Sassoon family - Revision history

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← Older revision		Revision as of 04:12, 8 June 2022
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			{{Short description\|Baghdadi Jewish wealthy family}}
	{{sources\|date=October 2020}}		{{sources\|date=October 2020}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=January 2019}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=January 2019}}
	[[File:The bund shanghai 1.jpg\|thumbnail\|[[Peace Hotel\|Sassoon House]], [[Shanghai]], China]]		[[File:The bund shanghai 1.jpg\|thumbnail\|[[Peace Hotel\|Sassoon House]], [[Shanghai]], China]]
	The '''Sassoon family''', known as '''"[[Rothschild family\|Rothschilds]] of the East"''' due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade,<ref name=jewcy/> is a family of [[Baghdadi Jews\|Baghdadi Jewish]] descent. Originally based in [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]], they later moved to [[Bombay]], [[India]], and then ~~spread~~ to [[China]], [[England]], and other countries. It is said that the family descended from one of the [[~~Court Jew~~\|court families]] of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in the 12th century. They later served as financial advisors to Islamic rulers.		The '''Sassoon family''', known as '''"[[Rothschild family\|Rothschilds]] of the East"''' due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade,<ref name=jewcy/> are a family of [[Baghdadi Jews\|Baghdadi Jewish]] descent. Originally based in [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]], they later moved to [[Mumbai\|Bombay]], [[India]], and then emigrated to [[China]], [[England]], and other countries. It is said{{by whom\|date=February 2022}} that the family descended from one of the [[Court_Jew\|court families]] of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in the 12th century. They later served as financial advisors to Islamic rulers.

	From the 18th century, the Sassoons were one of the wealthiest families in the world, with a corporate empire spanning the entire continent of Asia.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon">''Siegfried Sassoon: A ~~biography~~'', [[Max Wyndham, 2nd Baron Egremont\|Max Egremont]], (London 2005)</ref>		From the 18th century, the Sassoons were one of the wealthiest families in the world, with a corporate empire spanning the entire continent of Asia.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon">''Siegfried Sassoon: A Biography'', [[Max Wyndham, 2nd Baron Egremont\|Max Egremont]], (London 2005)</ref>

	==Etymology==		==Etymology==
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	[[File:David Sassoon and sons.jpg\|thumb\|right\|[[David Sassoon (treasurer)\|David Sassoon]] (seated) and his sons [[Elias David Sassoon\|Elias David]], [[Albert Abdallah David Sassoon\|Albert (Abdallah)]] & [[Sassoon David Sassoon\|Sassoon David]]]]		[[File:David Sassoon and sons.jpg\|thumb\|right\|[[David Sassoon (treasurer)\|David Sassoon]] (seated) and his sons [[Elias David Sassoon\|Elias David]], [[Albert Abdallah David Sassoon\|Albert (Abdallah)]] & [[Sassoon David Sassoon\|Sassoon David]]]]
	[[File:Sassoon docks2.jpg\|thumb\|right\|230px\|The [[Sassoon Docks]], [[Mumbai]], India]]		[[File:Sassoon docks2.jpg\|thumb\|right\|230px\|The [[Sassoon Docks]], [[Mumbai]], India]]
	The name of the family strongly implies a local, [[Mesopotamian]] origin ~~for the family~~. The family name of Sassoon is also commonly shared by many [[Armenians\|Armenian]] and Kurdish families and tribes who all originate from the mountainous district of [[Sason]] (whence the family and tribal names), west of [[Lake Van]], in upper Mesopotamia in modern [[Turkey]]. It is, however, possible that some Spanish [[Sephardi]] blood was mixed with the primarily Mesopotamian Jewish Sasoons.		The name of the family strongly implies a local, [[Mesopotamian]] origin. The family name of Sassoon is also commonly shared by many [[Armenians\|Armenian]] and [[Kurds\|Kurdish]] families and tribes who all originate from the mountainous district of [[Sason]] (whence the family and tribal names), west of [[Lake Van]], in upper Mesopotamia in modern [[Turkey]]. It is, however, possible that some Spanish [[Sephardi]] blood was mixed with the primarily Mesopotamian Jewish Sasoons.

	==Origins==		==Origins==
	[[Sassoon ben Salih]] (1750–1830) and his family were the chief treasurers to the [[pashas]] of [[Baghdad]] and [[Southern Iraq]]. His sons [[David Sassoon (treasurer)\|David]] (1792–1864) and [[Joseph Sassoon\|Joseph]] (1795–1872) fled from a new and unfriendly [[wāli]]. In 1828 David first went to the Persian Gulf port of [[Bushehr]] and in 1832 to [[Bombay]], [[India]], with his large family. In Bombay, he built the international business called David S. Sassoon, with the policy of staffing it with people brought from Baghdad. They filled the functions of the various branches of his business in India, [[Burma]], [[British Malaya\|Malaya]], and east Asia. He cemented the family's dominant position in the Sino-Indian opium trade. {{crossref\|(See [[First Opium War]].)}} The family's businesses in China, and Hong Kong especially, were built to capitalise on the opium business.<ref name="jewcy">{{Cite web \|title=SASSOON \|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13218-sassoon \|website=Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906}}</ref> His business extended to China – where Sassoon House (now the north wing of the [[Peace Hotel]]) on [[the Bund (Shanghai)\|the Bund]] in [[Shanghai]] became a noted landmark – and then to England. In each branch, he maintained a rabbi. His wealth and munificence were proverbial; his philanthropy across Asia included the building of schools, orphanages, hospitals, and museums with the proceeds of the drug trade. On his death, tributes to him were made from across the continent by Muslims, Christians, Parsees, Jews, and Hindus.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon" /> An important Jewish banker named Sassoon was hanged by the [[Ottoman Turks]] at the conclusion of the [[Siege of Kut]] al Amarah in April 1916. He may have been a member of this branch of the family or of Joseph Sassoon (vide infra).<ref>Tony Spackman, Captured at Kut. Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley, England, 1909. {{ISBN\|9781844158737}}</ref>		[[Sassoon ben Salih]] (1750–1830) and his family were the chief treasurers to the [[pashas]] of [[Baghdad]] and [[Southern Iraq]]. His sons [[David Sassoon (treasurer)\|David]] (1792–1864) and [[Joseph Sassoon\|Joseph]] (1795–1872) fled from a new and unfriendly [[wāli]]. In 1828 David first went to the Persian Gulf port of [[Bushehr]] and in 1832 to [[Bombay]], [[India]], with his large family. In Bombay, he built the international business called David S. Sassoon, with the policy of staffing it with people brought from Baghdad. They filled the functions of the various branches of his business in India, [[Burma]], [[British Malaya\|Malaya]], and east Asia. He cemented the family's dominant position in the Sino-Indian opium trade. {{crossref\|(See [[First Opium War]].)}} The family's businesses in China, and Hong Kong especially, were built to capitalise on the opium business.<ref name="jewcy">{{Cite web \|title=SASSOON \|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13218-sassoon \|website=Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906}}</ref> His business extended to China – where Sassoon House (now the north wing of the [[Peace Hotel]]) on [[the Bund (Shanghai)\|the Bund]] in [[Shanghai]] became a noted landmark – and then to England. In each branch, he maintained a rabbi. His wealth and munificence were proverbial; his philanthropy across Asia included the building of schools, orphanages, hospitals, and museums with the proceeds of the drug trade. On his death, tributes to him were made from across the continent by Muslims, Christians, Parsees, Jews, and Hindus.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon" /> An important Jewish banker named Sassoon was hanged by the [[Ottoman Turks]] at the conclusion of the [[Siege of Kut]] al Amarah in April 1916. He may have been a member of this branch of the family or of Joseph Sassoon (vide infra).<ref>Tony Spackman, ''Captured at Kut''. Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley, England, 1909. {{ISBN\|9781844158737}}</ref>

	==Joseph Sassoon sons==		==Joseph Sassoon sons==
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	Elias Sassoon had established Sassoon Cattaui Investment Holding (later Providence Group), a privately owned family hedge fund with Moise Cattaui in 1961 in Switzerland with assets from the Sassoon Family Trust, which had been formed in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1910. In 1970, the partners moved the company Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles) a private family investment group, which is not required to register with the SEC or comply with reporting requirements under the Dodd–Frank, reform act. It is said that at the time of the formation of the Fund, the total value of assets under management in 1961 was £25million.		Elias Sassoon had established Sassoon Cattaui Investment Holding (later Providence Group), a privately owned family hedge fund with Moise Cattaui in 1961 in Switzerland with assets from the Sassoon Family Trust, which had been formed in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1910. In 1970, the partners moved the company Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles) a private family investment group, which is not required to register with the SEC or comply with reporting requirements under the Dodd–Frank, reform act. It is said that at the time of the formation of the Fund, the total value of assets under management in 1961 was £25million.

	The Fund invested in commercial real estate properties in the U.S., Canada, and Greece as well as in precious metals, oil & gas, and securities. The fund also speculated in the currency markets, among its many holdings are: [[BHP]], the co-investor in [[Le Méridien]] hotel company with [[Air France]], [[American Express]], [[General Motors]], [[Wells Fargo]], [[HSBC]], [[Lehman Brothers]], [[ExxonMobil]], [[Conoco Phillips]], [[Fendi]], [[Giorgio Armani]], [[Microsoft]], [[Sun Microsystems]], [[Midland Bank]], stockbroking firm Frankel Pollak (which was later sold to [[Sasfin Bank]], a Sassoon family bank based in South Africa) and [[S&P Global]]. It is ~~rumored~~ that at the time of Elias Sassoon's death, the Fund, which is not required to file its financials with the SEC had over $100 billion of assets under management, most of which are assets of both the Sassoon and Cattaui families.		The Fund invested in commercial real estate properties in the U.S., Canada, and Greece as well as in precious metals, oil & gas, and securities. The fund also speculated in the currency markets, among its many holdings are: [[BHP]], the co-investor in [[Le Méridien]] hotel company with [[Air France]], [[American Express]], [[General Motors]], [[Wells Fargo]], [[HSBC]], [[Lehman Brothers]], [[ExxonMobil]], [[Conoco Phillips]], [[Fendi]], [[Giorgio Armani]], [[Microsoft]], [[Sun Microsystems]], [[Midland Bank]], stockbroking firm Frankel Pollak (which was later sold to [[Sasfin Bank]], a Sassoon family bank based in South Africa) and [[S&P Global]]. It is rumoured that at the time of Elias Sassoon's death, the Fund, which is not required to file its financials with the SEC had over $100 billion of assets under management, most of which are assets of both the Sassoon and Cattaui families.

	==David S. Sassoon sons==		==David S. Sassoon sons==
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	David Sassoon was the son of Flora Abraham, who had moved from India to England in 1901 and established a famous salon in her London home. Solomon Sassoon had two sons, [[Isaac S. D. Sassoon]] and David Solomon Sassoon, who are both rabbis.		David Sassoon was the son of Flora Abraham, who had moved from India to England in 1901 and established a famous salon in her London home. Solomon Sassoon had two sons, [[Isaac S. D. Sassoon]] and David Solomon Sassoon, who are both rabbis.

			[[Vidal Sassoon]] is distantly related to the family via his father, David Sassoon, from London.

	==Family tree==		==Family tree==
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	==References==		==References==
	{{reflist}}		{{reflist}}

			==Further reading==
			*{{Cite book \|last1=Sassoon \|first1=Joseph \|title=The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty \|date=2022 \|publisher=Allen Lane \|isbn=978-0-241-38864-8}}

	==External links==		==External links==

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	[[File:The bund shanghai 1.jpg\|thumbnail\|[[Peace Hotel\|Sassoon House]], [[Shanghai]], China]]		[[File:The bund shanghai 1.jpg\|thumbnail\|[[Peace Hotel\|Sassoon House]], [[Shanghai]], China]]
	The '''Sassoon family''', known as '''"[[Rothschild family\|Rothschilds]] of the East"''' due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade,<ref name=jewcy/> is a family of [[Baghdadi Jews\|Baghdadi Jewish]] descent. Originally based in [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]], they later moved to [[Bombay]], [[India]], and then spread to [[China]], [[England]], and other countries. It is said that the family descended from one of the [[~~Court_Jew~~\|court families]] of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in the 12th century. They later served as financial advisors to Islamic rulers.		The '''Sassoon family''', known as '''"[[Rothschild family\|Rothschilds]] of the East"''' due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade,<ref name=jewcy/> is a family of [[Baghdadi Jews\|Baghdadi Jewish]] descent. Originally based in [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]], they later moved to [[Bombay]], [[India]], and then spread to [[China]], [[England]], and other countries. It is said that the family descended from one of the [[Court Jew\|court families]] of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in the 12th century. They later served as financial advisors to Islamic rulers.

	From the 18th century, the Sassoons were one of the wealthiest families in the world, with a corporate empire spanning the entire continent of Asia.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon">''Siegfried Sassoon: A biography'', [[Max Wyndham, 2nd Baron Egremont\|Max Egremont]], (London 2005)</ref>		From the 18th century, the Sassoons were one of the wealthiest families in the world, with a corporate empire spanning the entire continent of Asia.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon">''Siegfried Sassoon: A biography'', [[Max Wyndham, 2nd Baron Egremont\|Max Egremont]], (London 2005)</ref>

imported>Saturdayopen: /* Origins */

2021-08-30T18:50:14Z

Origins

New page

{{sources|date=October 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
[[File:The bund shanghai 1.jpg|thumbnail|[[Peace Hotel|Sassoon House]], [[Shanghai]], China]]
The '''Sassoon family''', known as '''"[[Rothschild family|Rothschilds]] of the East"''' due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade,<ref name=jewcy/> is a family of [[Baghdadi Jews|Baghdadi Jewish]] descent. Originally based in [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]], they later moved to [[Bombay]], [[India]], and then spread to [[China]], [[England]], and other countries. It is said that the family descended from one of the [[Court_Jew|court families]] of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in the 12th century. They later served as financial advisors to Islamic rulers.

From the 18th century, the Sassoons were one of the wealthiest families in the world, with a corporate empire spanning the entire continent of Asia.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon">''Siegfried Sassoon: A biography'', [[Max Wyndham, 2nd Baron Egremont|Max Egremont]], (London 2005)</ref>

==Etymology==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2018}}
[[File:David Sassoon and sons.jpg|thumb|right|[[David Sassoon (treasurer)|David Sassoon]] (seated) and his sons [[Elias David Sassoon|Elias David]], [[Albert Abdallah David Sassoon|Albert (Abdallah)]] & [[Sassoon David Sassoon|Sassoon David]]]]
[[File:Sassoon docks2.jpg|thumb|right|230px|The [[Sassoon Docks]], [[Mumbai]], India]]
The name of the family strongly implies a local, [[Mesopotamian]] origin for the family. The family name of Sassoon is also commonly shared by many [[Armenians|Armenian]] and Kurdish families and tribes who all originate from the mountainous district of [[Sason]] (whence the family and tribal names), west of [[Lake Van]], in upper Mesopotamia in modern [[Turkey]]. It is, however, possible that some Spanish [[Sephardi]] blood was mixed with the primarily Mesopotamian Jewish Sasoons.

==Origins==
[[Sassoon ben Salih]] (1750–1830) and his family were the chief treasurers to the [[pashas]] of [[Baghdad]] and [[Southern Iraq]]. His sons [[David Sassoon (treasurer)|David]] (1792–1864) and [[Joseph Sassoon|Joseph]] (1795–1872) fled from a new and unfriendly [[wāli]]. In 1828 David first went to the Persian Gulf port of [[Bushehr]] and in 1832 to [[Bombay]], [[India]], with his large family. In Bombay, he built the international business called David S. Sassoon, with the policy of staffing it with people brought from Baghdad. They filled the functions of the various branches of his business in India, [[Burma]], [[British Malaya|Malaya]], and east Asia. He cemented the family's dominant position in the Sino-Indian opium trade. {{crossref|(See [[First Opium War]].)}} The family's businesses in China, and Hong Kong especially, were built to capitalise on the opium business.<ref name="jewcy">{{Cite web |title=SASSOON |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13218-sassoon |website=Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906}}</ref> His business extended to China – where Sassoon House (now the north wing of the [[Peace Hotel]]) on [[the Bund (Shanghai)|the Bund]] in [[Shanghai]] became a noted landmark – and then to England. In each branch, he maintained a rabbi. His wealth and munificence were proverbial; his philanthropy across Asia included the building of schools, orphanages, hospitals, and museums with the proceeds of the drug trade. On his death, tributes to him were made from across the continent by Muslims, Christians, Parsees, Jews, and Hindus.<ref name="SiegfriedSassoon" /> An important Jewish banker named Sassoon was hanged by the [[Ottoman Turks]] at the conclusion of the [[Siege of Kut]] al Amarah in April 1916. He may have been a member of this branch of the family or of Joseph Sassoon (vide infra).<ref>Tony Spackman, Captured at Kut. Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley, England, 1909. {{ISBN|9781844158737}}</ref>

==Joseph Sassoon sons==
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2018}}
Joseph Sassoon went to Aleppo, Syria, where he established a merchant house and later his business interests spread to Alexandria, Thessaloniki, and Athens, which included a shipping company and a money exchange house. His five sons branched out in many directions: his son Moses Sassoon (1828–1909) returned to Baghdad before moving to Egypt where he built the financial house Joseph Sassoon & Sons, which later expanded and became an agent for Crédit Foncier in Egypt. In 1871 Moses' son Jacob Sassoon (1850–1936) was one of the largest cotton plantation owners in Egypt, and owned cotton mills; during the American civil war, his older brother Nissim (1840–1917) had made a fortune exporting Egyptian cotton to England making him Egypt's largest cotton exporter. In 1927, with Misr Bank and other Egyptian businessmen, Jacob Sassoon founded of Misr Spinning and Weaving Company (Arabic: شركة مصر للغزل والنسيج), also known as Misr Helwan or the El-Ghazl factory owning 61% of the company's shares. Jacob Sassoon also founded Egypt Crédit Foncier with Joseph Vita Mosseri, his grandson Eliau Joseph Sassoon was an architect, and designed the Asicurazione de Trieste Building. Eliau Sassoon was also a real estate investor and developer, who foresaw the unparalleled growth of Cairo and the lucrative effect such expansion would have on land values. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the properties he invested in were located at the nexus of the elegant European quarter of Ismailia or in the choicest parts of Kasr al-Dubara, and later, in Garden City, Zamalek, and Giza. In 1952 his grandson Eliau (Elias) Nissim Eliau Joseph Sassoon (1928–2010) founded Banque Du Caire with Maurice Joseph Cattaui (1925–2009).

==Eliau (Elias) Nissim Joseph Sassoon==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2018}}
[https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-372295561/sassoon-family#!profile-1500007-info Eliau (Elias) Nissim Eliau Joseph Sassoon] (Hebrew: אליהו נסים אליאו יוסף ששון) (1928-2010), (always called Elias), born in Aleppo, Syria, to Nassim Eliau Sassoon (1911–1988) a wealthy merchant, banker, and former partner at Safra Freres a bank based in Aleppo, and [https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-372295561/sassoon-family#!profile-1500009-info Messouda Sassoon (born Shamash)] (1911–1992).

Elias Sassoon was Joseph Sassoon's most influential and wealthiest descendant, in 1940 he was sent to Alexandria to attend the prestigious boarding school, [[Victoria College, Alexandria|Victoria College]]. He later joined his family's business in 1946 where he worked for the family's business in Egypt.

Among the many holdings, the family had at the time included interests in [[Burmah Oil]], [[Iraq Petroleum Company|Turkish Petroleum Company]] and the [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company|Anglo-Iranian Oil Company]], a textile factory, a large cotton export business and interests in both the General Company of Commerce and Industry of Greece (later Attica Enterprises Holding S.A.) and Atlas Maritime.

In 1947 Elias focused his attention on three primary sectors: the newly booming oil exploration industry sweeping the Middle East, shipping and banking. With a £5,000 loan from his father, Elias invested in [[Standard Oil]] adding to his family's existing holdings in the company. That same year he married Hannah Rochel Jacque Sassoon (née de Menasche) (1929–2009), granddaughter of Baron Jacques Bohor Yacoub Levi de Menashe (d.1916).

His great-grandfather, David Solomon Sassoon (1871–1956) had been an investor in Socony-[[Vacuum Oil Company]], which later partnered with Standard Oil to provide markets for the oil reserves in the Middle East. In 1906, Socony (later [[Mobil]]) opened its first fuel terminals in Alexandria with financing provided by David Solomon Sassoon. Elias Sassoon was a devoted Zionist and considered the British anything but friends to the Jewish people because of their blockade in the Mediterranean to refugee vessels carrying Jewish refugees fleeing the horrors of World War II, and although to a lesser extent, he considered the British government as culpable nonetheless in the atrocities against world Jewry.

In 1952 he cofounded [[Banque Du Caire]] with his childhood friend Moise Joseph Maurice Cattaui (1925–2009). By then Elias Sassoon had expanded his family's business to France, Brazil, South Africa and the United States where the family exported cotton to and had maintained trading posts since the 1800s.

The Sassoons believed that Mesopotamia (now Syria and Iraq) contained substantial reservoirs of oil, the forerunner of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC). David Solomon Sassoon was among the first to secure the interest of the Imperial German banks and companies, already involved in the building of the Berlin–Baghdad railway, which he played an active role in its financing. This German interest was followed by British interests when David Sassoon became an agent for the [[Rothschilds]] in Ottoman Empire. In 1911, in an attempt to bring together British and German interests competing in the region, Sassoon formed a consortium of British investors composed of banks and companies and formed the African and Eastern Concession Ltd.

In 1953 Elias Sassoon used these networks of interests to expand his family's investment interests to include mining concessions in Africa. In 1957 the new Egyptian post-revolution government under Nasser nationalized all European particularly British and French companies and banks. The government also began expelling foreigners and the Jewish community of Egypt once again, despite its many contributions to the country's artistic, economic, political, and academic fields found itself under the government's harassment and intimidation, many were forced to leave the country with no more than one suitcase and most had their assets and properties seized by the Revolutionary Council.

The Sassoons were among those, whose assets were confiscated and in 1966 Elias Sassoon and his wife were taken to the port in Alexandria and expelled from the country. Elias’ wife who was an Egyptian citizen was declared non-citizen, and at the request of the Egyptian government, Elias's Syrian citizenship was revoked. They were given laissez-passer (travel documents) and ordered aboard a ship bound for Greece, however, their son Edouard Elias Sassoon (1948–1985) who was a medical student at the University of Alexandria was denied an exit visa.

The government accused Elias Sassoon of using his family's banking network to help smuggle assets belonging to members of the Jewish community out of the country and demanded that he return his assets held in Europe before his son is allowed to leave. After paying what amounted to ransom money, totaling £4 million and the intervention of both the French and the Greek governments, Edouard Sassoon joined his family in 1971, with his wife Josephine Celine Esther (née Cattaui) (1949–1994), daughter of Moise Cattaui who was also denied exit visa after her family was expelled from the country in 1964.

Elias Sassoon had established Sassoon Cattaui Investment Holding (later Providence Group), a privately owned family hedge fund with Moise Cattaui in 1961 in Switzerland with assets from the Sassoon Family Trust, which had been formed in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1910. In 1970, the partners moved the company Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles) a private family investment group, which is not required to register with the SEC or comply with reporting requirements under the Dodd–Frank, reform act. It is said that at the time of the formation of the Fund, the total value of assets under management in 1961 was £25million.

The Fund invested in commercial real estate properties in the U.S., Canada, and Greece as well as in precious metals, oil & gas, and securities. The fund also speculated in the currency markets, among its many holdings are: [[BHP]], the co-investor in [[Le Méridien]] hotel company with [[Air France]], [[American Express]], [[General Motors]], [[Wells Fargo]], [[HSBC]], [[Lehman Brothers]], [[ExxonMobil]], [[Conoco Phillips]], [[Fendi]], [[Giorgio Armani]], [[Microsoft]], [[Sun Microsystems]], [[Midland Bank]], stockbroking firm Frankel Pollak (which was later sold to [[Sasfin Bank]], a Sassoon family bank based in South Africa) and [[S&P Global]]. It is rumored that at the time of Elias Sassoon's death, the Fund, which is not required to file its financials with the SEC had over $100 billion of assets under management, most of which are assets of both the Sassoon and Cattaui families.

==David S. Sassoon sons==
[[File:Sir Philip Sassoon, 1923, Oil on canvas.jpg|thumb|left|[[Sir Philip Sassoon]], [[John Singer Sargent]], 1923]]
[[File:David Sassoon tomb.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Tomb of David Sassoon, [[Pune]], India]]
Sassoon's eight sons also branched out in many directions. The Sassoon family was heavily involved in the shipping and [[opium trade|opium]] production industry in China and India. [[Elias David Sassoon|Elias David]] (1820–1880), his son by his first wife, had been the first of the sons to go to China, in 1844. He later returned to Bombay, before leaving the firm to establish [[E.D. Sassoon & Co.]] in 1867, with offices in Bombay and Shanghai. Another son, [[Albert Abdullah David Sassoon]] (1818–1896) took on the running of the firm on his father's death, and notably constructed the [[Sassoon Docks]], the first wet dock built in western India. With two of his brothers he later became prominent in England, and the family were friends of the Prince of Wales, later King [[Edward VII]]. One daughter of the family, [[Rachel Beer|Rachel Sassoon Beer]], joined her husband in running a number of British newspapers, including ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' (1893–1904) and ''[[The Observer]]'', which she also edited.
[[File:Siegfried Sassoon by Glyn Warren Philpot 1917.jpeg|thumb|Portrait of [[Siegfried Sassoon]] by [[Glyn Warren Philpot]], 1917. [[Fitzwilliam Museum]]]]

Of those who settled in England, Sir [[Edward Albert Sassoon]] (1856–1912), the son of Albert, married [[Aline Caroline de Rothschild]], and was a Conservative member of Parliament from 1899 until his death. The seat was then inherited by his son Sir [[Philip Sassoon]] (1888–1939) from 1912 until his death. Philip served in the [[World War I|First World War]] as military secretary to Field Marshal Sir [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]] and, during the 1920s and 1930s, as Britain's undersecretary of state for air. The twentieth-century English poet, one of the best known [[War poet#Britain|World War I poets]], [[Siegfried Sassoon]] (1886–1967) was David's great-grandson.

Another descendant of [[Sassoon David Sassoon|David Sassoon]] is the British banker and former Treasury's commercial secretary [[James Sassoon, Baron Sassoon|James Meyer Sassoon]]. He was mentioned in the [[Paradise Papers]] as one of the beneficiaries of a tax-exempt Cayman Island trust fund worth $236 million in 2007 and defended it as being of non-UK origin.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 November 2017 |title=James Meyer Sassoon |url=https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/stories/james-meyer-sassoon |access-date=5 November 2017 |publisher=[[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]]}}</ref>

The branch which carried on the rabbinical tradition has been represented by Rabbi [[Solomon David Sassoon]] (1915–1985), who moved from [[Letchworth]] to [[London]] and then to [[Jerusalem]] in 1970. He was the son of one [[David Solomon Sassoon]] (1880–1942) who collected Jewish books and manuscripts and catalogued them in two volumes.

The bulk of this collection is stored at the [[British Library]] in London, England. Some examples of this collection are maintained at the [[University of Toronto Library]] in Toronto, Canada. None of these priceless works are presently stored in the United States.{{Citation needed|reason=Relevance?|date=May 2019}}

David Sassoon was the son of Flora Abraham, who had moved from India to England in 1901 and established a famous salon in her London home. Solomon Sassoon had two sons, [[Isaac S. D. Sassoon]] and David Solomon Sassoon, who are both rabbis.

==Family tree==
{{Sassoon family tree}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.dangoor.com/74099.html Elkebir Family Tree], showing the ancestry of the Sassoon family back to the 18th century.
* {{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=S&artid=269|article=Sassoon}}

{{Banking families}}

[[Category:Sassoon family| ]]
[[Category:Iraqi families]]
[[Category:Political families of Iraq]]
[[Category:People from Baghdad]]
[[Category:Jewish Chinese history]]
[[Category:Jewish Hong Kong history]]
[[Category:Jewish Indian history]]
[[Category:Jewish Iraqi history]]