Israel Barned (1777-1858)

by Saul Marks

Israel Barned was born in Portsmouth but moved to Liverpool some years before his marriage in 1811. He seems to have spent the first half of his career, like so many Jews of the early nineteenth century in Liverpool, as a watchmaker and goldsmith, gradually incorporating bullion and banking transactions in the early 1820s. He may taken over from his uncle’s earlier work in that field, following his death in 1819. Barned was very successful and, by 1825, owned a number of properties in the city. Around 1830, the Barned & Co Bank was formed, as a private concern, in conjunction with the three Mozley brothers, who also owned property. The bank specialised in loaning money to shipping, cotton and timber firms.

Barned served as Senior Warden of the Seel Street congregation from 1831-33, and again in 1838-39. It was during the 1830s that his most productive work for the congregation was done. In 1833, he was elected chairman of the committee which investigated and reported on the status of the burial ground on Oakes Street, and concluded that a new cemetery must be acquired. The majority of that committee formed the committee for the acquisition of a new burial ground, later in 1833, again with Israel Barned in the chair. This committee and, in particular, Barned, his brother-in-law Elias J Mozley, Abraham Jackson and David Jacobs Jackson, was responsible for the purchase of the land on which Deane Road stands, and the establishment of the cemetery.

Barned’s standing in the Liverpool Jewish community had obviously not declined some 20 years later when, in 1852, he ceremonially laid the foundation stone of Liverpool New Hebrew Congregation’s synagogue in Hope Place. This was to be the first purpose-built home of that congregation, when had seceded from the Old Hebrew Congregation in 1838. At the laying of the foundation stone, his brother-in-law, Charles Mozley gave a keynote speech, and the ceremony was attended by the Chief Rabbi, Nathan Adler. The New Hebrew Congregation moved from Hope Place to a new synagogue building on Greenbank Drive in 1937, where it remained until its closure in 2008.

When Israel Barned died in London in 1858 (leaving an estate worth £200,000), the bank came under the control of Charles Mozley. In 1865, Mozley converted the bank into a limited company, with £2 million in capital, but it collapsed in the following year, due to suspected poor management, the sharp decline in the shipping industry, the effects of the American Civil War and the scandal of fraud allegations against one of the Mozleys’ cousins, who later vanished.

Israel and Amelia Barned had no children of their own, but they took responsibility for raising Israel’s nephew, Israel Lewis (1817-1907). In Barned’s will, he stipulated that his nephew and his family must add the name Barned to their own surname and be entitled to use the Arms of Barned quarterly with those of Lewis. Israel Lewis-Barned was a powerful figure in London society.

In Barned’s will, he set up an annuity fund, to pay impoverished members of the Liverpool Jewish community £20, assuming they had lived in the city for two or more years. The fund existed until 1998.

Links
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page45web7.html
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page56.html
http://www.charities-database.co.uk/251112.html

Other Sources
- Hudaly, D (1974) “Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation 1780-1974″, Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation, Liverpool. No ISBN.
- Wolfman, J (1994), untitled article in “Together – the Journal of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation”, Sep 1994, page 22.
- Wolfman, J (1993/4) “Liverpool’s Jewish Mayor” in “Merseyside Jewish Representative Council Year Book 1993-94″, pages 60-67.
- Jewish Chronicle 18 January 1907, page 9.

Grave References
Israel Barned (1777-1858): A 02.30
Amelia Barned (née Mozley, his wife; 1786-1857): A 02.29