Maurice Edward Behar, also known as Maurice Edward Behar, was born in Glasgow October 25, 1903 and was a British subject. Along with his uncle Jack Harford Behar, Maurice served as co-director of Cardinal & Harford of London and Persia, with his office at 108 High Holborn in London, and also sat on the board of V. Behar, Limited. In August 1920, he accompanied his uncle Jack Harford Behar to New York in order to launch a U.S. branch of Cardinal & Harford, Ltd., of London, England. In 1926, Maurice, then age 23, accompanied Vitali, a 45-year-old native of Constantinople of Turkish nationality, from Glasgow to the United States. The two lived on 300 Sauchiehall Street. Both listed their professions as “manufacturers” and were living at 300 Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. On one form, Vitali is listed as a British subject.[1] Both were listed as single.
Maurice Edward Behar was married to Eilleen Behar, born November 6, 1918, with whom he shared two children, Richard Victor Montague Edward Behar, a Barrister-at-Law, and a married daughter named Edwina Laura Eliott-Lockhart (formerly Edwina Behar), both of London. Maurice Edward was appointed a Trustee and Executor of the estate of his uncle Jack Harford Behar. His siblings David Behar and Denise Sarah Wilhelmina Georgina Ruby Rapp, born July 12, 1909 also served in that capacity. Jack Harford Behar left all of his personal chattels to his nephews Maurice Edward and David and £200 to Maurice Edward’s wife Eilleen.
In 1939, Maurice Edward, his wife Eilleen, and Maurice’s sister Denise (both occupied with “unpaid domestic duties”) were living together with Mary G. David (born February 4, 1908), Councellor in the Borough of Deal, Bridget Diffey (born July 26, 1913), housemaid, and Matz Carmichael (born November 16, 1888), a cook and housekeeper.[2] Maurice Edward Behar’s address at the time of the writing of his will was 175 Cranmer Court, Whiteheads Grove, London.[3]
Like his uncle Jack Harford Behar, Maurice Edward directed that his funeral should be “as simple as possible with no mourners or flowers” and that those in attendance should not wear mourning clothes. Maurice Edward adamantly expressed his desire that “none of the persons known to me during my lifetime shall attend my funeral.” Quoting his uncle nearly verbatim, Maurice Edward left instructions that his “regular medical attendant shall satisfy himself without any doubt that life is extinct.” He also directed his body to be cremated and his ashes interred in the Montague Evan Family Plot at Stoke Poge. He hoped that the rabbi from the Liberal Jewish synagogue at St. John’s Wood in London would attend his funeral, a tacit acknowledgment of the Jewish interdict against cremation. Maurice Edward then expressed his “great esteem love and affection” for his “dear wife Eilleen” and his gratitude to her for “our fifty years together from 1939 to 1989 which were the happiest years of my life and for her wisdom and good counsel during all that time.”
Maurice Edward bequeathed to his two children all his personal chattel to be divided between them as they saw fit. He bequeathed his son Richard Victor Montague Edward Behar a further £75,000 to reimburse him for his expenditure on the “future education of his son Michael Edward Behar.” To the Liberal Jewish synagogue St. John’s Wood London, he left £1,000.
In the most unusual clause of the will, Maurice Edward Behar declared himself “the present head of my family to be entitled to the titles dignities and possessions of the Duke of Behar in the Province of Avila and/or Salamanca in Spain,” which, he claimed had been “lawfully taken by pillage and duress” from his ancestors. As head, he declared it his wish that any family member to succeed him as head of the family “shall keep alive or take all such steps as shall or may be necessary to keep alive such claim to such titles dignities and possessions aforesaid until such time as such titles dignities and possessions shall be restored to my family.” If and when such restoration occurred or indemnity would be granted according to the laws of Spain, Behar directed that those assets to “be treated as part of my residuary estate and dealt with accordingly pursuant to the provisions of this my Will.”[4] He died on March 3, 1993.
[1] Ancestry.com, List of Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United State aboard the S. S. California, from Glasgow to New York; Names and Descriptions of British Passengers Embarked at the Port of Glasgow, September 18, 1926, S. S. California.
[2] Ancestry.com, 1939, Egland and Wales, Register for Maurice E. A. Behar.
[3] U.K. Government Online Probate Search Service, Last Will and Testament of Maurice Edward Behar, July 1, 1991.
[4] Ibid.