Emanuel Mendelssohn

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Full name: Emanuel P. Mendelssohn

Lifespan: (c.1849 - 1910 at sea)

Occupation: Entrepreneur, community leader, publisher

Timeline


Biography

Emanuel Mendelssohn (also spelled Emmanuel in some sources) was a prominent early Jewish settler, entrepreneur, journalist, and community leader in Johannesburg during the late 1880s to early 1900s. He played a key role in shaping the city's Jewish communal life, media landscape, and cultural scene amid the Witwatersrand gold rush boom.

Founder of Johannesburg's Jewish Congregations:

  • He was instrumental in establishing the first organized Jewish congregation in Johannesburg shortly after the 1886 gold discovery.
  • In 1887–1888, he helped found what became the Wolmarans Street Synagogue (also known as the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation or "mother synagogue"), serving as its first president. The foundation stone was laid on November 7, 1888.
  • In December 1891, he led a secession of about 150 wealthy members (including mining magnate Sammy Marks) from the original Prince Street congregation to form the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation (JHC), which later evolved into institutions like the Great Park Synagogue in Houghton.

Journalist and Publicist:

  • Mendelssohn was the founder/editor of early Johannesburg newspapers, including the Diggers News (started around 1887 as one of the city's first dailies) and the Standard and Diggers News.
  • He was known as "Oom Paul's publicist" for his pro-Transvaal Republic stance and coverage of President Paul Kruger's government during the turbulent 1890s (pre-Boer War era). His papers supported Boer interests and reported on mining, politics, and community affairs.
  • He sold the Diggers News to W. Crosby & Co. around the late 1890s, after which it continued as a morning paper.
"Emmanuel Mendelssohn of Johannesburg in association with R.S. Scott of Queenstown published The Standard & Transvaal Mining Chronicle on Saturday 12 March 1887 as a four-page trifle produced by hand on a Columbian press under canvas. Scott's Standard and William Crosby's Diggers News merged in 1889 as the Standard & Diggers News supported by and sympathetic toward the Kruger administration. In the records of the N.P.U. for 1890 the publisher is given as W.S. Rodworp. The proprietors were Mendelssohn & Bruce".

Cultural and Business Patron:

  • Married to a soprano singer, he commissioned and financed the Standard Theatre in Johannesburg (opened in the 1890s) alongside financier Robert Stuart Scott.
  • This theater became a key venue for performances, including opera and concerts, elevating Johannesburg's cultural offerings from a rough mining camp to a more sophisticated city. His wife's vocal talents likely influenced this focus on music and the arts.
Lumsden vs Clark and others (1895):

Mendelssohn was a business partner of Sam Goldreich:

In 1895, Emanuel Mendelssohn and his business partners Sam Goldreich and a Mr Bruce agreed to buy thirty-two mining claims on the farm Rietfontein 652, Krugersdorp through an agent, Henry Lumsden, who had secured written instructions and a commission promise from seller George William Clark. However, the deal collapsed due to Clark’s fault - he had previously granted an extended option to another party, Mr Berryman, who then sold the claims to Chudleigh Brothers (Charles & Sam). To avoid litigation, Mendelssohn’s group negotiated and secured only a half share in the claims, prompting Lumsden to sue Clark and his partners (Lirwell and Chandler) successfully for full commission, as the court ruled the failure stemmed entirely from the sellers’ conduct and neglect.

Lumsden vs Clark (1895)

Broader Community Influence:

  • He collaborated with figures like Julius Goldreich in early Jewish communal organizing on the Rand.
  • Active in business and civic matters, including attempts at infrastructure contracts (e.g., a rumored 20-year sewage monopoly in Johannesburg, though details are sparse).
  • Represented a voice for the established Jewish community in the pre-war period, before shifts to newer leaders like Manfred Nathan in the 20th century.
"In the same year (1898) the Government propounded its scheme of entering into an agreement with Mr. Emanuel Mendelssohn for a sewerage scheme for Johannesburg, and a resolution by the Executive Council authorised the Burgomaster to sign the agreement on behalf of the Government. For various reasons this decision was very unpopular with the Staatsraad and with the public, and so much opposition ensued that the agreement was withdrawn."

In 1898, Mr. David Draper, of Johannesburg, made the discovery of a large underground storage of water in the dolomite formation at Zuurbekom, within a few miles of the town. Messrs. Mendelssohn 
& Bruce, of the Standard and Diggers'' News, became possessed of this property by concession, and sold it to the Waterworks Company, which was largely controlled by the house of Barnato Bros.

In December 1891, 150 of the founding and most wealthy members (including Sammy Marks) broke away to form a new congregation, named the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation (JHC), under the leadership of Emanuel Mendelssohn.

Mendelssohn had also been president of the Witwatersrand Goldfields Jewish Association, founded four years previously (1887).

Later Life

Mendelssohn remained visible in Johannesburg for a few years into the 1900s but spent much of his later time in England. He died in 1910. His widow, Caroline (Carrie), passed away on January 17, 1915, in London.

Mendelssohn died on a sea voyage from England, where he had settled in 1904. It is believed his death may have been precipitated by a fall from a tramcar several weeks earlier.

Related buildings

Permanent Buildings (1896, Johannesburg) belonged partly to the pioneer, R. S. Scott, who, with Emanuel Mendelssohn, started the earliest daily paper, the Diggers News (later the Standard and Diggers News) in 1887.

Permanent Building (1896). Architect: William Henry Stucke.

The Standard Theatre in Joubert Street (behind the Rissik Street Post Office) between President and Market Street was opened in 1891. The architects were J. S. Donaldson and J. A. Moffat. The Standard was leased by Ben Wheeler in 1892. The owners were Emmanuel Mendelssohn and R.S. Scott who also owned the newspaper ‘Standard and Diggers’ news’.

Standard Theatre (1891). Architect: John Stanislaus Donaldson.

"The first synagogue in Transvaal was the President Street Synagogue erected in 1888/9. It was one of the first brick buildings in Johannesburg and was designed by JS Donaldson, with later alterations by JA Moffat. The foundation stone was laid by the first president of the congregation E. Mendelssohn on the 7th of November 1888."

President Street Synagogue (1889). Architect: Robert Lockhart McCowat.

Siegfried Raphaely laid the foundation stone of the JHC’s new synagogue (The Great Synagogue) on 3 September 1913; after a year of construction, on 23 August 1914, Rabbi Landau officially consecrated the ornate new building. Sammy Marks had provided the building’s bricks and was honoured at the opening ceremony by presenting Rabbi Landau with the keys to the building. Swiss architect Theophile Schaerer had designed the imposing building to represent Johannesburg Jewry’s growing sophistication. Three arched doorways in an impressive redbrick facade marked the entry to a capacious vestibule. Four years prior to the synagogue’s opening, the congregation had received news that their first indomitable President, Emanuel Mendelssohn, had died, aged 61. His memory was now honoured with a marble plaque gracing the vestibule and an associated Biblical quote.

Postcard of the Great Synagogue, Jhb (1914). Architect: Theophile Schaerer.

Sources

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