46 Crispin Street - The Noted House for Paper Bags

46 Crispin Street - The Noted House for Paper Bags

Joshua Saul Ross - may he rest in peace - was my wife’s maternal grandfather. He was born on January 26, 1903 in London, England which, at that time, was the acme of imperial power and international finance. It's an understatement to say that “Joshua Saul Ross” is not the most famous name of all Londoners, but his birthplace - 46 Crispin Street - is today considered one of the ten most unusual, recognizable and photographed storefronts in the city. The place even has its own tag line: The Noted House for Paper Bags.

Wait -- my ancestor was born in a paper bag factory? Yes. Sort of.

46 Crispin Street, Spitalfields, London

Founded in the 1830s at this site, “Donovan Brothers” was an authentic family business. The O’Donovans came to Spitalfields from Dublin to escape the potato famine and soon began to make and sell paper products for the Spitalfields Market. (In the photo, below, the Market is the structure being renovated at the far right, with 46 Crispin on the left of the picture. The two locations have always been literally a stone’s thrown apart.)  Although 46 Crispin Street is no longer a working shop, and hasn’t been for some time, Donovan Bros is still a very active London company serving the city’s many thriving markets. (See http://goo.gl/iOB5yy.) 

The brick building itself remains in relatively good condition, being under the protective jurisdiction of The Spitalfields Historic Trust. Its original hand-painted signs still capture the spirit of London shops of the Victorian era. In fact, the signage is one of the very few, preserved pieces of evidence of the Irish wave of immigration that preceded the arrival of the Jews in Spitalfields later in the 1800s.

According to the 1891 census, the building was home to at least two families:  the Katz family from Holland (the father, Meyer, being a paper box maker); and a larger Russian/Polish family of which the father, Jacob, was a master tailor. Ten years later (1901), the census notes three different families living there, all described as being of Russian descent and all employed in the tailoring or boot making trades. 

Over the years, the number of families living at this address, and the rate of turnover, are probably typical for such houses in the neighborhood, given that this is a 3-4 storey building in a community of immigrants whose general aim was to make enough money to move on to their ultimate destination: usually, North America.

As for the Ross family, we don’t know exactly when they began living at 46 Crispin Street, how long they were there, or who else shared the building with them. However, it was clearly identified as their residential address in January 1903 when “Solomon” (being the name given on the Entry of Birth, seen below) came into this world.  Then, by the summer of 1907, the Ross family had left the area, crossed the Atlantic and began their new life in Toronto. 

For all Rosses and, in particular, for those who are direct descendants of Joshua Saul Ross, there may be some comfort in knowing that the Donovan Brothers’ Noted House for Paper Bags survives in much the same condition as it was when serving as the Ross family home in January 1903.  It’s even a bit amusing (or flattering) that this birthplace is still a well-known London shopfront among connoisseurs of Victorian signage. It’s like having a special, family heritage plaque - “Grampa Saul slept here” - or, on a grander scale, a reminder of all the Spitalfields immigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries who lived in and passed through this neighborhood, on their way to a better life. 

Spitalfields: A Family History Lesson in Jewish Geography

It was sooty, overcrowded and impoverished; a most appropriate setting for Oliver Twist; and, not surprisingly, the haunt of Jack the Ripper. It was home to struggling artisans with large young families, to the destitute, the prostitute, and to shady criminal elements. That was the Spitalfields area of East London, as the Victorian era gave way to the 20th century.

It was cheap to live in Spitalfields and, accordingly, it became a magnet to waves of immigrants who were fleeing persecution, discrimination and poverty. By the 1880s it had become the major destination for East European Jews escaping the Polish pogroms and harsh conditions in Russia, as well as for Dutch entrepreneurial Jews. In fact, at the turn of the century, Spitalfields was so overwhelmingly Jewish it was probably one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, with over 40 Synagogues. (Note: as the 20th century progressed, the Jewish presence diminished, to be replaced by an influx of Bangladeshi immigrants.)

Ezras Chaim Synagogue, 2 Heneage Street

Spitalfields plays an uncanny, important role in the histories of the SOLOMON and ROSS families. Barney’s father Hyman Solomon was born there, at 30 Heneage Street, in 1895; while Noreen’s father, Joshua Saul Ross, was born there, at 46 Crispin Street*, in 1903. These two children were born, and their families lived, only a few blocks apart! (While visiting this area, it took less than ten minutes for Carin, Dylan and I to walk between those two addresses.) In spite of this proximity within the tightly knit Spitalfields community, there is nothing to suggest that any members of the Solomon or Ross families ever mingled with one another - in school, on the streets or at Synagogue; or that anyone in either family even knew of the other’s existence. Such awareness would take another fifty years to develop.

In Crispin Street, looking towards Spitalfields Market: 1912

The closely paralleled family paths continued. After both families had arrived from Eastern Europe at the end of the 1800s; and, after both had settled and raised their children in the rather tough environment of Spitalfields; then both families decided to depart - the Rosses in 1907 and the Solomons in 1913 - for a transatlantic journey which ended in Toronto, Ontario. Eventually, in twists and turns, that journey continued onward to its denouement in Detroit, Michigan. It was in that unlikely American city that the children of Hyman finally crossed paths and united with the children of Saul. And, as they say, “the rest is history”. 

*The next blog: 46 Crispin Street - The Noted House for Paper Bags