Emanuel Raphael Belilios facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Emanuel Raphael Belilios
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| Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong | |
| In office 8 August 1881 – 5 September 1882 |
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| Appointed by | Sir John Pope Hennessy |
| Preceded by | John MacNeile Price |
| Succeeded by | John MacNeile Price |
| In office 25 February 1892 – 5 April 1900 |
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| Appointed by | Sir William Robinson Sir Wilsone Black |
| Preceded by | Phineas Ryrie |
| Succeeded by | R. M. Gray |
| Chairman of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation | |
| In office 1876–1877 |
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| Preceded by | Andolph von André |
| Succeeded by | Hans Christian Heinrich Hoppius |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 November 1837 Calcutta, British India |
| Died | 11 November 1905 (aged 67) London, United Kingdom |
| Resting place | Golders Green Jewish Cemetery |
Emanuel Raphael Belilios (born November 14, 1837 – died November 11, 1905) was a very successful businessman and generous helper of others, known as a philanthropist. He was born in Calcutta, which was then part of British India. He became very active in Hong Kong.
His father, Raphael Emanuel Belilios, came from a Jewish family in Venice. Emanuel Belilios married Simha Ezra in 1855. In 1862, he moved to Hong Kong and started working in trade. He was so successful that people in the British newspapers called him "one of the merchant princes of the colony."
In the 1870s, Belilios was the chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited. He also became the chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1876 to 1882. He was chosen to be a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 1881. From 1892 to 1900, he served as the Council's Senior Unofficial Member.
Belilios wanted to honor the British Prime Minister at the time, Benjamin Disraeli. He even offered to build a statue of Disraeli, but the Prime Minister said no. Instead, Belilios built the Beaconsfield Arcade in Hong Kong. This building was named after Disraeli's title, Lord Beaconsfield. Even after Disraeli's death, Belilios would send a wreath every year for his statue in London.
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Helping Others: Belilios's Philanthropy
Emanuel Belilios was well-known for his kindness and for giving money to good causes. This is called philanthropy.
Supporting Education and Health
In 1887 and 1888, Belilios created two yearly scholarships. These scholarships were worth $60 each. They helped students at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. These students were also studying at the Alice Memorial Hospital.
In August 1889, Belilios gave a large sum of $25,000. This money was used to start a government school for girls. This school was first called the Central School for Girls. Later, it was renamed the Belilios Public School to honor his generous gift.
Views on the Chinese Community
Belilios had a positive view of the Chinese people. He once said that Chinese people treated Jews and Christians the same way. He felt they saw both as foreigners. However, he believed they might like Jews a little more. He thought this was because they saw Jews as being from Asia, like themselves.
Family Life and Legacy
Belilios had a son named David Belilios. Sadly, David died during a serious outbreak of the plague in 1898.
Emanuel Belilios passed away in London on November 11, 1905. He was buried at the Golders Green Jewish Cemetery. In his will, he left a large amount of money, £250,000. This money was meant to start a free college for Jewish children in Calcutta.
Belilios Family History
The Belilios family originally came from the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Portugal and Spain. They lived in Portugal for many generations. At one point, they were forced to convert to Christianity in 1497. This happened to all Jewish people in Portugal. However, it is likely that the Belilios family secretly continued to practice Judaism. This was known as crypto-Judaism.
Moving to Venice
In the early 1600s, there was a time of trouble for wealthy Portuguese merchant families. Raphael Belilios, who was known as Filipo Terço in Portugal, escaped to Venice. Like other families who had to flee, the Belilios family tried to keep items that reminded them of their old home. In 1653, records show Raphael Belilios left silverware to his two daughters. This silverware had come with him from Lisbon to Venice.
After settling in Venice, the Belilios family became successful in business again. Within 100 years, their family business had offices in Venice, Livorno, and Aleppo. Jewish merchants often worked with other Jewish families from the Sephardic community. The Belilios family partnered with families like the Ergas and Baruch Carvaglio families. The Belilios and Carvaglio families even married each other for at least three generations. This created two very successful merchant families.
Global Trade and Identity
Family papers show that the Belilios family belonged to "the Jewish nation, of Spanish and Portuguese descent." They had businesses in Livorno, Venice, London, Amsterdam, and Aleppo. This shows how far their business interests reached. They used strong family and marriage ties to build lasting trading relationships. Trading documents also show that the Belilios family traded with Catholic and even Hindu merchants in Goa.
Historians describe the Belilios family as "Port Jews." This means they were Jewish people who worked in shipping and sea trade in Europe. These "Port Jews" were often flexible about religion. They were also open to European culture. They were seen as some of "the earliest modern Jews." They offered a different way for Jewish people to become modern.
The Belilios family, like many other Sephardic Jews from Livorno, were important traders. They dealt in coral and diamonds from the Indian Ocean. They did not travel to India themselves. Instead, they ran a family business in Aleppo. From there, they used a network of mostly Mizrahi Jewish brokers and caravan traders. These traders went through Syria, Iraq, and Persia. They connected the Belilios family to their Hindu trading partners in the distant Portuguese colony.
Rabbis and Community Life
The Belilios family were not just traders; some were also Rabbis. Rabbi Jacob Belilios served the Jewish community in Venice in the early 1700s. He was one of the main Rabbis in Italy who tried to stop the teachings of Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. They worried that Luzzatto's ideas might cause another crisis. This was because of the problems caused by the claims of Sabbatai Zevi less than a century before.
In the 1730s, the Jewish community in Venice faced money problems. In 1737–1738, Rabbi Jacob Belilios was sent to London and Amsterdam. He went to seek help from the successful Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities there.
Moving to Aleppo and Beyond
The financial difficulties in Venice may have encouraged some family members to move to Aleppo. The branch of the Belilios family that settled in Aleppo was part of a group of Sephardi Jews known as Livornese Jews. They were protected by the French government. For example, in 1744, Isaac Belilios was tried by the French consul after he killed a Muslim caravan leader.
These special protections caused some tension within the Jewish community. The Livornese Jews were called "Segnores Francos" by the poorer Eastern Sephardim. These were Jews who had lived in the Ottoman Empire for a long time. The Livornese families spoke Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. Their Arabic was not very good.
There was also a cultural difference. The Livornese families, like the Belilios, followed European customs. They wore wigs and hats. They also shaved their beards, which went against some Rabbinic rules. At first, they kept separate from the poorer Eastern Sephardim. However, over time, the Aleppo branch of the Belilios family became more involved in trade with Baghdadi Jews and Persian Jews.
In the 1700s, the Belilios family owned ships that sailed between Syria and Venice. However, their wealth began to decline. The city of Aleppo declined, and then Venice itself declined in the early 1800s. Because of this, a branch of the Belilios family moved to Basra. They wanted to take advantage of the growing ocean trade with British India. Later, they moved to Calcutta and Singapore. By this time, they had married into important families of the older Ladino-speaking elite from Aleppo.
By the early 1800s, the Belilios family no longer worked as one big unit. Those who settled in the Far East were more modest merchants. The family became less important in the Western Sephardic world. Instead, they became part of the growing Baghdadi Jewish community. They intermarried with prominent families in Calcutta, like the Gubbay and Judah families. By the early 1800s, the Belilios family in the Far East had adopted Baghdadi Jewish culture. They mainly spoke Arabic and English.
Isaac Raphael Belilios, Emanuel Raphael Belilios's brother, was also born in Calcutta. He settled in Singapore. He became very successful in the cattle market there. Streets in Singapore, like Belilios Lane, Belilios Terrace, and Belilios Road, are named after him.
Emanuel Raphael Belilios's great success in Hong Kong brought the family back to wealth. His son, Raphael Emanuel Belilios (also known as "Billy"), became a lawyer in England. He started practicing law in 1903.
In the same year, Raphael had an arranged marriage to Vera Charlotte Hart. She was the daughter of Sir Israel Hart. Raphael worked as a lawyer until 1922. However, Raphael Emanuel Belilios died, and so the large fortune of Emanuel Raphael Belilios did not create a long-lasting family dynasty, unlike some other wealthy Baghdadi Jewish families.
Sadly, plaques on the wall of the Spanish Synagogue in Venice show that many of the last Belilios family members living in Venice died during the Holocaust.
See also
- Raphael Aaron Belilios
- Beaconsfield House
- First houses on the Peak
Images for kids
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Raphael Emanuel Belilios, a relative of Emanuel Raphael Belilios.
