HO 405/23938
Ester (Esther) Harounoff was born in Jerusalem in 1921 to Zivia Harounoff. Research has not yet turned up her father’s identity. In March of 1948, at the age of 27, she applied as a Palestinian for a 3-month student visa to Britain, giving as her reference Samuel N. Harounoff of 82 Darenth Road, London. On April 22, 1948, the Secretary of State refused Ester’s visa application, even though nothing was found against her.
She applied again the following year, by which time she was an Israeli citizen. This time, her application was successful because her stated intention was to marry a British-naturalized subject named Jacob Harounoff on May 25, 1950. Jacob had evidently been naturalized as a child, since he was included in the certificate of naturalization of his father Joseph Nissan Haroonoff (a.k.a. Joseph Nissan Harounoff), a native of Bokhara, on October 12, 1934 (HO 144/19046). For this reason, the Home Office was permitted to vary (alter) Ester’s landing conditions and cancel her employment conditions. On November 6, 1949, Ester embarked from Lydda (Lod) for Britain, arriving at Bovingdon port on January 12, 1950, with permission to remain for two months. In February, she applied for and was granted an extension. The following month, the Home Office agreed to extend her stay and that of her mother to May 12, and later to June 12, 1950, but not longer, to accommodate her marriage plan, and forbad Ester to work in the U.K. without the permission of Ministry of Labour and National Service.
By July 1950, the Home Office had not yet received notification of Ester’s marriage and resolved to write to Samuel N. Harounoff, who had notified the office of the impending marriage, to have him forward Ester’s travel document and marriage certificate. On August 8, 1950, the Home Office lifted Ester’s landing restrictions and canceled her employment restrictions indefinitely. Early in 1950, the couple lived at 82 Darenth Road, Stamford Hill, London. On March 4, 1950, S. N. Harounoff lived at 3 Cook Hill, New Street. By August, the couple lived with S. N. Harounoff at 117 Darenth Road in London.
The Home Office noted that they had also processed the papers of Ester’s parents, uncle, sister, and cousin. This file was originally closed until 2051 and opened at my request on July 24, 2025.