Views of Maitland

People

REUBEN Henry Robert

Gender:	male
Date of Birth:	08 August 1811
Place of Birth:	London Country: England
Father:	REUBEN Henry Robert
Mother:
Date of Arrival:	1829
Ship:
Naturalisation:
Marital status:	married
Spouse:	SOLOMON Emma (1823-1899)
Date Married:	1838
Place Married:	Sydney
Children:	Deborah COHEN (1839- ), Esther PHILLIPS (1840-1923), Reuben/Robert (1842-1912 ), Elizabeth (1850-1932), Henry (1855-1895), Morris (1858-1859), Edwin/Edward (1860- 1888), Albert P (?-1930) [NSW BDM] Obituary (Hebrew Standard, 3 Sep 1897) also lists Charles and Louis as sons.
Occupations:	beverage manufacturer, storekeeper
Places of Residence:	West Maitland, Mudgee, Sydney
Date of Death:	28 August 1897
Place of Death:	Sydney
Buried at:	Rookwood Jewish Cemetery , Lot No. Section OGN; Row 8; Plot 95.
Profile:
Henry Robert Reuben’s obituary (Hebrew Standard, 3 Sep 1897) states that he was born in London and ‘came to the colonies in 1829’. He seems to have spent his first few years in Sydney. In 1834 he appears in a court case in which he charged a Joseph Simmons with assault (Sydney Gazette, 19 July 1834), and in 1838 he married Emma Solomon (NSW BDM). While in Sydney he acquired a publican’s license for the Black Swan in George Street (SRNSW Publicans’ Licences) and it is the association of his name with the Black Swan that John Levi (2006:661-2) uses to identify Henry Robert Reuben as the brother of convict, Solomon Reuben. Levi points out that William Miles’ 1840s journal, Registry of Flash Men, refers to Solomon Reuben as a suspicious character who is ‘the brother of Reubens of the Black Swan’. Certainly, Solomon Reuben was in Maitland for a short time at the same time as Henry Robert Reuben (Maitland Mercury, 14 Jan 1846, and 12 Aug 1846). As early as 1835 Henry Robert Reuben was acquiring land in ‘Muscle Brook’ (sic) (Sydney Gazette, 1 Dec 1835), and in early 1837 he was assigned a portion of the land now occupied by Maitland Regional Art Gallery (Higginbotham 2010: 92). The following year he assigned this land to Samuel Cohen, one of the brothers associated with David Cohen and Company of Maitland (Higginbotham 2010:92). Reuben also appears as a signatory on an 1838 letter from the people of Maitland congratulating Queen Victoria on her accession to the throne (Forbes 1979: 423). By the mid 1840s he had established a ginger beer manufacturing business in Maitland, advertising its location as opposite the Angel Inn (Maitland Mercury, 14 Dec 1844), and he continued in this business until 1857 when he sold the enterprise (Maitland Mercury, 28 Mar 1857). Subsequently, with his wife and younger children (in 1856 his eldest daughter Deborah had married Morris Cohen of Maitland and remained in Maitland), Reuben moved to Mudgee and Narrabri. In 1872, for example, H.R. and L. Reuben are listed as storekeepers in Narrabri (Greville’s Directory, 1872), and in 1880 Reuben Bros, storekeepers, of Narrabri advertised an auction of all their stock as well as a farm as the owners were retiring from business (Maitland Mercury, 29 Mar 1880). Further research is needed to establish whether this was Henry Robert Reuben and/or his sons. Henry and Emma Reuben spent the last decade or so of their lives in Sydney where Henry died in 1897 and Emma two years later (Hebrew Standard, 3 Sep 1897; NSWBDM). During his time in Maitland, Reuben was an active member of the local Jewish community. He is one of the three men who acquired the land for the Jewish cemetery in 1846, and he served as secretary of the trustees for the initial period, resigning in 1847 (Maitland Mercury, 24 Nov 1847). Reuben’s connections to other members of the Maitland Jewish community were strengthened through family marriages. Two of Emma Reuben’s sisters (Rosetta and Julia) and one of Henry and Emma Reuben’s daughters (Deborah) married into the extended Cohen and Levy families who owned the Maitland based David Cohen and Company. A number of extended family members are buried in the Maitland Jewish Cemetery. Emma and Henry’s infant son, Morris, who was born soon after the family moved to Mudgee (their home was in Gladstone Street, Mudgee), died in 1859 and is buried in the cemetery. Also buried in the cemetery are their granddaughter, Celia Cohen; son-in-law Morris Cohen; brother and brother-in-law George Judah Cohen; and nieces Leah Cohen and Julia Levy.

Related Records

Collections:
NSW State Archives and Records	Sydney
Documents:
Cemeteries Policy and Procedure - Council, City of Maitland, 1984-1998
Local Government Areas:
Maitland City
Monuments:
Reuben, Morris	grave marker	Maitland Jewish Cemetery - Grave No
Sites:
H R Reuben Cordials Manufacturer	Maitland	Maitland City
Maitland Jewish Cemetery	Maitland	Maitland City
Residence - 40 Bourke St - Koorelah	Maitland	Maitland City
Themes:
Commerce
Ethnic influences - Jews
Towns:
Maitland	Maitland City
Publications, Reports, Theses:
Bergman, George F.J., ‘The Jews of Maitland’, Australian Jewish Times, 3 July 1975, pp.10 Falk, Jim, Cassirer and Cohen histories, relatives and descendants (website) Forbes, Morris, ‘A short history of the Jews of Maitland’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 8/7 1979, pp.413-436 Free settler or felon? Hebrew Standard of Australasia Higginbotham, Edward, Historical and Archaeological Assessment for Proposed Redevelopment of Maitland Art Gallery, Report for Maitland City Council. 2008 Hunter, Cynthia, Bourke Street, Maitland, Report for Maitland City Council, Maitland 1999 Levi, John S., These Are the Names: Jewish Lives in Australia, Carlton Victoria, Miegunyah 2006 Maitland Mercury Marks, Ernest S., ‘An early census’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, II/II 1944, pp.79-87 NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Internet Index to NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages (NSW BDM) Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Sydney Morning Herald

Views of Maitland Record No.: P21
Created: 19/12/2008
By: Janis Wilton
Modified: 22/02/2014
By: Janis Wilton