HO 334/155/14807

            Benjamin Leon Sefiha, also known as Ben Sefi and Beni Sefi, was born in Salonica in February 1894 to Joda (Juda, age 26) and Tamar Sefiha, née Sassoon (age 24), both Greek subjects. He immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1912, first settling in London. He changed his family name from Sefiha to Sefi upon moving to London, sometime between 1912 and 1919, and was generally referred to as “Ben Sefi.” At the age of 25 on December 24, 1919, he married Jessie Maud Jacques (1899-1930) in West Ham (East London). The couple had two children: Florance Tilly Sefi (1921-2009) and Ben Leon Sefi (1922-2002), both born in West Ham. Jessie Maud died about August 17, 1930 in Townhead, Glasgow.

            In London, Sefiha worked as a carpet repairer for the Constantinopolitan-born carpet dealer Isaac Behar from about 1927 to June 1931. In 1931, Sefiha opened a shop at 93 Hanover Street in Edinburgh in partnership with Behar, with Sefiha in charge of the business premises. Not long after, Behar accused Sefiha of inaccurately accounting for their shared profits and the two parted company. Sefiha then went into partnership with someone else in Edinburgh but shut down his shop in July 1931 or July 1932 (Sefiha’s recollection on these dates was hazy).

            Sefiha failed to find employment in Edinburgh. He then relocated to London for 9 months. In 1932, the Labour Exchange informed him that if he obtained a reference letter from his former employee, he could get a job. When he solicited that letter from Isaac Behar in Glasgow, Behar offered him a job. Sefiha started working for Behar again for £2.10 a week around March 1933 or earlier. During this time, Sefiha had an unnamed judgment against him. Behar told Sefiha he would help him by giving the case to his solicitor and dismissing him for one week in order to get Sefiha “free.” Sefiha left Behar’s employ in September 1935 and started a business with his wife, who was the owner. It is unclear if he was referring to his second wife, since his first wife had died in 1930.

            Sefiha comes to the historian’s attention because he was implicated in a massive carpet fraud perpetrated by Isaac Behar and several associates, who were prosecuted in a one-week trial in 1937. Sefiha at that time was 43 years of age, living at 104 Grove Street in Glasgow, and working as a carpet repairer. He testified that around 1934, Behar had instructed him to present himself as Mr. Behar should fraud victim George William Chivers come to the shop. Behar also instructed Sefiha to tell Chivers that an associate from a carpet firm abroad, a so-called Albert Salisse, whom Behar had been impersonating, had returned to Constantinople. Sefiha claimed in court that he did not comply with these directives. He assured the court that although his former partner did not like him, Sefiha was not testifying against Behar out of spite.

            Sefiha married Jeanie Cree Wallace (1915-1996) in Glasgow, Scotland on December 22, 1939, when he was 45 years of age. The couple’s children were Joseph Adam Clark Wallace Sefi (1940-1953) and Ray Sefi (1942-2020), both born in Glasgow. In 1939, he was working as a carpet dealer and repairer at 100 Buccleuch Street in Glasgow.

            No naturalization file for Sefiha is preserved. His naturalization certificate lists him as Turkish. His naturalization certificate from August of 1939 identifies him as a widower. Sefiha died on August 23, 1949 in Glasgow at the age of 55.