The Rev. Paul Warschawski was long associated with St Leonards. This post is an attempt to nail down details his life and that of his children, but there are some mysteries I have not been able to resolve. One interesting fact is that his two sons, and his son in law, all changed their surnames by deed poll.
The first record I have of him is his adult baptism as Paul Isidore Johann Warschawski on the 12 November 1865 at the (Anglican) Chapel Royal, Brighton. His parents were given as Wolf Warschawski, rabbi, and Jochabed Warschawski, of Osiecin, Poland.
Baptised on the same occasion was his son Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, the father a private tutor, of Stone Street, Brighton, by Bertha. Richard’s origins are mysterious. I cannot trace his birth, which was in either Birkenhead or Liverpool in about 1856, nor can I trace Bertha. If Bertha was his first, Jewish wife then a name like Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan is unlikely and may have been given later in childhood. It is alleged on a photographic history website, referred to later, that she died in 1860, but I could not trace that.
Richard attended Brighton College and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He changed his surname to Vyvyan in 1888. He became a deacon in 1886, a priest in 1888, and was a clergyman in South Africa from 1889 to 1903. He married in 1911, in Richmond, Surrey, as a 55-year-old bachelor, Evelyn, 33, daughter of a landowner. Richard cited his father on the marriage certificate as “retired missionary, founder of the Barbican Mission to the Jews.” The marriage was performed by the Rev. J. Thomas Larzen, husband to his half sister Gertrude. He died in 1935 in Northamptonshire.
In 1870 Paul published his “Progressive Hebrew Course and Music of the Bible”, which he mentioned in some of his adverts. It was published by Longmans of London, but in conjunction with H. & C. Treacher of North Street, Brighton. He cited himself as FRAS on the title page – Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. It was printed at the Operative Jewish Converts’ Institution, Palestine Place, Bethnal Green.
In the 1871 census Paul was boarding at 43 Buckingham Road, Brighton, age 38, a widower, professor of Hebrew and German, born Poland. His son Richard was 14, scholar, born Liverpool.
Paul remarried on the 25 July 1872 at St Nicholas, Brighton. He was 38, widower, teacher of languages, of 43 Buckingham Road, son of Wolf Warschawski, rabbi, deceased. His bride was Harriet Stanham, 36, daughter of a ‘gentleman’, and born in Lincolnshire. In the 1871 census Harriet had been assisting her sister in the running of a school in Brighton.
Paul became a British citizen on the 19 October 1875, as recorded in the National Archives’ HO 334/6/1726. He was 43, a professor of German and Hebrew literature, married, with son Hermann, aged 6 months. He was a subject of Russian Poland. At the time Poland was partitioned between Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary.
From 1875 to 1878 Paul ran the Liverpool branch of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews.
He had apparently moved to London when on the 4 August 1878 daughter Gertrude was baptised at Islington, giving a local address, and stating that his occupation was Missionary to the Jews. In 1879 Paul founded the Barbican Mission to the Jews, whose missionaries were Jewish converts.
In the 7 February 1880 issue of the Hastings and St Leonards Times there is a furious letter from a Colonel W.H. Larkins, writing from Ore, referring to the ‘converted Jew who has been lecturing at Eastbourne’, who had asserted that the Anglo-Saxon population of England was not of Jewish origin. Larkins challenged ‘Mr Warschawski [to] come over and lecture, that we may have the benefit of his knowledge on the subject, and be enabled to sift his arguments.’ The colonel did not seem to realise that the onus was surely on him to prove that Anglo-Saxon heritage was actually Jewish. Larkins was a supporter of the British Israelite movement, which was strong in Victorian England, with the Hastings Observer often reporting on their meetings.
Paul’s talks included one where he deplored the inferior status of women in Judaism, such as the requirement for ten men to be present to enable a synagogue service to occur. He claimed that the rabbis were responsible for this.
In the 1881 census the family was in Stoke Newington, he a missionary to the Jews, born Russian Poland, together with his wife, son Hermann, 5, born Brighton, and daughter Gertrude, 3, born Liverpool, and a servant. In the same census son Richard was a visitor at Patcham, Sussex, in the household of Eliza Ogle, widow. He was a private tutor.
A long but vivid account of his conversion is in the 7 March 1883 issue of the Eastbourne Gazette. Below is the report on his speech as what was referred to as an Evangelization Ball, which included a collection for the Barbican Mission. Sorry, it’s hard to read !
In late 1887 Christlieb Lipshytz, also born in Poland, became assistant to Paul in the Barbican Mission, and then took over as Paul had failing health. It must have been about this time that the family moved to St Leonards. The Hastings Observer had adverts at frequent intervals from the 8 June 1889 to the 28 December 1889 where his wife was advertising a boarding establishment at 45 West Hill Road. This is opposite the Highlands Hotel. ‘Late dinner’ and a ‘liberal table’ was offered, at 1 ½ guineas, presumably per week.
From the 29 November 1890 Paul began to advertise, again from 45 West Hill Road, tuition in German and Hebrew. He mentioned that he was “on several occasions Preacher to the German congregation, Brighton.” At least once he stated that tuition in Hebrew was available to men and women on separate days.
In the 1891 census, at 45 West Hill Road, Paul was a retired missionary. His wife was absent (she was staying at a hotel in London, occupation a boarding house keeper). His son Hermann was 15, a photographer’s apprentice, and there were four visitors, including a Stanham, probably his sister in law. There were also two servants.
Hermann founded the Warschawski Studios in St Leonards. He was advertising for staff at his premises at 20 Grand Parade from 1901. He was actually living, as a boarder, at 16 Warrior Gardens in the 1901 census. In 1903 he changed his surname to Stanham, his mother’s maiden name, from the address of 36 Warrior Square, hence becoming Hermann Stanham Stanham.
While retaining control of his studio, Hermann changed careers. In 1900 he became a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Cinque Ports Volunteer Artillery, and then became a full-timer in the Royal Horse Artillery, becoming a Major in World War I. In 1915, at Hampstead, he married Olive Florence Colgate, daughter of an Eastbourne surgeon. He was 39, she was 27. They had three daughters.
There is more detail on him in the Photo History of Sussex website, which claims that his mother Bertha had died in 1860 in Liverpool. It has a photograph of him as well as photographs apparently taken by him. It appears that William Hearn was a photographer for him as he has newspaper credits in the 1930s; in 1939 Hearn was lodging at 4 Villa Road, occupation photographer. Hermann had died at Little Common in 1935.
By 1893 Paul and his wife had moved to 16 Warrior Gardens, the same address as Hermann in the 1901 census. In that census, Paul and his wife were visitors to married daughter Gertrude, wife of Julius Larzen, schoolmaster, in Lee, Kent. The couple had only been married a few months before, in the Hastings area. Larzen’s father was a naturalized German who (thanks to Crockford’s) I found was made a deacon in 1901 and an Anglican priest in 1904. He was a clergyman in Canada from 1903 to 1907, then in the London area, before moving to Buckinghamshire in 1918. At some point he changed his surname to Lawson.
The 1911 census states how many rooms were in a household, and asked the intrusive questions of when married and how many children had been born to the couple and if they were still alive. Paul and Harriet were in three rooms at 21 Magdalen Road, he 77, married 38 years, two children, both alive, ordained missionary to the Jews retired, born Osiecin, Poland, naturalized in 1878 (actually 1875).
In 1918 and 1921 the couple were voters at 2 West Hill Road. Paul died on the 13 December 1922 and was buried in the Milton Keynes area, aged 88, while his widow died in the same area in 1925. Probably both were living with their daughter Gertrude’s family. Paul’s monumental inscription reads:
In loving memory of the Reverend Paul Isidor John Warschawski founder of The Barbican Mission to the Jews, died 13th December 1922, aged 88 years.
“They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever” Daniel 12:3