Untitled

Contract -King George III Royal Order.....Approval signed by Lord North and Lord Bute, to pay Moses Franks consortium (Colebrookes / Nesbitt / Franks) funds due for supplying war provisions to troops onboard ships headed to Martinique. This was in support of troop movements in Jamaica and Havana during the Seven Years’ War. Signed by the consortium members on verso. One page. Folds, two small repairs on right margin affecting a few letters. London: 9th July 1762' The document relates to Moses Franks' activities to help effect a British victory against the French in the American colonies during the French and Indian War (1756-1763) and illustrates how the business activity of this enterprising native New York Jew traversed the Atlantic from his adopted home in the English mother country back to its American colonies. Jews had been involved in supplying the needs of various European armies already in the seventeenth century, but none, (according to Marcus), "were of any real significance. - There was only one Jewish family which played an important part in the British army supply [in America]-the Franks family." The Frankses had already begun their service on was Moses [Franks] himself who emerged as "the key member of the army supply syndicate ... that became the chief supplier of provisions to the British troops" in the Americas during the French and Indian War [1756-1763] and continuing through the period of the American Revolution up to the 1780s. Other investors, including Sir James Colbrooke, Sir George Colbrooke and Arnold Nesbitt, joined the syndicate and then left (or died), but Franks alone remained involved all the years of its existence. It is thus no wonder that the French ambassador to London reported to his government that "Moses was particularly esteemed by their Britannic Majesties." It is estimated that the syndicate's government operations may have involved millions of pounds. Moses Franks (1718-1789) was born in New York to Jacob and Abigail Franks. His great uncle who had served under the privateer-pirate Captain William Kidd was living in New York by the end of the seventeenth century. He was followed shortly thereafter by Jacob Franks, purhaps drawn to New York by the commercial opportunities afforded by Queen Anne's War (1702-1713), who subsequently emerged as an important merchant-shipper and army supplier. Jacob's son Moses served in a local New York militia and then moved to Philadelphia, where he was one of the fi rst Jews to set up a home. He moved to London around 1740 (as did his brother Naphtali), most likely to serve as an agent for his father's trans-Atlantic interests. It is also thought that his mother considered New York to be too degenerate a place for her son. In London he joined the ranks of the economic elite and moved in high social circles (at a time when this was highly unusual for Ashkenazim), all the while remaining loyal to his Jewish faith and playing a leading role in the Anglo-Ashkenazi community. Following exclusion from a Sephardi-organized initiative to congratulate the newly-coronated George III in 1760, he was nominated to represent Ashkenazim on a body that was to become the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Six years later he donated the generous sum of 250 pounds sterling to the rebuilding of the Great Synagogue at Duke's Place and six years after that he helped secure a mortgage for it. Hyamson notes that Moses Franks "remained at home in both capitals" and was it only natural that when New York's Shearith Israel wanted to hire an English hazzan, its leaders turned to Franks for help. Additionally, even when settled in London he remained committed to New York's general civic betterment and he was active on behalf of Columbia College and its library. Although Moses Franks never returned to live in America, his role in the growth of the Jewish merchant class there should not be overlooked. On Moses Franks, see Marcus, CAJ, passim; Rosenbloom, BDEAJ, p. 40; Wolf & Whiteman, Jews of Philadelphia, passim; Hyamson, The Sephardim of England, p. 148; Rubens, Portrait of Anglo-Jewry, pp. 11-12, 18, pl. 21; Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, pp. 112, 139; Endelman, Jews of Georgian England, p. 251; Roth, History of the Great Synagogue, chaps. 9, 10.

Associated People/Businesses

• No associated people or businesses listed.

Geography

No geographic information available.

Subjects

No subjects available.

Physical Location

Arc.MS.56, Box 20, Folder 13