HO 144/13270 and HO 334/127/778
Jack Behar, known before his immigration as Jacques Behar, was born in Istanbul on July 23, 1895 to Salomon Behar (deceased by 1931) and Mazaltov Behar, née Altaly, still in Istanbul. He was educated at the French School in Istanbul. He left his native city in July 1914 and arrived in England in August of that year after a few weeks in Paris. He immediately secured employment as a carpet repairer and continued in that line of business with various London firms until 1926, when he became manager of the Anglo-Persian Carpet Company, 6 The Arcade, South Kensington Station. The owner of this company was his father-in-law, Aaron Cohen Benardout, an Ottoman living at 76 Pennard Road, Shepherds Bush.
Behar married Allegra Cohen Benardout, an Ottoman, on February 1, 1920 in the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue at Lauderdale Road. Their children, all born in London, were Samuel (a.k.a. Sammy, born 11/13/1920), Queenie (5/31/1923), Ann (a.k.a. Annie or Enny, born 11/18/1924), Marlene (probably born after 1931), and Ron (b. 1934). Only the first three were mentioned in Jack’s naturalization file. Behar was able to present his marriage certificate and children’s birth certificates when he applied for naturalization, but claimed to have no passports.
Behar was exempted from internment during World War I on the power of a Certificate of Exemption from the Home Office dated 10/31/1918. Both he and his wife were registered as enemy aliens. Aside from a two-week holiday in Wiesbaden in December 1922, during which he traveled on a Home Office temporary identity document, he had never left England since his first arrival. He lived at 3 Shepherds Bush Road W. from 1921-1924, 76 Pennard Road, Shepherds Bush W. from 1924-until 1925, and 59 Pennard Road, Shepherds Bush, W. from 1925 until at least 1931.
In 1917, Behar was given a warning after police found him at Olympia Music Hall in Shoreditch at 10:30 p.m. without a permit, as required after 10:00 p.m. In a separate case, in 1926, Behar lost a case at the West London County Court for breach of contract after he bought a carpet at auction from Messrs. Robinson, Fisher and Harding, London auctioneers, but refused to pay, claiming he had in error purchased the wrong carpet. He was made to pay for the carpet (£56, plus £35.6.4 in costs) after his appeal was dismissed. Nevertheless, his opponents, when interviewed, vouched for Behar’s integrity and indicated that they had done business with him since. From the published summation, the judgment also appears to have been evenhanded.[1]
The Home Office regarded him as financially sound. He earned £7.10.10 weekly, plus commission, and reportedly lived within his means. Although he had neither a bank account nor investments, he allowed his commission to accumulate in the business, at that time amounting to about £400, and he received interest on it from his father-in-law. He was saving up money to set up in business on his own account as a carpet dealer. His wife owned their house, which she received as a gift from her father in 1925.
Behar was 36 at the time of his naturalization application in 1931 and applied as an Ottoman. He sought British nationality in order to obtain the rights and capacities of a natural-born British subject, because all his children were British born, and because all his interests were centered in England. The Home Office informed Behar that section 3(2) was still in effect and that he was therefore ineligible for naturalization, but officials were prepared to consider his application if he showed himself to be a member of a group opposed to the erstwhile enemy governments of the U.K. Behar then submitted a letter from David Bueno de Mesquita, senior minister of Bevis Marks, certifying him as a member of the community of Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Oddly, considering the number of “Ottoman (Spanish Jew)” cases they had handled by then, Home Office officials wondering amongst themselves whether he was a Spanish or Portuguese Jew.
Behar’s referees were his brother-in-law Louis Benardout of 29 Melville Road, Barnes, who worked under him as a member of the staff of the Anglo-Persian Carpet Company at 6 The Arcade, South Kensington Station, and whom he met when Behar became engaged to Cohen Benardout’s sister Allegra in 1920, Dr. Thomas Adam of 25 Granville Gardens, Shepherds Bush, Cohen Benardout’s family doctor, also a close personal friend, who knew Behar for 8 years, Angel Phillips of 33 High Street, Marylebone, a close friend who met at a carpet and art sales, the licensee of the “Rose of Normandy” pub, a close personal friend, and Fred Shackleton, a chemist living at Newlands, Mountside, Guildford, who knew Behar through business for 4 years.
There is no known family connection between Jack Behar and the carpet-specialist Behar family founded by Behor Behar in Glasgow in the late nineteenth century.
Subfiles 1-2 were destroyed. This file was originally classified until 2032 and opened at another user’s request in 2006.
Addendum: In October 2024, I was contacted by direct descendants of Jack Behar, many of them still active in the carpet trade and its ancillary endeavors. They provided oral testimonies and family documents.
[1] Robinson, Fisher and Harding v. Behar, November 17, 1926, in Frederick Pollock, ed., The Law Reports of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (London; the Council, 1927), I: p.513-16.
[2] “In America,” Dry Good Guide 46: 3 (September 1920), 12.
[3] “Sales Ahead of Last Year,” Dry Good Guide 46: 2 (August 1920), 14.
[4] “Cardinal & Harford, Ltd., Establish American Branch,” Price’s Carpet and Rug News 9:1 (July 1920), 45.