Petition from an Ottoman Jew in Shanghai for British Protection

Ben-sion Somekh

1922

Letter from Ben-sion Somekh to the Acting Consul General in Shanghai, forwarded to the Colonial Office, 12 June 1922 [UK National Archives, CO 730/29/8].

B.A. SOMEKH & CO.
5 Jinkee Road,
SHANGHAI, 12th June, 1922

Sir,

I beg to lay before you the following facts:

I left Bagdad, my native place, at the age of 14 years and resided in Bombay for about 4 years and where I had my first preliminary education in the English language. Afterwards I joined the firm of Messrs. David Sassoon and Company (British firm) and in 1891 they sent me to China in their branch office here. In 1903 I started business on my own account and during the last 31 years I spent in Shanghai I always dealt with British. My banking, insurances etc. were carried on with British. My properties are also registered at H.B.M. Consulate.

In 1910 I was married in Hongkong (British colony) to a British-born subject whose brother joined the British Army in the Great War and subsequently sacrificed himself. I have now 3 sons whose ages are 11, 8 and 3 and their mother’s tongue is English and they know no other language. Being in this position I cannot send my children to British school for their education and this is a great worry to me and my wife. With regard to business matters, since the termination of the war I find it very difficult to trade. I cannot do business easily with British firms neither can I turn my company into a British concern and the result is that my business is now very limited, as the bulk of the trade is in the hands of the British.

You are well aware that my country is now in the hands of the British and under their mandate. I trust in view of the above explanations you will be generous enough to confer on me your kind protection and you will register me in your Consulate as a British subject, for which I shall be grateful to you, as well as my family.

I am etc.,
 [Signed] B. A. Somekh
 Full name: Ben-Sion Aaron Somekh

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After World War I, the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the spread of European imperialism unsettled the status of Baghdadi Jews, a transnational community across Asia with Ottoman roots. In 1922, Ben-Sion Aaron Somekh, an Iraqi-born Jewish businessman residing in Shanghai for multiple decades, asked British authorities to register him as a “British protected person.” Formerly under French protection, he sought stronger legal and commercial security amid new mandates and shifting borders. Britain refused, citing Iraq’s uncertain nationality law, which excluded those not residing there.

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Creator Bio

Ben-sion Somekh

1872–1927

Little is known of Ben-sion Somekh beyond a correspondence he had with the British colonial government. Somekh was born in Baghdad while it was part of the Ottoman Empire and moved to Bombay at the age of fourteen. There, he joined a British firm, and in 1891, he moved to Shanghai, joining a large community of Iraqi Jewish merchants. In 1903, Somekh began doing business independently. He married in 1910 and had three sons. In 1922, Somekh petitioned the British government—now in control of Iraq—for protected status for himself and his sons. His petition was denied on the grounds that he did not intend to return to Iraq.