Jewish Presence (3): Hessel Street
Hessel Street [previously Morgan Street], and Amazon Street
which runs
off it, are named for the 'Amazon of Stepney'. Phoebe Smith was born
locally in 1713. Masquerading as a man - or so she claimed - she
enlisted as a private in the 5th Regiment of Foot, probably to be near
her lover Samuel Golding (though other accounts say it was her father's
scheme so that she could stay with him after her mother's death). She
fought in the West Indies and Gibraltar, and was wounded in the Battle
of Fontenoy in 1745. At this point she revealed her secret to the
regimental colonel's wife - having previously told no-one, for you
know sir, a drunken man and a child always tell the truth. But I told
my story to the ground. I dug a hole that would hold a gallon and
whispered it there. She then married Golding; they settled
in Plymouth
and had nine children. When he died, she moved to Brighton and married
Thomas Hessel, a fisherman. After his death, she bought a donkey and
sold fish and vegetables in local villages, and in old age toys,
oranges and gingerbread near Brighton Pavilion. She wore a brown serge
dress with a clean white apron, a black hooded cloak, bonnet and mob
cap, and sported a large red handkerchief with white spots, and was
widely-known for her stories. She was rescued from the workhouse when
she was 95 by a pension of half a guinea a week from the Prince Regent,
and lived to a great age. The inscription on her headstone in St
Nicholas' churchyard, paid for by a local pawnbroker and later restored
by the Northumberland Fusiliers who considered her a member of their
regiment, reads|
In Memeory
of PHOEBE HESSEL who was born at Stepney in the Year 1713
She served
for many Years as a private soldier in the 5th Reg. of foot
in different parts of Europe
and in the
year 1745 fought under the
command of the DUKE of CUMBERLAND at the Battle of Fontenoy
where she
received a Bayonet wound in her Arm
Her long
life which commenced in
the time of QUEEN ANNE extended to the reign of GEORGE IV
by whose
munificence she received comfort and support in her latter Years
She
died at Brighton where she had long resided December 12th 1821 Aged 108
Years
|
Hessel Street [pictured
here in 1936] became the site of the East End's
main Jewish market,
open every day except Saturdays. The narrow street was filled with
small shops and stalls, many of them wet fish stalls. Chickens and
other poultry were kept in cages; buyers selected one, which was killed
according to kosher ritual and dressed while they shopped elsewhere.
There were also general shops, with pans and kettles hanging on
strings, and bookmakers. Some described it as an 'oriental' scene, the
last of the ghetto markets. 
Round the corner with Commercial Road
was the
Mackworth Arms [pictured
left, ground floor shop removed from image], whose landlord was
Nathan Dubosky. His wife always had
a plentiful supply of latkes on the counter, so it was known as Latke
House. 
A regular topic of conversation in the street were the productions at
the two Yiddish theatres in the area, the Pavilion Theatre in
Whitechapel Road and the Grand Palais at 133-139 Commercial Road (opposite Umberston Street). The Grand
Palais [left] opened in 1926 in a former cinema, and survived in regular use
until 1961, with occasional performances for a few more years. Its most
famous production was the wartime hit musical Der Kenig fun Lampeduza
(The King of Lampedusa), in 1942. The actress Anna Tzelniker
performed in the original production; in recent years she has regularly
recited her father's Yiddish poem about Hessel Street Market.
From 1940-47 the Aufrichtig family, who had escaped from Austria, ran Robert's Restaurant at 2-4 Umberston Street [first right] - now the site of the popular Lahore Kebab House. It then moved to 17 Commercial Road - here are more details. 
Vas, who had been
brought up in a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied
Germany, was an advocate of the 'Free Cinema' technique. It was shot with
a lightweight 16mm camera and tape recorder and presents impressions of
the street, combinging long shots and close-ups over a background of
natural sounds, snatches of conversations
and old Yiddish songs; there is no voice-over commentary. It has a
lyrical and nostalgic quality. Authorised viewers can see the film on BFI
screenonline.
A few shops remained - here is a greengrocer's in 1978. Right are two views of Rampart Street, parallel with and to the east of Cannon Street Road: a corner site, and a warehouse conversion.
1 104 Commercial Road (formerly 9 King's Place - between Batty & Christian Streets)