This is some of the Barnett / Lipman family history from the mid-1700s to the present day in 2024. It is the story of a resourceful and adventurous family in London and later in New Zealand and Australia, with a strong Jewish heritage. Sources are oral family history and research by my Aunt Pam Mayo and myself, public domain family data, The Jewish Chronicle, Ancestry family database information, and sharing of family stories with current family in London and New Zealand. Investigations are still ongoing.
In 1979, just before my Grandad Emanuel Barnett died, I had a fascinating talk with him about his Jewish childhood in London’s East End before he came to Wellington NZ in 1910 aged 14. He talked about visiting The Poplars, a substantial house and gardens in Seven Sisters Road, London. This was the home of a wealthy great-uncle named Emanuel Barnett, often called The Kosher King of the East End, who owned a well-known kosher butcher business in Petticoat Lane. Many of the Barnett family worked in this butchery business, including my great-grandad Moses Barnett. My Grandad Emanuel was named after his greatuncle. My Grandad Emanuel was not a practising Jew after he married our lovely Irish/ Scottish grandmother. He did not talk about his earlier family very much, and had little contact after his parents Moses and Kate Barnett died.
These are some of the questions the family of today wanted to explore:
Who was the wealthy relative and what can we find out about his business, family connections, and life?
Why did Moses and Kate Barnett and some of the family come out from London to Wellington in 1910 and why did 16-year-old Samuel Barnett stay behind?
Who are the earlier ancestors and where did they (Ashkenazi Jews) come from in Poland or Germany?
What was life like in London for this family in the 1800s and early 1900s?
Can we find any of the family descended from Grandad Emanuel and his other brothers and sisters in London or NZ?
Are there any other stories and photos of this family, such as photos of great-grandparents Moses and Kate née Lipman?
In the last 5 years I was able to go to London several times and follow up on family history and meet my two of my 2nd cousins and the great-grandson of the Kosher King Emanuel Barnett.
Here is some information and stories starting as far back as I can find at the moment. A family tree is included below. I have highlighted the paternal line through my mother. Also highlighted are the Kosher King Emanuel Barnett and his great-grandson as more distant family members who are important in this story.
EMANUEL BARNETT, tailor, dates of birth and death unknown. My 4x great-grandfather. Known only from a reference to him as the late father of Isaac Barnett ‘of Westford Street, Whitechapel, Tailor, deceased’, on a document dated 10th April 1843. See City of London Guild certificate from Guildhall London archives, below. I have not yet been able to find any further information about Isaac’s father, Emanuel Barnett, tailor, as noted on the Guild certificate. I have written to a Jewish archivist from the United Synagogue London but he says earlier records were probably destroyed when East End synagogues were blitzed in WW2.
ISAAC BARNETT (1801—1857), my 3x great-grandfather Isaac was a well-known coffee house / cook shop owner at 49 Middlesex Street (Petticoat Lane); source: 1851 census record. The Guild certificate of 1843 above says he is a cook shop keeper. At this time this area in the East End of London was a bustling community of Jewish families, sometimes called the Jewish Ghetto. Many of the people had come in waves of immigration from Germany, Poland, Russia, and other eastern European countries to escape persecution and to find a better life. Families lived and worked closely together.
Isaac married his first wife Sarah Joseph, born 1805, in 1825 in the Great Synagogue, London. They had one son, Samuel Barnett (my 2x great-grandfather), born in 1825/6. Isaac later married his second wife Phoebe, and they had a son Emanuel Barnett in 1844 (reference: Jewish-Gen website: Synagogue Record of marriage)
The 1851 census has Isaac and Phoebe Barnett living above the coffee shop at 49 Middlesex Street with his sons Samuel, 25, and Emanuel, 7. The original building at 49 Middlesex Street has gone now but some buildings of this era still remain. There is a record of a policy with Sun Insurance in 1841 for the cook shop business for Isaac Barnett at 49 Middlesex Street on the Jewish-Gen website. The Guild certificate of 1843 grants Isaac the Freedom of the City of London which seems to mean the right to conduct business. Note that Isaac signed this document with his mark, an X, which shows that he was not literate.
When Isaac died in 1857, aged 56, he was buried in the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery, East End London. I was able to visit his grave in June 2018 and place a memorial stone on the grave, which has a substantial monument in good condition. Brady Street Cemetery, 1701 to 1858, is a closed locked Jewish cemetery and you need to get permission from the United Synagogues for someone to open it for you to visit. It is a peaceful place with a beautiful old stone wall and trees.
The inscription on the tombstone reads: Sacred to the memory of Isaac Barnett of Middlesex Street Aldgate, who departed this life August 26 1857. Died 56 years. This monument was erected by his family and friends as the lasting tribute of respect for his departed remains. Beloved, esteemed and lamented. The top part of the inscription is in Hebrew and is a general prayer for the departed.
SAMUEL BARNETT (1823—1893), my 2x great-grandfather Samuel, Isaac’s son, took over the coffee house / cook shop at 49 Middlesex Street. There is a record of an insurance policy saying Samuel took over the coffee house policy from his father Isaac Barnett (reference: Jewish- Gen database).
Samuel married Phoebe Judah (born 1825, died 1883, aged 58). Phoebe's father was Moses Judah of Houndsditch London and her mother was Frances Solomon, born 1802. Samuel and Phoebe Barnett had 7 children (census records 1851, 1861, and 1871): Isaac, born 1848; Sarah, 1854; Rachel, 1856; Samuel, 1858; Henry, 1860; Moses, 1862, my greatgrandfather, kosher butcher; and Fanny, 1865.
EMANUEL BARNETT (1844—1914) THE KOSHER KING. Also known as UNCLE MANNY. Second son of Isaac Barnett (my 3x great-grandfather), and half-brother of my 2x great-grandfather Samuel. Great-uncle of my grandfather Emanuel Barnett, who is his namesake. Coffee house / cook shop owner.
Emanuel Barnett was known as the Jewish Kosher King of the East End and was a well-known identity in the East End community. He provided many jobs for his wider family (including my great-grandfather Moses Barnett) in his business, and eventually in other properties and businesses, e.g. a fish shop and a grocery shop. My grandfather Emanuel used to talk about his great-uncle Emanuel as a gruff man of 20 stone, with a large house down a long drive that they visited each Sunday for a substantial family meal.
Emanuel Barnett, Kosher King, started his own kosher butchery business around age 16, in 1860, in a small shop at 2 Stony Lane dealing originally with offal, then moving to other meats. When his shop and land were bought out by the local authority, Emanuel shifted his growing business to Middlesex Street, also known as Petticoat Lane, in the East End of London. This was a bustling, heavily populated area of Jewish families sometimes known as the Jewish Ghetto.
His next butcher's shop was at 42 Middlesex Street (reference: 1881 census). At this time Emanuel was married to his first wife Amelia née Levy. They were married in 1866 (there is a marriage record for the Great Synagogue or Dukes Place Synagogue). Amelia (Milly) died in 1898, aged 57 years. They had no children.
Above is a recent photo of 42 Middlesex Street. The shop would have been downstairs, living accommodation upstairs. Today it is a bistro bar called Bire.
The kosher butcher business grew and moved to 79 to 83 Middlesex Street. By the 1901 census Emanuel, or Uncle Manny as he was widely known, had moved to a large home with grounds and stables, called The Poplars at 287 Seven Sisters Road, in the Finsbury Park area of London. The Poplars featured in the Jewish Chronicle as the place of many charitable occasions for the London community, both Jewish and non-Jewish. The house was destroyed in the WW2 Blitz. Uncle Manny was a founding member of the Finsbury Park Synagogue which was later blitzed in WW2 and was also a seat holder of the United Synagogue. He was well known as a benefactor to local orphanages and community causes.
When he was 44, Uncle Manny married his second wife, Sarah, who was from Yorkshire and Norfolk. Sarah was originally called Frances but changed her name to Sarah, possibly as a Jewish convert. The family called her Polly. Uncle Manny and Sarah/Polly had a daughter, Rachel, known as Raie Barnett.
The kosher butchery business of E Barnett and Co flourished with other London branches added, and canned kosher meat was shipped overseas (including to Australia) to provide kosher food for the growing number of Jewish immigrants to new world countries in the 1900s. The business made kosher meat popular in London.
On the morning of his daughter Raie’s wedding to Philip Lyons in June 1914, a grand occasion with a reception at The Poplars, Uncle Manny had a heart attack. He died a few days later in hospital. The wedding went ahead. Below is an article from the Jewish Chronicle about Raie Barnett's wedding.
On his death there were many obituaries including in The Times, a Perth newspaper; The Jewish World; and The Jewish Chronicle. The business continued with his new son-in-law, Philip Lyons, daughter Raie, and the Kosher King’s widow, Sarah. The original photos below of Emanuel Barnett, the Kosher King, are from his great-grandson, plus a photo found in The Jewish World publication of July 1914.
Here is an extract from Emanuel Barnett (Uncle Manny)’s obituary and tributes from The Jewish Chronicle, July 3 1914.
The photo below of 1910 is of E Barnett & Co Butchers at 75 to 83 Middlesex Street on Petticoat Lane Market day. Maybe it is Uncle Manny himself standing in the doorway with his imposing figure and beard welcoming in his customers? There are stories from the Barnett family and others on a Facebook site about memories of the East End talking about a large live beast being in the window as an advertisement.
The next photo is of the shop in the 1950s and below of the restaurant on the same site in 1966 just before Barnetts was closed due to the council demolishing the buildings. By this stage Barnetts was managed by the grandson of the Kosher King, Emanuel Barnett Lyons. Barnetts was famous for having the only kosher Wimpy Bar in the UK.
MOSES BARNETT (1862—1927), my great-grandfather was born on Middlesex Street in East End, London. He married Kate/Katherine Lipman in 1885 in the Black Lion Tavern, 63 Hanbury Street, East End, which was managed by Kate’s father, John Lipman. At the time of his marriage Moses was listed as a clothier cutter. By the time my grandad was born in 1896, his father Moses Barnett was working as a butcher at the Barnett family Kosher butchery.
Moses and Kate Barnett had seven children: Phoebe 1886, Rose 1889, Amelia 1891, Mark 1892, Samuel 1894, Emanuel 1896 (my grandfather), Leah 1898. There are stories about the girls being very musical and singing well. My grandad could play the piano by ear. The family remained practicing Jews. There were many wonderful occasions held by the Kosher King at The Poplars.
On connecting with my distant 3rd cousin once removed in 2023 in London I was able to share his family photos and find photos of my great-aunts and great-uncles, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather Moses Barnett taken by a professional photographer at a Jewish Purim festival held at The Poplars in 1905. It was the first time the NZ family and my UK second cousins had seen a photo of Moses Barnett, our mutual great-grandfather. These photos were of excellent quality and had appeared in an article about the Fancy Dress Purim Ball at The Poplars Finsbury Park, in the 1905 Tatler publication.
Clockwise from top left: Great-Aunt Rose; Great-Aunt Leah; Great-Aunt Amelia (Millie); Great-grandfather Moses; Great-Uncle Sam; and Great-Uncle Mark.
Above: Raie Barnett, daughter of the Kosher King, with an extract from the Tatler article, 1905;
Below: my grandfather Emanuel, aged 8, as Boy Blue
In 1910 Moses and Kate Barnett left London for a new life in Wellington, New Zealand. Moses was 48 and Kate was 47. Some of their children (Mark, Emanuel, Millie and Leah) left with them. Their oldest daughter Phoebe had already settled in Wellington in 1908 after her marriage to Jack Moses in London. Son Samuel and daughter Rose remained in London. Sam, aged about 16, seems to have lived at The Poplars with the Kosher King and family once his family left for NZ. Millie and Leah married in Wellington and moved to Australia with their Jewish husbands. I have yet to find their descendants.
The family story recently heard from my second cousin was that her grandmother Rose Barnett was married in the morning in 1910 and in the afternoon the family left for Wellington. It is not known why they left a comfortable life in London but maybe they wanted new opportunities for the family and a healthier climate. They also may have wanted to join their daughter Phoebe. The London and New Zealand families only connected in the years after 2019 with my family research and when I went to London. Both sides of the family were excited to reunite and share stories about the Barnett family and our shared great-grandparents who are buried in the Karori Jewish cemetery.
Below are maps of the London East End showing the Middlesex Street (Petticoat Lane) area where the Barnett family lived and worked until 1966.
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