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Name: SOMEN, Israel MBE (Mil) 'Issy'

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Nee: bro of David, Pauline and Morris Somen, parents from Lithuania

Birth Date: 27 Jan 1903 London

Death Date: 9 Oct 1984 Westminster

First Date: 1923

Profession: Dir. of Companies. Dep. Mayor Nairobi 1954/55; Chmn. Finance Comm. 1950-52; Elected to Aldermanic bench 1952; Joined City Council 1947; Consul for Israel in EA, Pres. Nairobi Henrew Congregation

Area: Nairobi, 1930 Box 247, Nairobi

Married: In Nairobi 1931 Sophie Biemer b. 15 Aug 1911, d. 1998 London

Book Reference: Who's Who, Red 25, Red 31, Jambo 68, Barnes, Jews, Nicholls, Glimpses, Richardson, Childhood

War Service: WW2 with RASC - Lt.-Col. in Somaliland and Abyssinian Campaigns

School: Pretoria Boys School, SA

General Information:

Red 25 - Hon. Treasurer - Nairobi Railway Club
Jambo 68 - Sophie Somen - 1911-98 - Sophie came to Kenya with her parents (Mr & Mrs Biemer) and her two sisters Dora and Helen in 1913 and the family settled in Nairobi. Sophie was educated in Nairobi and in 1931 married Issy Somen. During the second World War Sophie ran the family furniture business and helped with various voluntary organisations.
In 1955 Issy was elected Mayor of Nairobi and held office for 2 years and in her capacity as Mayoress Sophie held many innovative functions such as cookery demonstrations by the wives of High Commissioners in aid of charity and also an annual event in December when Children were asked to bring toys which were then distributed to children in need. Sophie was also District Vice President of EAWL Muthaiga Branch for several years and again organised many functions in her own home and other locations in aid of multi racial charities.
Sophie and Issy left Nairobi at the end of 1969 and after a short spell in Switzerland they moved to London. They celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1981 and Issy passed away in 1984.
Barnes - Early player for Harlequins RFC, 1920s
Nicholls - Alderman Izzie [sic] Somen, mayor of Nairobi, was refused membership of the Nairobi Club because he was Jewish ……
Glimpses - Post WW1 - Dozens more Jews made their way to Kenya, most notably the extraordinary Somen family. The Somens had emigrated from Lithuania to South Africa, fallen upon hard times and died young, but not before producing 7 bright children who perforce learned to fend for themselves. In 1924 or 1925 Pauline, the youngest daughter, just 19, answered an advertisement for assistant leader of the Girl Guides in Kenya. And got the position. Shortly thereafter her oldest brother, David, a bright young man who was teaching in the Transvaal, came up to see his little sister. Once in Nairobi he got a job with Education Department, first teaching at the Nairobi Primary School, then rising to become headmaster of the Duke of Gloucester the government secondary school for Asians in Pumwani.
Meanwhile his younger brother Israel Somen, who had been put into an orphanage from which he escaped at age 16, pitched up, and found a job with the Railways. The other 2 sisters, Liebe Somen and Anne Somen, made their way up to Kenya, too, as did their brother Morris. Initially all the young Somens lived together in a house in Parklands and although, as David's son Michael says, "being all strong-minded characters, they fought energetically among themselves, but they always presented an intimidatingly united Somen front to anyone who dared criticise one of them".
Glimpses - Mr Israel Somen came to Kenya in 1923 (1927 according to nephew Michael Somen) after a hard struggle in other parts of Africa. When he landed in Mombasa he had £5 in his pocket and plenty of ambition. He wanted to make a trip round the world. He went to work for the Kenya Railways, and after 6 years was able to realise his ambition. He went to India, China and Japan, crossed the American continent and visited Europe. (In fact he got only as far as India!). Then he came back to Kenya and got married. He took up boxing and in 1927 became the bantan-weight champion of East Africa (Congo, not East Africa). Then he devoted a number of years to a purely business career (Anon. 1949 - The Romantic Story of Nairobi Jewry) He married Miss Sophie, the youngest of the 3 Biemer girls, and ran her father's furniture business, Hutchings Biemer. He was proud of being Consul for Israel, mayor of Nairobi and governor of Nairobi University.
Glimpses - During the last war [WW2], Mr Somen distinguished himself as a brilliant organizer and was awarded the MBE and mentioned in despatches. He finished the war as a Lieut-Colonel.
Glimpses - The most active and outstanding leader of the Jewish community in Kenya is Mr Issy Somen. He is a dynamic personality. All his five foot two-and-a-quarter inches ("Don't forget the quarter!" he said to me humorously) is packed full of energy. He is a fluent public speaker and leadership comes naturally to him. ………. He became active in Jewish affairs round about 1933, when the first Jewish refugees started to come from Germany. A good part of the credit for his activities must go to his wife, Sophie, one of the three Biemer sisters whose activities in the refugee field are well know even outside Kenya. …….. Mr Somen is now Chairman of the Board for Kenya Jewry, Chairman of the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation, the only Jewish Town Councillor of Nairobi for the past 3 years. (anon. 1949) Shortly thereafter he was elected the first (and thus far only) Jewish mayor of Nairobi, serving from 1955 until 1957.
Glimpses - Some people completed their professional life, then left Kenya to retire - including Israel and Sophie Somen, who went to Europe in 1969.
Richardson 1929 - passenger on Llandaff Castle to Mombasa
Childhood - Les Hunter - Nairobi School 1926 - Issie Somen our Dorm Master (later to become Mayor of Nairobi)
Gazette 28 Dec 1984 probate
Michael Somen, David Somen's son: Issy was the only Somen born in England.   It is unclear why his mother Sophie went to England. The supposition is that she needed to get away from her husband Lewis who was by all accounts a poor provider and an alcoholic. Where did she stay in England? Possibly with her husband Lewis' brother Solomon and his family.
So extreme was the family's financial plight that Issy was put into the Jewish Orphanage at the tender age of 14 as his mother was unable to support him. This would have been in 1917 around the time when his father died. He ran away from that orphanage, lived on his wits in Pretoria for a while and then ventured to the then Belgian Congo aged 16 to manage a cattle ranch in Katanga Province.
Issy married Sophie Biemer in Nairobi, Kenya in 1931. She was born in Kenya and had been taught at Hebrew Classes by her future brother-in-law David.   Sophie joined Issy in the Belgian Congo and they later returned to Nairobi where he worked with his brother Morris for the Kenya Uganda Railway.
Issy's career was spectacular. He bought a furniture company from his father-in-law just  before the outbreak of World War 2, went to war in Somalia,  was commissioned, rising to Lieutenant Colonel, awarded the MBE, and returned to make a success of his business in addition to being President of the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation, Mayor of Nairobi, Consul for Israel and Governor of the University College of Nairobi. His work for Israel was immense and recognised in a memorable communication from Golda Meir.  He was especially proud of the  University Governorship because, as he put it, his education had stopped at 16 when he ran away from the orphanage. Issy and Sophie left Kenya for Lugano and then London, in the late 1960s.  They are both buried in London, England.

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