Grave 103
     

Elizabeth Simmons

1807  – 1857

…. Aged 50 
[and…]
… in the year [5]617 
May her soul be bound up in the bond of life eternal

... בת חמש
... שנת תריז
תנצבה


SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
ELIZABETH SIMMONS
DIED NOVEMBER 22ND 1857
AGED ...


Elizabeth was born in London between 1807 and 1813. Her father was Jacob Simmonds 1760-1827 who was born in France, and her mother was Leah Zachariah 1764-1843,  born in London. Jacob and Leah had six daughters and one son. 

Elizabeth never married. She and her two unmarried sisters Jane and Hannah were living in Bath by the 1851 census and ran a lodging house at 96 Hanover Street and subsequently 2 Hanover Street, the latter possibly purchased out of an inheritance from their uncle John Zacharaiah in 1852. 

Living with the sisters in 1851 was their maternal uncle Levy Zachariah, aged 76 and registered as blind. He died in 2 Hanover Street in 1861. Is he buried in Bath in a now unmarked grave which we believe is the adjacent grave 102.

Elizabeth died aged 50 on 22 November 1857 at the lodging house at 2 Hanover Street, with sister Hannah present at her death. Elizabeth's will records that she was a spinster and had effects under £300. 

Sisters Jane and Hannah continued to run the lodging house at 2 Hanover Street until the mid 1860s. They both died in London.
Elizabeth's mother Leah née Zachariah, holds the key to the family history. She came from a large family, with branches in London, Portsea Hampshire, and Bath. 

Leah's brother (Elizabeth's uncle) John Zachariah was a wealthy 'owner of property' who lived in Hampstead, London.  When he died in 1852, he left £1,300 to each of the children of his late sister Leah: Sophia, Sarah, Jane, Elizabeth, Rose, Hannah and Samuel. When John's wife, Phoebe, died in 1861 she left 19 guineas to Bath Synagogue.

We don't know why Elizabeth and her sisters moved to Bath.

But their maternal uncle John Zachariah, the wealthy property owner who lived in London, is registered as having insurance policies in Bath in the 1820s: 24 Stanhope Street, 2 Chandos Bldgs and 4 Pulteney Street. So perhaps he bought the house in Hanover Street for them. He is listed in the local papers as a visitor to Bath and in June 1834 there is a large sale of French furniture, glass and paintings acquired by John during 'six years residence in France'.

Census records
  1851   96  Hanover Street   Bath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1861   2  Hanover Street   Bath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation