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In

In Amsterdam in the early 1800’s the poor Jews were crowded into appalling slums, and conditions were so shocking that the Dutch government attempted to encourage Jews to move to new-towns in the countryside. In Amsterdam in 1849 55% of the Ashkenazi population were (according to the Encyclopedia Judaica) officially designated as ‘paupers’ a fact which Ruth Diamond who was both Dutch and a researcher into the Barmes and Boekman families  agreed.

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The Dutch Empire which was once powerful was in terminal decline while the British Empire was still thriving and Amsterdam as a financial centre had given way to London.

The decline of Amsterdam and the promise of a more prosperous lifestyle in London drove many Jews away.

The majority of unskilled Dutch immigrants who lived in the slums of Spitalfields in the mid 19 C were employed in the numerous cigar making factories in Whitechapel.

The cigar industry was in depression due to the cheapness of machine made cigarettes in 1858 and the employers (for the most part of Dutch origin themselves) tried to enforce a cut in the meagre wages of the workers . In Jan 1858 the workers belonging to the "Jewish Cigar Manufacturers Combination " called a strike.

Tobacco was imported, packed into large hogs heads and stored in bonded warehouses in Penington Street.  It was kept there until the duty was paid and then sold to the manufacturer to be turned into cigars, pipe tobacco, cigarettes or snuff.

The cigar makers were seated in rows, each had their own work area. A leaf of tobacco was spread out on the bench and they then made gashes in the leaf. The next step was to take a few fragments of the tobacco leaf and roll them up to form a cigar, place it against a guide and cut it to a given length and lastly take a narrow strip of tobacco leaf and roll the cigar up into it in a spiral then twist it at one end. Only a few seconds were needed to complete a cigar. On average they worked  8am – 7pm with half an hour for lunch plus a half day on Saturday. Overtime meant working up to 10 or 11pm or even all night. and would earn anything from 4 shillings to 14 shillings a week.

in the early 1800’s the poor Jews were crowded into appalling slums, and conditions were so shocking that the Dutch government attempted to encourage Jews to move to new-towns in the countryside. In Amsterdam in 1849 55% of the Ashkenazi population were (according to the Encyclopedia Judaica) officially designated as ‘paupers’ a fact which Ruth Diamond who was both Dutch and a researcher into the Barmes and Boekman families  agreed.

​

The Dutch Empire which was once powerful was in terminal decline while the British Empire was still thriving and Amsterdam as a financial centre had given way to London.

The decline of Amsterdam and the promise of a more prosperous lifestyle in London drove many Jews away.

The majority of unskilled Dutch immigrants who lived in the slums of Spitalfields in the mid 19 C were employed in the numerous cigar making factories in Whitechapel.

The cigar industry was in depression due to the cheapness of machine made cigarettes in 1858 and the employers (for the most part of Dutch origin themselves) tried to enforce a cut in the meagre wages of the workers . In Jan 1858 the workers belonging to the "Jewish Cigar Manufacturers Combination " called a strike.

Tobacco was imported, packed into large hogs heads and stored in bonded warehouses in Penington Street.  It was kept there until the duty was paid and then sold to the manufacturer to be turned into cigars, pipe tobacco, cigarettes or snuff.

The cigar makers were seated in rows, each had their own work area. A leaf of tobacco was spread out on the bench and they then made gashes in the leaf. The next step was to take a few fragments of the tobacco leaf and roll them up to form a cigar, place it against a guide and cut it to a given length and lastly take a narrow strip of tobacco leaf and roll the cigar up into it in a spiral then twist it at one end. Only a few seconds were needed to complete a cigar. On average they worked  8am – 7pm with half an hour for lunch plus a half day on Saturday. Overtime meant working up to 10 or 11pm or even all night. and would earn anything from 4 shillings to 14 shillings a week.

unskilled Dutch immigrants who lived in the slums of Spitalfields in the mid 19 C were employed in the numerous cigar making factories in Whitechapel.

The cigar industry was in depression due to the cheapness of machine made cigarettes in 1858 and the employers (for the most part of Dutch origin themselves) tried to enforce a cut in the meagre wages of the workers . In Jan 1858 the workers belonging to the "Jewish Cigar Manufacturers Combination " called a strike.

Tobacco was imported, packed into large hogs heads and stored in bonded warehouses in Penington Street.  It was kept there until the duty was paid and then sold to the manufacturer to be turned into cigars, pipe tobacco, cigarettes or snuff.

The cigar makers were seated in rows, each had their own work area. A leaf of tobacco was spread out on the bench and they then made gashes in the leaf. The next step was to take a few fragments of the tobacco leaf and roll them up to form a cigar, place it against a guide and cut it to a given length and lastly take a narrow strip of tobacco leaf and roll the cigar up into it in a spiral then twist it at one end. Only a few seconds were needed to complete a cigar. On average they worked  8am – 7pm with half an hour for lunch plus a half day on Saturday. Overtime meant working up to 10 or 11pm or even all night. and would earn anything from 4 shillings to 14 shillings a week