In the 1891 UK Census record of April 5, we found a young couple, Joseph Lipschitz, age 22, and wife Helena, age 20, from Russia, sharing a workshop and lodging at 33 Hare Street in the heart of Jewish area of London England. He was working as a Cabinet Maker.
Aurial Joseph Lipschitz was born in 1869 in Mglin, Russia. He emigrated from Russia to England in the late 1880s. By 1891 he had recently married Helen (Helena) Bovshaw (or Bovsheveroff), also Jewish, born in Odessa (Ukraine).
“Emigration was an important phenomenon in the life of the Jews of the
Russian Empire between 1881 and 1914. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia,
1,980,000 Jews left the country during these years.”
In the 1891 Census, there were seven young adults and three children living at 33 Hare Street. The male adults were all “Cabinet Makers”. Aurial Joseph and Helen are the last two names on the list below.
Hare Street is a short east-west street, marked by a yellow dot on the map below. This map is from the famous Charles Booth Poverty Maps project of 1889-90.
The area of the Hare Street address is described in the Charles Booth notebooks as having a colourful and rough inner-city history.
About ten months after the Census record, in Jan-Feb-Mar of 1892, Helen and Aurial Joseph had a daughter they named Cecilia.
Later we have records in which Cecilia states her birth as 26 Oct 1891. There is a similar discrepancy with Solomon’s birth record.
Jack London, American journalist and author, wrote The People of the Abyss in 1902. It is a lively, compassionate and heartbreaking account of the area of London where Aurial Joseph and Helen lived in 1891. Jack London is writing primarily about the chronic poverty in east-end London. The same area was also the entry point for many new immigrants from Europe and Russia, on their way, like our Lipschitz family, to a better life.
London writes: “It is notorious that here in the Ghetto the houses of the poor are greater profit earners than the mansions of the rich. Not only does the poor worker have to live like a beast, but he pays proportionately more for it than does the rich man for his spacious comfort. A class of house-sweaters [workers in sweatshops] has been made possible by the competition of the poor for houses. There are more people than there is room, and numbers are in the workhouse because they cannot find shelter elsewhere. Not only are houses let, but they are sublet, and sub-sublet down to the very rooms.
“A part of a room to let.” This notice was posted a short while ago in a window…
… beds are let on the three-relay system—that is, three tenants to a bed, each occupying it eight hours, so that it never grows cold; while the floor space underneath the bed is likewise let on the three-relay system. …” p.219.
After reading the Jack London’s observations, the 1891 Census record of the seven adults and three children living at 33 Hare Street becomes a distressing reality.
We have uploaded the full pdf of Jack London book here: Jack London People_of_the_Abyss
1900 Walthamstow
By 1900, the family has moved out to the “country”, to Walthamstow, a suburb north-east of London.
Their second child Solomon was born on 28 July 1900 at 65 Markhouse Rd. in Walthamstow.
His birth was not registered until 10 October 1900.
1901 UK Census
In the 1901 UK Census, the family was living in Walthamstow at 65 Markhouse Road. Aurial J. Lipschitz is a Furniture Maker. Daughter Cecilia is nine years old, and baby Solomon is a few months old [last 4 rows below]
Walthamstow:
1910-1911 Liverpool
On 17 Feb 1910, their third child Samuel was born in Liverpool. We have this information from later documents about Samuel Lipschitz.
Aurial’s business was listed in the 1911 Liverpool Directory.
1911 Derby
The 1911 UK Census, 2 April, 1911, shows the Lipschitz family at 2 Empress Road, in West Derby, Derbyshire. The address looks like a house in modern street views, but it must have had a workshop. There are signs of stress in this record.
Aurial Joseph Lipschitz, age 42, is Out of Employment, but with a note “Timber Trade“.
Helen Lipschitz, age 40, is House Keeper and Saw Mill Owner.
Cecilia Lipschitz, age 19, is a Scholar Student, Solomon Lipschitz, age 10, scholar, and Samuel, age 1, the new baby.
The Lipschitz family, in their quest for work and a good place to raise their family, have covered a lot of territory in England. We have records of only a few.
The big move to Canada starts in 1912
On 10 Feb 1912, Aurial arrives alone in Portland Maine, on his way to Winnipeg. He lists his occupation as “Merchant Builder”.
Why Winnipeg?
We will continue the story in the next post “Liverpool to Winnipeg”: https://artword.net/lipsett/?p=126
