Grave 6
     

Reuben Somers

1854  – 1941

Unmarked grave

'The Oldest Jew in Bath' ran a headline in the Bath Chronicle in 1928. Reuben was a longstanding and well known member of the Bath Jewish community. In 1890 he signed a 21 year lease for the synagogue in Corn Street, and he was treasurer for the Synagogue in 1900-01. He led an extraordinary and long life. 

In a statement to the debtors court in 1904 Reuben stated that he was a Russian subject and in 1873 came to this country from Poland with capital of £20 and obtained employment as a tailor in London.  

His wife Annie (Crowsey) was also born in Poland and their first three children were all born in Shoreditch, London. They moved to Newport where three more children were born, before moving to Bath by 1885 when the birth of another daughter was registered in July followed by another daughter in 1889. 

Reuben is listed in the 1889 Bath Directory as a master tailor living at 15 Kingston Road.  In the early 1890s he  moved his workshop to 7 Railway Place. It was there in 1893 that his eldest son Hyman died aged 15 of tuberculosis. Tragedy struck again four years later when Hyman's sister Miriam died aged 12 also of tuberculosis. Both are buried here. 

In June 1902 Reuben moved to London to set up a tailors shop. It was not a successful venture. At the  debtors court in 1904 it was reported that 'he purchased for £20, money given to him by a friend, the fixtures and fittings of a tailors shop at 57 Goldhawk Rd. He traded there unsuccessfully until January 1903 when he closed the shop and has since been in employment in the trade'.  

By 1905 he is back in Bath working and living at 4 Pierrepoint Street.  He and Annie Somers ran a  boarding house:   'Apartments with or without board, strictly kosher at Washington House Pierrepoint Street' which was regular advertised in  the Jewish Chronicle . They also regularly held services  there at Yom Kippur and the Jewish New year. 

In 1912, their son Abraham died. He had been unwell since birth and was admitted to the Mendip asylum in February 1911. He died there a year later in June 1912. We believe that he is also buried here.


After Annie's death in 1915,  Rueben moved to 5 Cleveland Place West where he continue to run an orthodox boarding house. In 1924 the Jewish Chronicle advertised that 'Services for the High Festival will be held at Mr Somers Boarding House'.  

By 1927 he was living with his daughter Mary in her private hotel at 33 Henrietta  Street, which advertised as  strictly orthodox. Reuben died in 1941 in St Martin's Hospital. His great granddaughter, who still lives in Bath, reports that he and his wife Annie are buried here near the cottage with no headstones. 

The death of Miriam Somers aged 12 is recorded in  Bath in 1897. There is no headstone for her.  Miriam Somers  is still recorded in the 1901 census, aged 19 which fits with the Miriam Somers born in Monmouth. So who is the Miriam that died ? A sister Rose is listed in the 1891 census aged 6. And the  birth of Miriam Summers, mother Crowsey was registered in Bath in 1885. So it looks like there were two daughters with the same name! 

Abraham, Reuben and Annie's youngest son, is registered in the 1911 census as living in the Somerset and Bath Lunatic Asylum. His death in 1912 is registered  in Wells. It is very likely that he is buried here.  

Rachel Somers is listed In the 1911 census at a lodging house for working girls, 45 Gt Prescott St, Aldgate, London, aged 20, unmarried, inmate, out of work, born at Bath.

Mary Somers married George Willcox Jones. They had 2 children. George died in 1919 and Mary ran a private hotel at 33 Henrietta Street Bath until her death in 1950. 

Miriam Somers married  Adrien Charlebois in 1917. They had one son Anthony who died in Bath in 1999. Miriam was widowed by 1930 and died in Bath in 1944 aged 59.

Clara Somers never married. She died in 1960 in Mendip Hospital Wells. 
Adelaide Somers also never married. She helped her sister Mary to run the Henrietta hotel until 1950. She spent her last 2 years in Tonbridge, Kent and  died there  May 1963.  In 2006 the family moved her plaque  to Bath cemetery. 
Census records
  1881   24  LLanarth Street   Newport
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1891   15  Kingston Road   Bath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1901   15   Kingston Road   Walcot
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1911   4   Pierrepoint Street   Bath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1911   4   Pierrepoint Street   Bath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1921   5  Cleveland Place   Bath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
Associated addresses
  1919-1927   5  Cleveland Place West    Bath
  Strictly Orthodox boarding house
     33  Henrietta Street   Bath
  Boarding House / Hotel runs by Mary Somers, now Mrs Willcox Jones.
       St Martin's Hospital   Bath
  Hospital. Place of death Reuben Somers