. A merged Hull Hebrew Board of Guardians in 1880, had 1,000 recipients, later renamed Hull Jewish Care with an old folks home on Anlaby Road from 1953. Other groups included Hull Jewish Blind Society and an Orphan Aid Society.

Hull Hebrew Literary & Debating Society started in 1895, for readings and music. The Jewish Girls’ Club was founded in 1900, and The City Club, Wright Street in 1901. The Hull Judeans of Lower Union Street (later part of the Maccabi Association) organised cricket, football, table-tennis and swimming, whilst Hull Jewish Friendship Club began in the mid-20th century. The Jewish (ex-serviceman’s) Institute, at 208 Anlaby Road (later Henry’s nightclub), served numerous functions, as did the later Parkfield Centre behind the Carlton cinema, Anlaby Road.

The Hull B’nai B’rith men’s and women’s lodges and youth organisation provided links with other communities including Israel, whilst the Hull Jewish Representative Council from the early 20th century faced political issues, publishing Hull Jewish Watchman newsletter. During the turbulent 1930’s, one communal burial society (Chevra Kadisha) was formed by the several synagogues, as was the Hull Board of Shechita, for the organised provision of kosher food.

Synagogues

In 1780, the year of the Gordon Riots, a mob sacked a Catholic chapel on Posterngate; this was rebuilt and rented as a “neat and convenient” synagogue for 20 to 30 worshippers. In 1809 a larger rival was founded at 7 Parade Row (later demolished for Prince’s Dock), by the wealthy, respected Joseph Lyon (?1765-1812) of Blackfriargate, pawnbroker, slopman (clothier) and silversmith; he funded Samuel Simon as minister, shochet (ritual slaughterer) and mohel (circumciser); Simon was later known as the alter rebbe (old reverend).

In 1825, Solomon Meyer, pawnbroker and merchant, and Israel Jacobs, jeweller and goldsmith, led Posterngate and Parade Row to amalgamate into the Hull Hebrew Congregation, 7 Robinson Row, consecrated 1827. Paid for by the Great London Synagogue and by mortgage, the new shul had a covered passage from the narrow cobbled street. Rebuilt in Grecian-style with stained glass c.1851-2, with seats for 200 men and 80 women in the gallery, by 1900 it was overcrowded. Conflict with newcomers led established families in 1902 to the new-built Western Synagogue for over 600, on Linnaeus Street along Anlaby Road (architect BL Jacobs, son of Bethel, above). Robinson Row relocated in 1903, as Hull Old Hebrew Congregation, to an Osborne Street new-build, then the main Jewish area,. With adorned entrances and later facilities, it seated 350 men, and 350 women above.

About 1870, Russian Jews gathered for prayer in School Street, consecrated in 1887 as Hull Central Hebrew Congregation. Some went to Osborne Street in 1903, the rest in 1914 founded Cogan Street synagogue, refurbishing the neoclassical Salem Congregational Chapel, which had held 900. In 1928 a rabbinical dispute erupted over bones in its crypt, only re-buried in 1946 after the shul was bombed out in 1940. The congregation moved to West Parade, and in 1951 to 94 Park Street, formerly Alderman Cogan Girl’s School, merging in 1976 with Linnaeus Street. The Fischoff Synagogue of Lower Union Street, opened 1928 by Lord Rothschild, closed in the 1941 Blitz.

Osborne Street shul was also destroyed in the Blitz, but restored; sold in 1989 (later Heaven and Hell nightclub), the congregation merged with Linnaeus Street, taking new premises in Pryme Street, Anlaby, consecrated 1995. The City’s current synagogues are Hull Hebrew Congregation, Pryme Street (Ashkenazi Orthodox), and the Reform Ne’ve Shalom, est. 1964 at Great Gutter Lane.

Salis Daiches (1880-1945), from a Lithuanian dynasty of Rabbis, served Hull to 1907; later a prominent Rabbi in Edinburgh, he published Aspects of Judaism (1928). Also from a rabbinical line was Eliezer Simcha Rabinowitz (1913-86); Hull’s Minister in 1953, he became the first communal Rabbi (1956-59), later of Cape Town and Manchester. Rabbi Chaim Joshua Cooper MA PhD (1917-99) born London, communal leader from 1960 and active into the ‘90’s, was renowned for his intellect.

Cemeteries

Hull has five known Orthodox cemeteries and a recent Reform one, with 2,500 burials in all. From c.1780 a small plot at West Dock Terrace (later “Villa Place”) saw burials until the last in 1812, of Joseph Lyon. George Alexander, silversmith and coin dealer, and the Levy family then opened a Hessle Road site, in use ‘til 1858. Next to the 1895 Alexandra Hotel, with Star of David overglazings marking a once vibrant Jewish area, Israel Jacobs is buried here, as is Barnad Barnad (a.k.a Barnard, jeweller d.1821), who “went to receive his blessing.. buried with honour”.

In East Hull at the corner of Delhi Street is an 1858 site, with 1,240 known burials, the earliest lost to a 1941 German bomb. Expanded c.1900 it had a pre-burial hall and served Linnaeus Street and Osborne Street shuls. In 2002 vandals damaged 110 graves, and smashed 80 in 2011. In 1935 the Old Hebrew Congregation sought space further east in Marfleet Lane; 450 burials include Phineas Hart (d.1952 age 80), who helped destitute immigrants. The Central Congregation established in 1889 Ella Street Cemetery in the Avenues area. With 740 burials it is the only Orthodox cemetery now in use, one grave is of Annie Sheinrog headmistress (below, d.1985 age 94). Since 1975 the Reform Congregation has a small site, Tranby Lane, Anlaby.

Schools

In 1826, the Robinson Row shul had a makeshift school-room, and by 1852 40 boys and girls were in a rebuilt facility. In 1838, there was also a free school for the poor. A boys’ school in West Street from 1871 held 120 by 1900. After 1863 girls attended Lower Union Street, then Osborne Street in 1885, with 200 pupils by 1900; headmistress for years Miss Annie Sheinrog saw wartime evacuation to Swanland, until closure in 1945. From 1870, boys’ state schooling took hold, with out-of-hours communal cheder at Linnaeus Street, which moved to Kirkella School c.1965.

Anti-Semitism

A sad history of expulsion and persecution had morphed into endemic discrimination before 1810, when Hull’s Wilberforce was promoting the conversion of Jews; new arrivals to Hull as elsewhere were offered pamphlets in Yiddish (Gidney 1908) When Sir Isaac Goldsmid stood for MP at nearby Beverley, the Hull Packet saw “a radical jew.. an anti-christian movement.” Anti-Jewish sentiment surfaced caricaturing Jews as Judas, moneylenders or comical disputants; local papers regurgitated London “column-fillers” - any accused of theft or fraud with a Jewish name. This trend only fully disappeared after 1945 newsreels of Bergen-Belsen.

World War I anti-German riots often fell on Jews, in Hull some fled. In 1915, Rev. Isaac Levine of Cogan Street synagogue was beaten up as a spy, dragged to a policeman by a drunk, who was imprisoned for 5 months. Hannah Feldman, past Lady Mayoress, was a victim too (Evans 2017). Many families anglicised names at this time. In the ‘30’s, Fascists advertised in Hull Daily Mail, and attacked Jewish shops; some fought back, in 1936 Oswald Mosley fled Hull’s Battle of Corporation Field. Despite film of Holocaust refugees drowning at sea, revenge violence against British forces in Mandate Palestine triggered 1947 summer riots in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. In Hull windows of Hessle Road and City Centre shops were broken.

Later Businesses and Professions

In addition to now-disappeared kosher butchers and bakers, delicatessens and fish-shops (Levine’s and Barnett’s were fryers in Osborne Street until the 1950’s), many recently-familiar city names were Jewish: Furman shoe-shops (boot-makers from 1896); Rossy Bros bookmakers (see War service); Zerny’s dry-cleaners, est. 1892; Rosen’s shoe-factory; Myers wholesalers; Reuben’s barbers; Bush opticians; Chappell’s/Conolly’s/Paragon jeweller; Coupland carpets; Goldstones department store; Car Marks; Segal’s curtains, jeweller’s; AK Jacobs, tailor, motor cars. In earlier years Marks & Sugarman were cabinet-makers working on WW1 ‘planes, Zimmerman had furniture stores, Vinegrad radio and sweet shops. Lipman & Silver’s garment factory made police uniforms in the 1920’s. Later there were Lurie GPs and Sugarman pharmacists. Among solicitors was Max Gold who represented family of the lost trawler Gaul, and chaired Hull Kingston Rovers. Senior medics included Dr. Isserlin, Director Castle Hill Hospital and Dr. Philip Science City Coroner.

Civil Leaders

In the footsteps of leaders like Bethel Jacobs (Early history, above), no less than nine sheriffs, two mayors and six Lord Mayors of Hull were Jews, otherwise under one percent of Hull’s population. Martin Samuelson, Hamburg-born of Jewish parents, was an engineer, shipbuilder and magistrate, in 1857 Sheriff, and 1858 Mayor (father of industrialist Sir Bernhard Samuelson MP). John Symons, silversmith, was a Town Councillor by 1863 and Sheriff for 1890; a local historian, writer and lecturer, he was a founder of Humber Masonic Lodge. Henry Feldman JP (1855-1915) woollen merchant, was elected Mayor four times in a row 1906-09. Benno Pearlman was Lord Mayor in 1928, and Sheriff in 1923, 1932 and 1939.

A Polish-born pawnbroker’s son, Joseph Leopold Schultz (1900-91), lauded for promoting bomb-shelters pre-war, was Lord Mayor in 1942 and Sheriff for 1968. Sir Leo Schultz OBE “the Lion of Hull” led a Labour-run City 1945 to 1979; a large bronze statue later appeared at the Guildhall.

Lord Mayor in 1952 was AK Jacobs (above); and in 1958 and ‘59 Lawrie Science, brother of coroner Philip (above), and of Theresa Science Russell, 1965 Lord Mayor of Newcastle. In 1966 Marcus Segal was Sheriff, as was Lionel Rosen in 1951, later Lord Mayor for 1972. Louis Pearlman was Lord Mayor in 1983. The ancient role of Steward of Hull was awarded in 2013 to Labour Baron Peter Mandelson, whose father was from a Jewish family. Helen Suzman DBE, the anti-apartheid campaigner, was awarded Honorary Freedom of the City in 1987.

War Service

The bombing of Hull centre in both wars hit the Jews of the City hard; many took volunteer roles, but most families had members in military service. Two synagogues record over 100 dead and 200 returned (Imperial War Museum 2021a,b), with more known to the Hull Association of Jewish Ex-Serviceman and Women, which marched annually in Whitehall.

One telling WW1 tragedy is of brothers Harry and Marcus Silverstone, killed weeks apart on the Somme in 1916. Another, on the Somme in January 1917, is of Cpl. Harry Furman who died age 20, after rescuing his pal Pte. Simon Levine, who also died, age 21.

Capt. Isidore_Newman MBE CdG MdeR (1916-44), in 1938 a teacher at Middleton St Boys, was a WW2 radio operator for SOE; betrayed on his second mission in France, he was murdered by SS at Mauthausen, Austria 1944 (Sugarman 2007).

Maj. Wilfred “Billy” Sugarman MC (1918-76, son of Israel Sugarman, tailor), in the first D-Day wave ashore at Normandy, sustained multiple grenade wounds but led men onward, and saw more action in the Far East; post-war he was a Hull headmaster. Younger brother Harold was (by a family account - Winetroube 2019) a cyanide pill-carrying decoder and skiing operative in Italy/Austria.

Of the five Rossy Brothers, Ernie Rosenthall returned from Dunkirk and from Burma; Cyril an anti-aircraft gunner and Ronnie an RAF mechanic were both killed in 1941 (Winetroube 2019). Morris Miller died fighting the Spanish Civil War, his brother Alfred for the Royal Artillery in 1940.

Other Notable People

Ellis Abraham Davidson (1828-78), a Victorian pioneer of teaching in art and design (Cantor 2009), was Hull born-and-bred, as was Pat Albeck (1930-2017), a prominent textile designer, “Queen of the Tea Towels” (Harrod 2017). Sir Jacobs Behrens, who came briefly to Hull c.1834, founded Manchester’s now oldest textile company; Hull cabinet-maker Louis Lebus and son Harris (1852-1907) moved to London, to open the world’s largest furniture factory, famed for arts-and-crafts. Baron Duveen of Millbank, Joseph Joel (1869-1939), a Hull-born Sephardi, became the world’s greatest art dealer. Married to the daughter of a Carr Lane pawnbroker, he opened London and New York offices. Duveen bought from UK aristocrats and sold to Hearst, Morgan, Rockefeller, Getty, Frick etc., donating to the Guildhall and Ferens galleries, the British Museum and the Tate.

Hull-born novelist Lionel Davidson (1922-2009), son of a Polish tailor, started at the Spectator. His prize-winning spy fiction, such as Kolymsky Heights, rivals Fleming and Le Carré. Also from Hull, Simon Clyne (1909-2011) stayed in Fleet Street as a top picture editor (Press Gazette 2003), the oldest Brit to emigrate to Israel. Domini Highsmith a.k.a Domini Wiles (1942-2003) was a Yorkshire-born Jewish novelist and local historian in Beverley, near Hull.

In entertainment, Hull’s Harry Seltzer (1909-2004) was an eccentric variety artist appearing with Trinder, Formby, Flanagan, Keaton, Charlie Chaplin etc, who became King of the Grand Order of Water Rats (Woodward 2004). Jerry Gold (father to Max above) was a rotund comedian who toured the Northern Circuit c.1928-46. Max Factor, the make-up king, who started in stage greasepaint, is rumoured to have come through Hull, only because half-brother John Factor once claimed to be born there. Known as Jake-the-Barber, friend of Al Capone, and as the world’s greatest swindler, he broke the bank at Monte Carlo, ran a Vegas casino, and was later a philanthropist pardoned by Kennedy. Top of the bill however is Dame Maureen Lipman, daughter of tailor Maurice, President of Park Street synagogue (above), who married playwright Jack Rosenthal. Her outstanding career in theatre, film, books and TV also included 1980’s BT adverts as Beattie, a Jewish mother.

Prof. Jacob Bronowski (1908-74) taught maths at Hull University 1934-42. After work for Bomber Command and at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was known for TV’s Brains Trust, and The Ascent of Man (1973). The Chancellor of Hull University 1970-77 was Lord Cohen of Birkenhead, a dominant physician in the early NHS. Sydney Goldstein FRS (1903-89) was born to the family of the Hull & East Riding Furnishing Co., Anlaby Road. A brilliant Cambridge mathematician, later Professor at Manchester and Harvard, his contribution to aerodynamics and the Taylor–Goldstein equation brought Fellowship of the Royal Society age 33, youngest since Michael Faraday. Prof. Malcolm Levitt, Hull born-and-bred, is a world expert in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. After Oxford, MIT etc, he heads a Southampton team, also a Fellow of the Royal Society 2007.

Israel “Shmuel” Finestein QC (1921-2009), Deputy High Court Judge, was a leader and historian of British Jewry (Gartner 2011, Times 2009). Son of a Hull tailor, he achieved Double 1st in History at Cambridge under G.M.Trevelyan, laboured in Churchill’s history team, and joined the chambers of the later Lord Hailsham, Lord Chancellor. His essays cover the Jews of Hull (Finestein 1996). Among many posts were President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the Jewish Historical Society. The Leeds branch of the latter was founded by Hull-born Bernard Silver, who in 1948 helped arrange arms-smuggling in Palestine (Pollins 2016).

Sportsmen include Marcus “Professor Marquis” Bibbero (c.1837-1910), brought up in Hull, a world-class swimmer and cross-channel coach who promoted life-saving and municipal baths. A newspaper sensation, he swam manacled from Brooklyn to New York (Dover Museum 2014). Born in Hull were Leon “Lolly” Waters (1916-91), who played for Hull City and Leeds United, and Louis Harris (1896-75) with 255 appearances for Hull Kingston Rovers, later a club Director.

Dr Samuel Kuttner (c.1810-1908), was probably a German-born Manchester shop-keeper, who became in 1840 a Protestant Minister, but converted to Catholicism in 1852. Claiming to have been Chaplain to the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, as a travelling lecturer with a string of dubious qualifications, he was exposed for his frauds. In 1865 he was a bankrupted ship-owner of Hessle Road, Hull, whose great-granddaughter was the pianist Marguerite Wolff.

Sources: This article is largely based on other people’s research in published sources; I am also grateful to Prof. Howard Cuckle, Dr Nick Evans, David Lewis, and Ann Bennett. Author: Philip Sugarman.
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Hull, England