155
established in Shanghai, Sassoon moved his legitimate articles of trade there until 1858. Meanwhile, Jardine, Matheson and Company, which had hithertofore been the major trader in opium, had been buying through native Indian firms in India and carrying it in their own ships to China. It was partly due to Sassoon's manipulation of the opium supply and the opium market that led Jardine, Matheson to abandon the opium trade and to diversify its interests in Hong Kong and China. After 1871, Sassoon companies controlled the opium market.
David Sassoon died in Bombay in 1864. He was married twice, and had a number of sons, who took turns managing the business in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London. After David's death, his second son, Elias David Sassoon, organized E.D. Sassoon and Company. Thereafter, there were two Sassoon companies, known by contemporaries as the Old Sassoon (David Sassoon and Company), and the New Sassoon (E.D. Sassoon and Company). A number of employees of the Old Sassoon, such as Silas Hardoon, joined E.D. Sassoon and Company as partners.
Other Families
Shortly after the arrival of the British Consul at Shanghai in November 1843, three young employees of David Sassoon and Company began working and living in Shanghai. The three were E.J. Abraham, M.S. Moshee, and J. Reuben, the last a founder of the Jewish congregation, Sheerith Israel, in Shanghai. In quick order, other Jewish young men arrived at Shanghai to work for the Sassoons, including a number of names later distinguished on the China coast. At first, the young men returned to Baghdad or Bombay for their brides. Eventually, as more Jewish families settled in Shanghai, marriage partners were chosen locally.
The Abrahams
Despite being identified by Cecil Roth in The Sassoon Dynasty as the one Jewish merchant family of Shanghai closely associated with scholarship, the Abraham men were first of all traders handling commodities typical of that time, including opium. Eleazer Abraham had come to China as a clerk in the David Sassoon and Company. In 1843 he was in Hong Kong, and in 1850 in Shanghai. In 1904 D.E.J. Abraham was recorded to have sued the Sassoon Apcar Steamship Company to recover opium which had allegedly gone astray.14 The grandson of the first Abraham in Shanghai, the noted R.D. Abraham, was elected leader
155
established in Shanghai, Sassoon moved his legitimate articles of trade there until 1858. Meanwhile, Jardine, Matheson and Company, which had hithertofore been the major trader in opium, had been buying through native Indian firms in India and carrying it in their own ships to China. It was partly due to Sassoon's manipulation of the opium supply and the opium market that led Jardine, Matheson to abandon the opium trade and to diversify its interests in Hong Kong and China. After 1871. Sassoon companies controlled the opium market.
David Sassoon died in Bombay in 1864. He was married twice, and had a number of sons, who took turns managing the business in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London. After David's death, his second son, Elias David Sassoon, organized E.D. Sassoon and Company. Thereafter, there were two Sassoon companies, known by contemporaries as the Old Sassoon (David Sassoon and Company), and the New Sassoon (E.D. Sassoon and Company). A number of employees of the Old Sassoon, such as Silas Hardoon, joined E.D. Sassoon and Company as partners.
Other Families
Shortly after the arrival of the British Consul at Shanghai in November 1843, three young employees of David Sassoon and Company began working and living in Shanghai. The three were E.J. Abraham, M.S. Moshee, and J. Reuben, the last a founder of the Jewish congregation, Sheerith Israel, in Shanghai. In quick order, other Jewish young men arrived at Shanghai to work for the Sassoons, including a number of names later distinguished on the China coast. At first, the young men returned to Baghdad or Bombay for their brides. Eventually, as more Jewish families settled in Shanghai, marriage partners were chosen locally.
The Abrahams
Despite being identified by Cecil Roth in The Sassoon Dynasty as the one Jewish merchant family of Shanghai closely associated with scholarship, the Abraham men were first of all traders handling commodities typical of that time, including opium. Eleazer Abraham had come to China as a clerk in the David Sassoon and Company. In 1843 he was in Hong Kong, and in 1850 in Shanghai. In 1904 D.E.J. Abraham was recorded to have sued the Sassoon Apcar Steamship Company to recover opium which had allegedly gone astray.14 The grandson of the first Abraham in Shanghai, the noted R.D. Abraham, was elected leader
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