Hessel Street

Jewish Presence (3): Hessel Street

The street name phoebehessel

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

The street market

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.

frumkin

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.

Also on Commercial Road, at 162-164 on the corner with Cannon Street Road, was Frumkins, 'The House for Weddings' - a wholesale and retail wine, spirit and liquor merchants [pictured right 1914]. Its story, with more pictures, is told here and here. The proprietor was the grandmother of Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

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 Pavilion in Commercial Road. The Grand Palais 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.

The Vanishing Street

In 1961, the day before the bulldozers moved in to replace the old buildings with high-rise blocks, Robert Vas made a 20-minute film showing a typical day in the life of the street, and its declining but still vibrant Jewish community. Initially called District for Sale, it was funded by the British Film Institute Experimental Film Fund and the Jewish Chronicle, and was approved by the Council for Christians and Jews before its release; it was first shown at the National Film Theatre in November 1962.

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.

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