RISE FROM OBSCURITY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 17, 20 January 1940, Page 19

RISE FROM OBSCURITY

THE SASSOON FAMILY

The romantic rise of the Sassoon family frdm small Bagdad merchants to an international banking dynasty which dominated the Orient within a generation, provides one of the most fascinating stories of the last century. It is told by Margaret Goldsmith in "Beggars of Bagdad," published by Robert Hale, Ltd.

David Sassoon, the founder of this great modern family, was born in Bagdad in 1792. Twenty years later the Napoleonic wars and the industrial revolution brought about a tremendous expansion in world trade, and many opportunities in commerce were opening up in India, where the East India Company's monopoly had recently been abolished and private enterprise was just beginning. David Sassoon, a man of foresight and genius, moved by stages closer to this trade centre. He went first to Bushire and finally left Persia altogether for India. He / settled in Bombay, and there the family business was organised, with branches in Shanghai and other Oriental ports.

His son, another David, turned' towards England. He came to London in 1873 and was the first East India merchant on whom the -Freedom of the City was conferred. After this, there were always Sassoons in English politics and family life, in the arts, in literature and learning. Members of the family were accepted by the aristocracy: Edward VII was frequently a guest at the Sassoons' home in Brighton.

Miss Goldsmith traces the story of this family from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day, when there-are Sassoons in many sections of our national life, and when one of them is generally regarded as the most English of English poets. The book is the record of a remarkable family journey from Pex*sia to the heart of England. ■