Otto Jaffe

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Sir Otto Jaffe (August 13, 1846, Hamburg - April 29, 1929, London) was twice elected Lord Mayor of Belfast.

1 Family
2 Commerce
3 Religion
4 Politics
5 Memorial
6 See also
7 Notes
8 Reference

[edit] Family

In 1852, his parents, Daniel Joseph and Frederiké brought their family of four boys and five girls from Hamburg to Belfast. Daniel Jaffe along with his older sons, Martin, John and Alfred, set up a business exporting linen.

Otto was educated at Mr Tate’s school in Holywood, County Down and later in Hamburg and Switzerland.

He married Paula Hertz from Brunswick, New York in 1879. They had two sons; one became a barrister and the other a London company director

[edit] Commerce

From 1867 to 1877 he lived and worked in New York. In 1877, his brothers retired, so he returned to Belfast to head the family business, “The Jaffe Brothers” at Bedford Street. He built it up to become the largest linen exporter in Ireland.

He was a member of the Belfast Harbour Commission. In 1894 he successfully agitated for the reporting and destruction of derelicts in the North Atlantic Ocean.

He was a Justice of the Peace, a governor of the Royal Hospital, a member of the Irish Technical Education Board and a member of the Senate of Queens College, which later became Queen's University of Belfast. He was the German Consul in Belfast.

He was lavishly charitable^[1]. He contributed to Queens College^[2].

[edit] Religion

Otto Jaffe took a keen interest in the Jewish community of Belfast. He was life-president of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation, which worshipped at the Great Victoria Street synagogue. His father established it on July 7, 1871. Between 1871 and 1903 this congregation increased from 55 to over a thousand.

He paid most of the £4,000 cost of building the synagogue in Annesley Street. He opened it, in 1904, wearing his mayoral regalia.

His wife, Paula, set up a school for Jewish children in Cliftonville Road.

[edit] Politics

Otto Jaffe was a member of the Unionist party. He was elected to Belfast City Council in 1894. He was elected Lord Mayor in 1899. As mayor, he launched an appeal for the dependants of soldiers fighting in the Boer War. £10,000 was raised. In March 1900, he was knighted, Sir Otto Jaffe. Later he was High Sheriff of Belfast. In 1904, he was again elected Lord Mayor.

The outbreak of war saw anti-German sentiment. Even though his son and his nephew were serving in the British Army, Sir Otto was accused of being a German spy. ^[3]. He was forced to resign his seat on Belfast City Council and flee Ulster in 1916.

[edit] Memorial

On January 21, 1874, his father Daniel Joseph Jaffe died in Nice. Martin (Otto’s older brother) secured a plot in the City Cemetery, which became the Jewish Cemetery. Daniel was the first Jew to be interred there. The Jaffe monument was erected.

This monument and the headstones have been vandalised. ^[4] Recently, Belfast City Council resolved to erect a sculpture representing Otto Jaffe at Carlisle Circus.