Ikey Solomon
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Isaac (Ikey) Solomon (1785-1850) was an English Jewish petty criminal and became an extremely successful receiver of stolen property, being described in The Times (10.9.1827) as 'the most extensive fence in the metropolis'. This criminal is most famous for being the person on whom Charles Dickens based his character Fagin on in the novel Oliver Twist. He has been the subject of several other works, including The First Fagin by Judith Sackville-O'Donnell, Prince of Fences: The life and crimes of Ikey Solomons by J.J. Tobias, and an Australian four-part miniseries called The Potato Factory directed by Robert Marchand, in which Ikey was portrayed by Ben Cross. [1]
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[edit] Early life
Ikey was born and lived in the East End of London, the son of a Henry Solomon. Henry worked in various places in London, and once remarked "I have worked for every factory in London"[2]. Little is known about his mother, aside from that she looked after her husband, Henry, well into his old age.
[edit] Criminal Life
Ikey set up a pawn shop in London's East End, in Bell Lane in the vicinity of Petticoat Lane[3]. A large number of Jews at that time went into this line of business. The pawn shop provided Solomon with a plausible excuse when he was found with other people's possessions on his person.
Fencing was the name given to the reselling of stolen goods in this way, and Ikey Solomon was one of the most active fences in London. As there are accounts of Ikey buying whole warehouses of stolen property and to have purchased stolen property in bulk it is unlikely that he would have bothered with meagre pickings of an Artful Dodger or a Charley Bates.
Ikey married Ann (or Hannah) Julian on 7 January 1807 in the Great Synagogue, Duke's Place, London. They had six children.
On 17 April 1810 Solomon, along with a man named Joel Joseph, were caught stealing a pocket book (valued at 4 shillings) and £40 in bank notes from one Mr. Thomas Dodd outside Westminster Hall (the site of Parliament) where a large crowd had gathered for a public meeting. Police chased the pair and caught them inside the Hall. Joseph attempted to get rid of the evidence by eating the bank notes, while Solomon tried to ditch the notebook. Both were arrested and tried at the Old Bailey during the June Sessions 1810 and found guilty of stealing, a felony. Solomon, just 23 at the time, was sentenced to Penal transportation, to spend the rest of his days in Australia. However, for reasons that are no longer clear, he remained in England, imprisoned in the Prison Hulk called the "Zealand" for four years, before being released in error.
Solomon returned back to London in about 1818 and set up as a Fence and Pawn Broker. Such was his success that he was known as 'The Great Ikey Solomon'. After a number of close calls Ikey was finally arrested on 12 May 1827. Six coach loads of stolen property was found hidded in secret cavities in his house at Bell Lane and he was remanded to Newgate Gaol, from whence he escaped on 25 May 1827. [citation needed]
[edit] Abscondment
Ikey had applied for bail to the Bail Courts at Westminster. Unknown to the court, the coach that carried Solomon from the court was driven by Ikey's father-in-law. On the journey from the court, the coach was diverted into Petticoat Lane, where friends and family of Ikey overpowered the two guards on the couch and allowed Solomon to escape.
While Ikey's escape from the Bail Court is well documented, there is little information on how he managed to flee England. He appears to have reached New York by mid July 1810.[4].
[edit] Arrests of Family Members
Meanwhile, back in London, Ikey's wife, Ann Solomon, was arrested and charged with receiving stolen goods. She was found guilty and sentenced to penal transportation to Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land). The four youngest of their six children (all under the age of ten) were permitted to accompany her on the transport ship. Their two oldest sons, John, 20, and Moses, 19, sailed to Australia independently in order to be with their mother. Documents show that John put a great deal of time and effort in to supporting his mother and siblings during the period of Ann's transportation. They were a very close-knit family. Like the vast majority of female convicts, Ann was assigned out as a domestic servant on her arrival.
Ikey's father, Henry Solomon, was also charged with theft, but the court allowed his sentence to be respited because of his age. (Henry claimed "I am upwards of seventy years old", though the Old Bailey records him as being 69).
[edit] Journey to be with his wife
Back in New York Ikey "learned from the newspapers" that his wife had been transported, and on the strength of this decided he would sail to Tasmania in order to be with her. This was a risky decision, for Tasmania was a British Penal Colony, and by sailing there Ikey was, in the words of one contemporary, putting his head back in the noose. But for all his many moral failings, Ikey was devoted to his wife and family, and was 'determined to brave all' in order to be with them. He arrived in Hobart (the capital) on 6 October 1828, and being a well known London receiver was recognised by the convicts and the authorities almost the moment he stepped ashore. But, as he had committed no crime in Tasmania, the local authorities were unclear as to whether they had the power to arrest him for crimes that had been allegedly committed in England. A request for a warrant by which he could be arrested was sent to the Colonial Office in London. This warrant took 12 months to reach Tasmania.
In the meantime, Ikey remained a free man. He opened a shop in Hobart and had amicable relations with the local population - so much so, that when he requested to have his wife assigned to him, it was approved, providing he paid a £1000 bond to ensure that she did not leave the colony. This money was raised through donations from local publicans and merchants.
Eventually, in 1829, the warrant for Ikey's arrest came. However, the warrant was crudely worded and Solomon's counsel brought forward a successful writ of habeas corpus, meaning that Solomon could not be imprisoned. The judge set bail at £2,000, a figure impossible for Solomon and his friends and neighbours to reach. Using this as a pretext, Lieutenant-Governor Arthur issued a warrant in his own name arresting and imprisoning Solomon. The local newspapers were incensed and denounced this willful betrayal of the principle of habeas corpus, but it was to no avail. [citation needed]
[edit] Back to the Old Bailey
Being shipped back from the colony, Solomon was accompanied by the Chief Constable, as the master of the ship had refused to guarantee his safe arrival. In the Court he was found guilty of eight charges of receiving stolen goods[5][6][7][8] and was referred to by the Judge as being "evil-disposed", another indication of the large notoriety he had garnered.
Ikey's trial at the Old Bailey in June 1830 caused a sensation and was extensively reported in the newspapers and the pamphlets of the day. As there are strong similarities between his trial and Fagin's trial in Oliver Twist(Ch 52) it is highly likely that Dickens used it as the basis for Fagin's trial.
He was sentenced to 14 years transportation[9] and was shortly back in Tasmania. He spent four years in Richmond gaol and a year at the notorious Port Arthur Convict Settlement before being released. [citation needed]
[edit] Family Breakup
When Ikey was released from prison he tried to live again with his family, though by now they had become estranged. After one particularly bad domestic row his wife was arrested, and his children expelled their father from the house. The children successfully petitioned for their mother's release. This separation appears not to have been permanent as there is evidence that Ikey and his wife were reconciled and that they were together at the time of his death.
In 1840 he was granted a conditional Pardon and in 1844 he received a certificate of freedom. He died on September 3rd 1850 and was buried the next day in the Jewish cemetery in Harrington Street., Hobart. His estate was worth no more than £70.
Tragically, what remained of the little Jewish Cemetery in Harrington Street, (possibly the oldest Jewish Cemetery in Australia) was bulldozed into oblivion by the authorities in 2002. [citation needed]
