MS 335 Correspondence of Henrietta Joseph to her sister Lady Samuel

Henrietta Joseph

Henrietta Marian Joseph, née Franklin, (1861-1938) was the eldest daughter of the merchant banker Ellis Abraham Franklin (1822-1909) and his wife Adelaide Samuel. Henrietta was married to George Joseph (1844-1917) and their first son was born in 1881. Beatrice Joseph, Henrietta’s youngest sister, married her first cousin Herbert Samuel, first Viscount Samuel, who was appointed as British High Commissioner of Palestine in 1920.

About the collection

Eight bundles of letters from Henrietta Joseph reflecting her extensive philanthropic and social activities, as well as containing family and personal news and comments upon the events of the time. A2045/6/15 includes a long and vivid comment on the General Strike in May 1926. The letters contain descriptions of her charitable work for the Jewish Infant Welfare Unit, the free dental care unit at Whitechapel and the Beatrice Club for Girls, her involvement in organisations such as the Union of Jewish Women (A2045/3/9) and her hectic social round of lunches, soirées, musical afternoons, visits to the countryside, theatre visits, lectures, etc. Her descriptions of visits of country villages and towns in England as well as to places in Italy are accompanied by pen and ink vignettes of local scenes. English places visited were North Yorkshire (MS 335 A2045/2/5-7); Lincoln (A2045/2/8); Norfolk (A2045/2/9, A2045/4/2, A2045/8/4 and A2045/8/26-28/1)); Cumberland (A2045/4/5-6); Wells (A2045/4/22); Seaton (A2045/5/1); Stroud, Somerset (A2045/5/28); Avebury, Wiltshire (A2045/5/29-30); Totnes, Devon (A2045/5/31); Looe (A2045/6/29-30) and Painswick, Gloucestershire (A2045/8/5 and A2045/8/32). There also are vignettes of Florence, 1925 (A2045/5/15); Verona, Lake Garda and Lake Como, 1926 (A2045/6/8-11).

Date range:

1916-33

Former references:

A2045

Size:

1 box