David Sassoon & Co.

First Half of the 19th Century

David sassoon

Trading house David Sassoon & Co. It was founded in 1832 in Bombay by the merchant David Sassoon - a Baghdad Jew who moved to British India. The company specialized in the supply of cotton yarn and opium from India to Canton . Initially, the main competitors David Sassoon & Co. there were Bombay Parsi , which since the 1820s have dominated the opium trade between India and China. Sassoon's main rivals included the Jamsetji Jighibhoy Trading House ^{[4] [5]} .

After the conclusion of the Nanking Treaty (1842), China opened a number of ports for British merchants. David Sassoon & Co. began to actively import Indian opium and yarn into China, and export tea and silk from China to Britain. David's son, Elias Sassoon, led the company’s office in Canton, where he successfully competed with British and Indian merchants. In 1844, David Sassoon & Co. opened an office in Hong Kong , and in 1845 in Shanghai , which will soon become one of the most important centers of the company ^[6] .

David Sassoon staffed the company on a family basis - the main areas and branches were headed by his sons and other close relatives, followed by Baghdad Jews who moved to Bombay in the hierarchy of the company. In almost every city where David Sassoon & Co. had its own interests, the Sassoons financially supported local rabbis, synagogues and Jewish communities.

David Sassoon maintained relations with his younger brother Joseph Sassoon (1795-1872), who moved from Baghdad to Aleppo . The company of Joseph and his five sons Joseph Sassoon & Sons was engaged in wholesale trade, freight transportation and money exchange, had offices in Alexandria , Athens , Thessaloniki and Baghdad. In the second half of the 19th century, Joseph Sassoon & Sons was the largest exporter of Egyptian cotton and yarn ^{[7] [8]} .

Second half of the 19th century.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865) David Sassoon & Co. was able to displace American cotton, which came to Lancashire intermittently, with its Indian cotton and yarn. Meanwhile, Joseph Sassoon & Sons also established supplies of Egyptian cotton to Britain. Sassoons began to invest in trade with China and Britain in the industry of Bombay, opening oil refining and textile enterprises. After the death of David Sassoon in 1864, the family business was headed by his eldest son Albert ^{[9] [5] [6]} .

During their heyday, the company’s branches worked in Calcutta , Canton, Hong Kong and Shanghai . Interests David Sassoon & Co. extended from Britain to Nagasaki and Yokohama in Japan. In the spring of 1865, David Sassoon & Co. supported the creation of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - the first bank in Hong Kong focused on lending to the local economy ^{[5] [10]} . In 1867, Albert's younger brother, Elias Sassoon, founded his own branch of the family business. Its main factories were concentrated in Bombay (ED Sassoon Mills, Alexandra Mills, ED Sassoon Dye Works), and offices were located in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe , Calcutta, London and Manchester ^{[11] [12]} .

In 1872, the headquarters of David Sassoon & Co. was moved from Bombay to London ^[13] . During this period, David Sassoon & Co. took first place in the opium trading industry, ahead of even the long-standing leader - the British company Jardine, Matheson & Co. whose owners, due to their high social status, began to distance themselves from drug smuggling ^{[14] [6]} .

In 1875, Albert Sassoon built the Sassoon Docks, the first private shipbuilding docks in India, in Bombay on the territory conquered from the sea. Also David Sassoon & Co. acted as a Hong Kong agent for the shipping company Apcar and Company on the Calcutta – Hong Kong and Shanghai – Nagasaki lines ^[15] . In October 1879, a fire destroyed the coal depots of David Sassoon & Co. in a port in Hong Kong. ^[16] .

The interests of the company in Hong Kong were represented by Frederick Sassoon , who in 1884-1887 was elected to the Legislative Council of the colony from magistrates . David Sassoon & Co. continued to supply Indian opium to Chinese dealers and compradors in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Ningbo and Hankou , and to export gold and silver back. In 1890, influential businessman Paul Chater founded the Hongkong Electric electricity company, whose shareholders also included Sassoons and Jardine, Matheson & Co. By the end of the 19th century, David Sassoon & Co., while maintaining its position in Bombay, curtailed operations in Hong Kong and concentrated its interests on the Chinese market in Shanghai ^{[17] [18]} .

XX century

At the beginning of the 20th century, the branch most active in the family business was founded by Elias Sassoon and his two sons - Jacob (died in 1916) and Edward (died in 1924). After the death of Edward Sassoon, the family business was headed by his son, Victor Sassoon (1881-1961), who led textile factories in Bombay and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of India. Interests ED Sassoon & Co. extended to India, China, Japan, Iraq and the Persian Gulf ports ^{[19] [20]} .

In 1925, Victor Sassoon bought a successful stable in Cambridgeshire , whose horses won various prestigious competitions. In 1926, a businessman began building a 10-story Sassoon House on the Shanghai Bund . From the fourth to the ninth floor the Cathay Hotel was located, the official opening of which took place in September 1929. It was Shanghai's most famous hotel, where George Marshall , Charlie Chaplin , Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward stayed. Today, the former Sassoon House is the northern building of the luxurious Fairmont Peace Hotel ^{[21] [20]} . In 1928, the financial ED Sassoon Banking Company was founded ^[19] .

In the spring of 1930, the headquarters of ED Sassoon & Co. moved from Bombay to Shanghai Sassoon House. In addition to the famous Cathay and Metropole hotels, Sassoon owned other hotels in Shanghai, as well as residential and office buildings, large tracts of land and construction companies. His Chinese business empire totaled more than 50 companies and over 1800 real estate properties. The brothers Lawrence and Horace Kaduri worked for Victor Sassoon, who, after the war, ran the China Light and Power Company in Hong Kong.

During World War II, Victor Sassun helped European Jews take refuge in the Shanghai ghetto . After giving India independence in 1947, he sold his textile and chemical plants in Bombay. After the victory of the Communists in 1949, Sassoon sold all of his Chinese assets and moved to the Bahamas, where until his death he was engaged in charity work ^{[22] [23] [19]} .

In 1970, the widow of Victor Sassoon sold a family stable in the UK. In 1972, Wallace Brothers & Company bought a controlling stake in ED Sassoon Banking Company, and in 1976, it itself was acquired by the British group Standard Chartered . Victor Sassoon’s family still lives in the Bahamas, from where he runs the Sir Victor Sassoon Heart Foundation. ^[24]

The Egyptian Sassoon branch (descendants of Joseph Sassoon and his son Moses) owned yarn and textile factories, extensive real estate and a mortgage bank, and was engaged in the export of cotton. The family also controlled stakes in oil companies Burmah Oil, Turkish Petroleum and Anglo-Iranian Oil, trading and shipping companies. David Sassoon (1871–1956) represented the Rothschilds in the Ottoman Empire, Elias Sassoon (1927–2010) invested in Standard Oil Company of New York, and in 1952 founded the large Banque du Caire . In 1957, Nasser nationalized all European companies and banks, and in 1966 the Sassoons were expelled from Egypt to Greece (they had to pay a large ransom for their son Edward, who was released only in 1971). After leaving for Europe, Elias Sassoon and his partners managed several funds in Switzerland and Curacao (investments in real estate and metals, stocks of various companies, banking business in South Africa).

David (Daoud) Sassoon was born in 1792 in Baghdad ( Ottoman Empire ) into a wealthy Jewish family. His father Saleh Sassun (1750-1830) was a very influential person at the court of the Ottoman Pasha of the Baghdad Eyalet - from 1781 to 1817 he served as the chief treasurer under Suleiman Pasha the Great , Ali Pasha , Suleiman Pasha Little and Said Pasha , and there was also a nasi community of Baghdad Jews . David Sassoon followed in his father's footsteps and from 1817 to 1828 worked as treasurer at Daud Pasha . After the Sassoon family emigrated through Basra and Bushehr to Bombay in the late 1820s ^{[comm. 1]} , David became the unspoken leader of the local Jewish diaspora ^[25] .

Initially, David Sassoon acted as an intermediary between the British and Arab merchants from the Persian Gulf. He soon founded the David Sassoon & Co. trading house. and began to compete successfully with local Parsis . Although Sassoon did not speak English, in 1853 he received British citizenship. Having made a huge fortune, David Sassoon spent considerable funds on charity: in 1847 he established the Mechanical Institute, later founded the synagogue Magen David (1861) in Bombay and the synagogue Ohel David (1863, completed in 1867 after his death) in Pune . In addition, David Sassoon donated hospitals in Bombay and Pune (completed in 1867), a Jewish school in Bombay, language schools, shelters for the elderly, orphans, widows and poor sailors, as well as a correctional institution for juvenile offenders. David Sassoon died in 1864 in Pune. The luxurious Bombay estate in which the Sassoon family lived today is occupied by Masina Hospital ^{[26] [3] [5]} .

From the first wife of Hannah (died in 1826), David Sassoon had two sons and two daughters, from the second wife of Farha (died in 1886) - six sons and three daughters.

Albert (Abdullah) Sassoon was born in 1818 in Baghdad. After the death of his father in 1864, he headed the family company David Sassoon & Co., was a member of the legislative council of Bombay, in 1867 became a companion to the Star of India Order , and in 1872 - a companion to the Order of Bani . Albert financed high schools in Bombay and the installation in the city of a huge statue of Prince of Wales, Edward, paid scholarships to students of the local university and art school, maintained a shelter for Jewish children. After moving to Britain in 1890, he received the title of baronet from the hands of Queen Victoria , died and was buried in 1896 in British Brighton ^{[27] [28] [29]} .

Elias (Eliyahu) Sassoon was born in Baghdad in 1820, in 1844 he was the first of David Sassoon's sons to go to the Far East (his main interests were located in Canton, Hong Kong and Shanghai). After returning to Bombay, he worked at David Sassoon & Co., in 1867 he started his own business in China, died in Colombo in 1880, where he tried to establish his own tea plantations. His eldest son, Jacob Sassoon (1848-1916) worked in the family business in India and China (ED Sassoon Mills, Alexandra Mills, ED Sassoon Dye Works, J. Sassoon Mills), financed the construction of the Knesset Eliyahu synagogues in Bombay (1885), Ohel Leah in Hong Kong (1902) and Ohel Rachel in Shanghai (1920), as well as a high school and a shelter in Bombay. Jacob's younger brother Edward Sassoon (1853–1924) also worked for the family-owned company ED Sassoon & Co. ^{[19] [29] [30]} .

Sassoon David Sassoon was born in 1832 in Bombay, for a long time headed the department of David Sassoon & Co. in Shanghai. In 1858 he moved to London, where he served on the boards of directors of many companies, financed various Jewish organizations and synagogues (including the synagogue of Spanish and Portuguese Jews), and died in 1867. His daughter Rachel Sassoon Beer married an influential Jewish publisher and was editor in chief of the London newspapers The Observer and The Sunday Times. ^[9]

Ruben Sassoon was born in 1835, was the director of David Sassoon & Co. in East India and China, served on the board of directors of the China Steamship and Labuan Coal Company, was awarded the Royal Victorian Order , and, together with other Sassoons, financed the construction of the Ohel Leah Synagogue in Hong Kong. Arthur (Abraham) Sassoon was born in 1840 in Bombay, was the fifth son of David Sassoon and his wife Farha, thanks to close ties with Thomas Sutherland, he served on the board of directors of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation , and for many years headed the London office of David Sassoon & Co. on Lidenhall Street, was married to a relative of the banker Leopold de Rothschild and was friends with King Edward VII ^{[31] [32] [33] [19] [34]} .

Solomon Sassoon was born in 1841 in Bombay, was the youngest son of David Sassoon, and began his business career in China. After returning home, David Sassoon & Co. headed Indian assets for many years. (in particular, Sassoon Spinning and Weaving Co., Sassoon and Alliance Silk Co., Port Canning and Land Improvement Co., Oriental Life Assurance Co.), was the director of Bank of Bombay and the head of the port of Bombay, and served on the board under Governor James Ferguson, headed the Bombay branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association. He lived in a luxurious mansion with a private synagogue, died in 1894 in Bombay. His wife Flora (1859-1936) was a famous philanthropist ^[35] .

Edward Sassoon was born in 1856 in Bombay, graduated from the University of London , served in the British Army. In 1887, Edward married the daughter of the Parisian banker Gustave de Rothschild Elin (1867-1909), after the death of his father Albert Sassoon (1896) he inherited David Sassoon & Co., in 1899 he was elected to the British Parliament. After the death of Edward Sassoon in 1912, his son was succeeded by his son, Philip Sassoon (1888-1939), who served as personal secretary of Douglas Haig during World War I. In the Philip Trent Park country house in Cockfosters ( Anfield ), the whole color of the British aristocracy, politics and culture gathered ^{[19] [20]} .

The modern branch of the British Sassoons is led by Baron James Sassoon. He was born in 1955 in London, graduated from Christ Church , was a financial adviser to David Cameron . Since 2013, Executive Director of Jardine Matheson , Director of Hongkong Land and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group , Chairman of the Sino-British Business Council ^[36] .

In 1861, at the expense of the Sassoons, a clock tower was built in the bombing gardens of Victoria (today it rises in the territory of the Wirmata zoo Dzhidzhabay Bhosale). In the same year, the Sassoons financed the production of the statue of Prince Consort Albert , which was soon installed in the Victoria and Albert Museum (still located in the central hall of the Bhau Daji Lada Museum) ^[3] .

The David Sassoon Library was built in Bombay in 1870 with funds donated by his son Albert Sassoon and the authorities of the Bombay Presidency . In one of the halls of the library there is a full-length statue of David Sassoon, and above the entrance is his marble bust by Thomas Wulner ^{[37] [38]} .

In 1871, the oldest museum was built in Bombay - the Victoria and Albert Museum (today known as the City Museum named after Dr. Bhau Daji Lada). Many bombing entrepreneurs, including Albert Sassoon, participated in financing the construction of the museum building. In the lobby of the museum there is a marble bust of David Sassoon.

In the British Brighton is the so-called Sassoon Mausoleum, built in 1892 in the Indo-Saracen style as the wing of a family mansion. Albert Sassoon and his son Edward Sassoon were buried in it, but in 1933 their remains were transferred to the Willesden Jewish cemetery in London. During the war, the former mausoleum was used as a bomb shelter, now a pub is located in a one-story building ^{[39] [40] [41]} .

In Hong Kong, there is Sassoon Road, named after Victor Sassoon, the great-grandson of the founder of the dynasty, David Sassoon.

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•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Sassoon & Co.

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