From Australia’s Jewish past

John Joel Cohen – jeweller, watch maker, silversmith and optician

John was born in Manchester in 1799, the son of Frances and Simeon, a jeweller. Whilst named John Joel, he was also referred to as Joel John.

From the age of fourteen, he served his craft as a jeweller, silversmith, and watchmaker under his father. He was part of a small group of Jewish shopkeepers and professional men from Liverpool, who had become successful in business. They were attributed as having significance in the advancing status of Manchester Jewry. John, unlike the usual concept of the poor Jewish hawker of the times, had a permanent jeweller’s shop in Prince Street, one of the “good” streets in Manchester, and periodically travelled to some of the smaller towns in the textile belt, carrying gold and silver watches, diamond brooches and rings, gold and silver pencil cases, snuff boxes, silver spoons, pearl ornaments and other miscellaneous objects, packed in cotton wool in two carpet bags.

The Manchester Guardian of 12 January 1833 published a report of a robbery in the town of Haslingden when John’s carpet bags containing stock worth one thousand pounds were stolen from his horse and carriage as it stood outside an inn. Interestingly, it was reported that John came from Liverpool, but there is no mention of him in Liverpool records. Perhaps he had gone there to establish his independence from his father’s business, and, at the age of twenty-one, later returned to Manchester to take a more senior role in the family business.

He married Rebecca in 1820, and she unfortunately passed away in Manchester in 1832, at the age of thirty-two. Within the next six years, John remarried and in 1838, travelled to Sydney with his second wife and two children.

In July 1839, John opened his business called ‘Temple of Fashion’ at 479 George Street, assisted by his son. He was in direct and acrimonious competition with his late wife Rebecca’s brother Mosely Moss Cohen, a jeweller, who became involved in a series of minor court cases. In June 1843, after a public disagreement over rent with his landlord, John moved his extensive collection to other premises in George Street. He produced fine presentation colonial silver, and in November 1844, had on display an engraved silver salver made for presentation to the Chief Justice Sir James Dowling. John, as reported in the publication Australian Silver, was known to be of some repute, as documented by his work, specifically as a silversmith. From 1845, the firm was known as JJ Cohen and Sons. After the discovery of gold in NSW, they became exporters of gold.

Mosely, who referred to John in oblique, and possibly denigrating terms and reduced his profession to being a “dabbler in jewellery’’. By contrast, Mosely Moss Cohen appeared as a model of respectability, having arrived as a free settler from Birmingham in 1828 and established a successful business in George Street.

Although not a seat holder of the York Street Synagogue, John supported Jewish equality. In September 1844, he was a member of a Jewish Deputation to the Legislative Council recommending denominational education. In 1859, the status of his part-Jewish daughter Julia led to the secession of the Macquarie Street congregation from the York Street Synagogue.

Joel took an active interest in civic affairs and was on the Citizens List of eligible voters in 1842. In the first City of Sydney election in November 1842, he supported three candidates. In 1843, the Sydney District Council took offices on his premises, and in August 1844, he and his son, Francis, attended the Lord Mayor’s Ball. In August 1844, he supported a Citizens’ Petition and delivered an eloquent public speech condemning the misuse of parliamentary privilege in the Legislative Council. John was a councillor of the Sydney Municipal Council from 1 November 1852 to 1 February 1853, resigning due to illness.
John died on 11 June 1853, aged 55, and was buried by the Reverend Jacob Isaacs in the Jewish section of the Devonshire Street Cemetery; his remains were later relocated to Botany Cemetery. He was survived by his second wife, three sons and four daughters from his two marriages.

The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:
AJHS Journal 10, (3) 1986 Author Noni Guthrie; Leski Auctions; National Library of Australia; Silver Spoon Antiques; City of Sydney Aldermen’s List; Sotheby’s

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