Photographs by Dawne Sheldrick-Keating
Article by Edan Tal
The story of a forgotten burial ground in Salford and the incredible story of a young girl's family descendants as they fight wars, mingle with power and adapt over centuries.
Salford has thrown up more than its fair share of events over the years but just when you think it has revealed all it has to give, something new jumps out and surprises you.
One such surprise hit me only recently when a friend of mine took me down Brindle Heath Road to show me Pendleton cemetery. Only a small piece of land, it goes unnoticed by most, but this ground was being used for burials as early as the 18th century and is home to the oldest Jewish burial ground in Greater Manchester.
Burials took place here from as early as 1794 through to 1840 on the grounds of St Thomas’s Parish Church, for a rent of an annual peppercorn and a lease of £43 8s 9d. Measuring at just 12ft x 15ft, The ‘Manchester Old Hebrew Congregation Cemetery’ doesn’t leave much room to swing a kosher chicken, but what it does leave is a startlingly rich legacy.
The plaque adjacent to the site lists the 22 names recovered from the surviving records of the cemetery. All these people could be considered amongst the founders of what is now a thriving Jewish community in the area but the life they each led was a thousand miles away from how we see things now. Curious as to what happened to these people and how their families fared through the generations, I decided to delve into the history books to discover their family trees with one story in particular proving something special.
Rebecca Behrens was just 14 years old when she passed away on 19th February 1832 and buried at Pendleton Jewish Cemetery, in a time when child deaths were tragically frequent. This is the start of the remarkable story of a young girl’s genes through war, aristocracy and modern life.
Rebecca’s father, Solomon Behrens, was the earliest in the lineage which I was able to trace. Born in 1787 in Hamburg, Solomon became one of the wealthiest industrialists in Victorian Britain with a wealth of around £700 000. He was also part of the group that supplied funding to start up Owens College, a university based in the north focussing on science; Owens College would later grow to become the University of Manchester. Her mother, Anna Lucas was the sister of Phillip Lucas who, along with his business partner and nephew Henry Micholls, is considered the first Jew to arrive in Manchester. The Lucas family were previously cotton traders working in the West Indies.
Two years after Rebecca’s death, her younger brother Edward was born; it would be through him that the family dynasty would be continued. Like his father before him, Edward too was able to amass a great amount of wealth but as a merchant of the powerful East India Company. He and his wife Abigail had seven children (who I could find) and in 1860 purchased the magnificent Oak House mansion in the Fallowfield area of Manchester. Edward and Abigail also maintained great interests in education; Edward was a founder and president of the Manchester Jews School with Abigail being cited in minutes from early meetings at Manchester High School for Girls. Perhaps most movingly, following Abigail’s death in 1905, the Oak House mansion was left to Manchester University as a halls of residence for women; legend has it that Abigail’s ghost remains at in the house watching over the students. Edward left an estate worth over £550 000 and from his and Abigail’s children, two particularly notable lineages started through their sons Walter and Clive.
Walter became highly successful himself, becoming President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Paris and marrying Evelyn Kate Beddington. Their twin sons Walter jr and Edward Beddington-Behrens each went to fight in the first world war. Walter, a 2nd Lt. of the Royal Field Artillery, was just 20 when he died in action at Ypres in 1917 whilst recovering wounded comrades. His brother Edward was more fortunate; surviving the war he received two medals for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty”. The first taking a wounded sergeant under-cover and the second for maintaining communication lines during heavy bombardment, described in the latter as “his fearlessness and determination were magnificent and his energy unremitting.”
Following the war, Edward went to pursue an extremely successful career in politics and economics. He worked for the Permanent Secretariat of League of Nations at a young age and became Vice-Chairman and one of the founder members of The European Movement, a service for which he was knighted. Both of these coming either side of being a Regimental Officer at Dunkirk. He authored many books and articles and became known as the ‘Millionaire Maker’ during his work in The City as well as being an advisor to Harold Macmillan
Sir Edward’s private life could also be considered as full as his professional life. Being brought up in an extremely cultured background, Sir Edward frequently mixed with those in the art world with Sir Stanley Spencer being a notable close friend. He also married twice before settling down with his third wife Renée Kane. The first was Barbara Burton, daughter of Sir Montegue Burton whose famous line of tailors’ shops bears his name. Sir Edward’s second wife was, incredibly, a member of the Russian royal family, Princess Irina Obolensky, whose family were forced to flee the Russian revolution in 1917. Not bad for a descendant of a Salford lass!
Going back in time to another one of Rebecca’s nephews, Clive Behrens, also reveals an intriguing story. Major Clive was member of the Royal British Legion and now has a branch in his name based in Leeds. In 1899 he was married to the extensively and impressively named Charlotte Louisa Adela Evelina Rothschild; daughter of the even more imposingly titled Nathan Mayer de Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild who was a prominent member of the notorious dynasty and the first Jewish man to be admitted to the House of Lords, a father in law to make even Robert de Niro in Meet The Parents flinch!
Upon their wedding Baron Rothschild gave Swinton Grange as a gift to Major Clive and his daughter. Swinton Grange - a beautiful manor house in York - is set in over nine acres of land and contains 27 rooms, tennis courts and every single known native British tree at the time of planting. Already having achieved status as a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace, Major Clive also established himself as a successful farmer and became president of the York Shorthorn Breeders Association. When asked about the competitive threat posed by the Aberdeen Angus, Major Clive is quoted as saying, “One thing is for certain, Shorthorns will never be replaced by any other kind of stock. It is up to us to continue breeding Shorthorns and I ask you to breed only the best.”
Major Clive and Charlotte had 3 children together; Peggy, John and William with the latter rising through the army ranks and came to be known as Colonel Billy Behrens. In turn one of Colonel Billy’s sons married into the McCormick family who had close family ties with the Rockefellers and another who is still a practising Judge in Britain to this day. Judge John Behrens is the Specialist Chancery Judge for Newcastle and Leeds.
Finding my may through the A to Z map of the Behrens family history, two people from the current generation could be traced; Judge John’s son Timothy Behrens and Sir Edward’s son, Serge Obolensky Beddington-Behrens. Timothy’s current job isn’t exactly rocket science but it is brain surgery (well, nearly). He is currently a neuroscience research lecturer at Oxford University with research interests including “the paths of the wires that connect different regions of the brain” and understanding the brain from a computational perspective.
Serge is a psychotherapist and spiritual life coach running counselling sessions from his home in Majorca, according to his website, “Serge Obolensky Beddington-Behrens,M.A. (Oxon.), Ph.D was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford. He started out as a stockbroker, before moving into book publishing and running an art gallery in Central London, and then relocating to the U.S. to train as a Transpersonal Psychotherapist, Life Coach and Relationship Consultant.”
It is funny to think all this can be unravelled through googling a name of a young girl buried in Salford in the 19th century. The lives of the descendants who I managed to uncover really do seem other worldly, especially when taking into context how the parallel time-lime of the location of their ancestry has panned out. It can be quite staggering to contemplate how a shared history has grown to become a chasm of differing social class. Though at the same time it is refreshing to witness just how much of an impact Salford has had on the wider world and how a family from our local neighbourhood has found itself mixing with some of the most influential people of the last two centuries. 181 years have elapsed since Rebecca’s death and her family have expanded into all kinds of ventures that she would never have thought possible; in 181 years from now, if someone researches into our grave stones, maybe they too will find the ancestor to the ancestor to war heroes and great politicians – unless they find an Asda car park instead.
Please don’t be afraid to post below the line any comments you might have on the Behrens family or anything else to do with Pendleton Jewish Cemetery.