Philip Haldinstein and family of Thorpe Lodge Norwich
Philip Haldinstein and family of Thorpe Lodge Norwich by Dr Phillip Kirby.
Introduction
This article looks at Philip Haldinstein (1819-1901) and his family who settled in Norwich and lived at Thorpe Lodge for a period of time. The research is part of a larger paper I have written on the various families they married into including the Caro, Soman, and Samuel. These were Jewish families who settled in Norwich and had a major role in the development of the city and Jewish community. My interest in the Haldenstein family originated from a family tree passed to me by a distant cousin which included Philip Haldinstein and his line.
The Haldinstein family origins
Jews did not have surnames mostly until the mid to late 18th Century and from very early times adopted patronymic, tribal or religious names. This continued largely until Napoleonic times when various decrees in different parts of Europe forced the adoption of surnames
The surname Haldinstein is probably adopted from a place name and includes spelling variations. Some members of the family changed their surname to Haldin and others settled in South Africa, New Zealand, South America and Holland.
The Haldinstein family played a significant role in the development of the Norwich shoe manufacturing trade becoming major employers. However, the 1st and 2nd World War brought death to members of the Haldinstein family.
The family roots of Philip Haldinstein were referred to in the death notice for his mother Rachel. “Death 19.1.1871 at her residence Nicholas strasse Breslau, relict of the late Mr W Haldinstein of Lissa and beloved mother of Philip Haldinstein of Norwich, in her 71st year” (Jewish Chronicle,1871)
Philip Haldinstein’s father was a linen manufacturer. Philip learned about the fur trade for the Leipzig market. He originally came to London but returned home because of his mother’s wishes but seeing few prospects settled in Norwich.
The 1852 Naturalisation papers for Philip Haldinstein record that he arrived in the UK pre 1851.
He married Rachel Soman in 1848. She was born in Great Yarmouth daughter of David Soman.
(The Norfolk Ancestor Dec 2018 edition has a short article entitled David Soman-Norwich Shoe Pioneer and Remarkable Man written by a great great grandson of David Soman).
There were several children from the Philip and Rachel marriage.
1.1 Woolfe GRO Birth index record Dec qtr. 1848 Norwich 13 263
1.2 Alfred Isaac GRO Birth index record 1850
1.3 Rosetta GRO Birth Index record March qtr. 1852 Norwich 5b 166
1.4 Alice GRO Birth Index Record Sept qtr. 1855 Norwich 4b 128
1.5 Caroline GRO Birth Index Record June qtr. 1857 Norwich 4b 157
1.6 Eliza GRO Birth Index Record June qtr. 1859 4b 167
1.7 Hyman Henry GRO Birth Index Record March qtr. 1863 Norwich 4b 128
Philip Haldinstein is best known in Norwich for his shoe and boot manufacturing business but this was not his original trade. The 1851 census record him age 27 cap maker and employer of 6, married with sons Woolf and Alfred living in Bridewell Alley Norwich.
Philip Haldinstein developed his original business to become a cap and shoe manufacturer. From 1861-1871 he was living in Queen Street.
THORPE ROAD –THORPE LODGE
By 1881 Philip and Rachel had moved to Thorpe Road Norwich with their son Henry aka Hyman.
Philip Haldinstein had retired by the 1891 Census and was still living in Thorpe Road age 67 with his wife and son Henry a barrister. His wife Rachel died in 1894.
The Haldinstein Shoe manufacturing company
David Soman passed his Norwich shoe making business to his son in law Philip Haldinstein in 1853. The business developed with premises in a large building between Queen’s Street and Princes Street.
When Wolf Haldinstein died in 1896, his son Alfred became the sole proprietor of the company which employed two thousand people in 1904.The company had extended its business to other parts of the country. The business was sold to Bally in 1946. (For a detailed history of the company and Norwich shoe trade see The Story of the Norwich Boot and Shoe Trade Published by Norwich Heritage Projects 2013)
Philip Haldinstein died in 1901 at the Lawns Norwich. His probate included several Norwich charities and family bequests revealing how the Samuel, Caro, Davis, Jacobs and Jonas lines married into the Haldinstein.
The link to Thorpe Lodge continued when Alfred Isaac Haldinstein the second child of Philip and Rachel lived in the property with his second wife Edith Emanuel (see 1911 census). His first wife was Emma Samuel (1848-1885). She was the daughter of Michael Samuel and Emma Jacobs. Alfred died at Thorpe Lodge April 20, 1919.
The Thorpe Green WW1 memorial recorded the death of Alfred and Edith’s son
Capt. Frank Woolf Haldinstein.
He died 7th March 1917 at Bray sur Somme, aged 22. Buried Bray Military Cemetery. At a memorial service in Norwich synagogue there was reference to ‘the pathetic circumstances in which Capt. Haldenstein’s life was forfeited in his brave endeavour to render assistance to a brother officer who had beenwounded’: Jewish Chronicle, 30th March 1917
Further family links between Haldinstein and Samuel can be seen on the Blue Plaque in Norwich commemorating
Sir Arthur Michael Samuel 1872-1942
1st Jewish Lord Mayor of Norwich 1st Baron Mancroft eldest son of Benjamin Samuel 1840-1890 and Rosetta Haldinstein died 1907 eldest daughter of Philip Haldinstein and Rachel Soman. His grandfather was Michael Samuel 1799-1857
Haldinstein –Saloman and the Holocaust (Shoah)
Constance aka Connie Emma Haldinstein 1879-1943 (daughter of Alfred Isaac Haldinstein and Emma) married Saloman Elias a doctor from the Netherlands where they lived with their children. Constance was murdered on her way to or in Sobibor. Saloman was murdered in Sobibor 1943. Their son Alfred died 28 Jan 1944 in Auschwitz. Joyce, Constance’s sister escaped to Holland.
(House of Memories: Uncovering the Past of a Dutch Jewish Family. Arnoud Jan Bijsterveld, 2016)
Various members of the Haldinstein and related lines are buried in Earlham Jewish section Bowthorpe Road Cemetery (see CemeteryScribes website for data and tombstone photographs on the lines).
