Lifespan: (1776 England - 1852 England)
Occupation: Merchant. Uncle of Saul Solomon (1817-1892)
Saul Solomon²
Timeline
Saul Solomon, known widely as the "Merchant King of St Helena," was an English-born merchant of Jewish descent who built a commercial empire on the isolated South Atlantic island of Saint Helena. He is most famous for founding Solomon & Company—a business that has dominated the island’s economy for over two centuries—and for his complex relationship with the exiled French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Early Life and Arrival on St Helena
Lieutenant Read's map of St Helena (drawn by him in 1817)³ St Helena was completely uninhabited when it was discovered on 21 May 1502 by Portuguese navigator João da Nova. For more than a century, the Portuguese kept the island's location a secret, using it as a temporary stopover to gather fresh water and fruit. It was first permanently established and occupied in May 1659 by the English East India Company. The Dutch Republic claimed the island in 1633 and allegedly attempted a small settlement around 1645. However, they completely abandoned the island by 1651 in favour of building their new colony at the Cape of Good Hope.
Solomon was born on 25 December 1776 in Margate, Kent, England, into a large Jewish family. In the 1790s, he boarded a ship bound for India, but fell critically ill during the voyage. He was dropped off at the nearest port—the remote British outpost of Saint Helena—to recover or die. Against the odds, Solomon survived.
Military service
From 1798-c.1801 he served in the St Helena Regiment (sometimes referenced as the island's locally organized militia). At the time, Saint Helena was governed as a strategic commercial fortress by the British East India Company (HEIC). Because of its isolation, all able-bodied European male citizens residing in Jamestown were required to enlist in the local military garrison to defend the island from foreign threats.
Building the Family Empire
He is said to have had “a general store and boarding house” well before 1800 (although this conflicts with his military service). This exorbitance brought success, as St Helena’s mini-economy was most profitable when catering for ‘the carriage trade’.²
Looking around the strategic island, which served as a vital mid-Atlantic refueling station for the East India Company, he recognized immense commercial potential. He chose to stay and opened a modest general store and boarding house in Jamestown well before 1800 (although this conflicts with his military service).
Solomon's business acumen quickly turned his shop into a highly successful enterprise. Solomon merged his business with Messrs. Dickson and Taylor in 1811.
A portion of the above map showing the Briars and Jamestown.
Realising he needed trusted hands to expand, he sent for his brothers Benjamin, Joseph (the father of the younger Cape Town Saul Solomon), Lewis, and Charles to join him on the island. Together, the family (now including married-on members) diversified rapidly. From the 1820s, many migrated to the Cape. Although all were Jewish, most became Anglicans, integrating into the island community.
Commercial activities:
- They supplied water, livestock, and goods to hundreds of ships routing around Africa.
- Joseph opened the island's primary inn to accommodate wealthy passengers.
- One member was a boot and shoe maker, others were jewellers and one a public notary.
- They had eventually acquired six properties in Jamestown's Main Street and The Briars.
For fifty years various Solomon family members almost monopolised the prestigious post of Sheriff of St Helena.
The Briars was acquired by the Balcombe family in 1805. In 1815 Napoleon occupied the garden cottage (on the right of this c.1850s illustration) temporarily while his residence, Longwood House, was being repaired. The cottage had to be adjusted to make it suitable for Napoleon. The grounds, “before planted by the East India Company with Mulberry Trees” had been “one of the most profitable fruit gardens in the Island”.³
Napoleon's Exile and the Economic Boom
Solomon’s fortunes skyrocketed in 1815 when Napoleon Bonaparte was permanently exiled to St Helena. Over the course of Saul’s mercantile career, St Helena witnessed a dramatic surge in maritime traffic, with yearly ship visits climbing from roughly 150 to more than a thousand. The island evolved into both a safe haven for American whalers and a critical base for the Royal Navy as they campaigned to suppress the slave trade.
"Everybody and everything appeared to be flourishing. Money was abundant and trade was brisk. It could hardly be otherwise with so many and such splendid ships... arriving crowded with passengers. Jamestown was in a state of continual bustle." (George Brooks Bennett)²
Solomon's firm became a primary supplier of goods, services, and luxury items to Napoleon's household at Longwood House. To ease local trade, aound 1821, the partnership minted 70,560 copper halfpenny tokens reading "Payable at St Helena by Solomon, Dickson and Taylor." This private currency circulated alongside official East India Company coins, remaining in active use well past the Crown's takeover of the island in 1836. Solomon also became a money lender. There were rumours that Solomon was overcharging, which led to anti-semitism towards him.
Solomon, Dickson and Taylor halfpenny. Image source: Numista.
"
Our principal rivals as ship chandlers... were Solomon, Moss and Gideon. The Solomons were the ancestors of Saul Solomon, the Cape Disraeli as they called him, who started the well-known South African family. They came to St. Helena fairly recently when Napoleon was there, but there was room for everyone." (
Scott Alexander in c.1937)¹
Intrigue and Suspicion
Living under the paranoid gaze of the island's British Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, Solomon was heavily scrutinized. Because of his close commercial access to the French, British authorities deeply suspected Solomon of plotting with the captive Emperor. At one point, he was formally investigated under suspicion of trying to smuggle a hidden silk rope ladder to Napoleon to aid in an escape from the island's sheer cliffs.
Jamestown CBD. Image source: Tripadvisor.
Personal Life, Death, and Legacy
Solomon was a cornerstone of St Helena's community, known for his philanthropy and helping "the distressed and suffering".
He married three times:
- Margaret Lee (1872 Saint Helena - 1815 Saint Helena) in 1800.
- Mary Chamberlain (1790 Saint Helena - 1823 Saint Helena) in 1815.
- Harriet Bryan (1800 - 1850) in 1824.
In 1850, Solomon visited England, where he died from "softening of the brain" on 6 December 1852 at the age of 75 in Portishead, Somerset. His body was returned across the ocean to St Helena (on the Camperdown or the Perseverance), where he was buried on his beloved island.
"He had his faults, for who has not? Let them be forgotten. But he had also his virtues and amongst them not the least remarkable was his benevolence. We have many living witnesses of his kindness to the distressed and suffering; and to his readiness to impart to them more
substantial proofs of sympathy than mere words." (The Herald, 1853)²
During his lifetime, Solomon & Co. cemented itself as a cornerstone of St Helena's political, economic, and religious establishment. This dominance culminated in the figure of Homfray Welby Solomon (1877-1960). A grandson of the local bishop, he served as churchwarden, council member, and the island's ultimate social and commercial authority, earning the nickname “King Sol.” His passing on 30 October 1960 marked the end of the family dynasty. Fourteen years later, in 1974, the St Helena Government nationalised the massive firm, which still controlled most of the island's trade and production.
Auction of properties
The Executors’ Sale, was held at Jamestown’s traditional auction site, “under the Trees”, on 23 January 1854. First to be offered among the “rare selection of most desirable dwelling-houses” were The Briars, The Brewery, and The Pavilion, “carefully preserved by the late Proprietor in the same state and with the same internal arrangement as used by the Emperor”. The auctioneer, Isaac Moss, commended The Briars House, “with Coach Houses, Outbuildings and every convenience”, as “one of the best and most commodious Residences in the Island”.
There followed another eight “valuable properties”, no fewer than six in Main Street, jewellery shops, shares in the St Helena Hotel, etc.
Sources
- Rosenthal, E. (c.1959) Shovel and Sieve. George Allen and Unwin: London.
- Hearl, T.W. Saul Solomon of St Helena, 1776-1852. St Helena Britannica.
- Weeds, M. (2021) The Briars and Betsy Balcombe. The UK-St Helena Heritage Trust.
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