Elkan Family

The Elkan family connects with the Samuel family on the marriage of Harriet Samuel, the daughter of Henry Israel and Rachel (Wolff) Samuel to John Elkan. The chart below illustrates this relationship:

John was the son of Isaac Benjamin Elkan (1825–1874) and Rebecca Phillipson (1823–1908). A record exists but has not yet been actually viewed which indicates that in 1879 Harriet (Samuel) Elkan was admitted to a Lunatics’ Asylum at Hayes Park, London.

John Elkan was, like his father in law, Henry Samuel, a jeweller but on a much larger and more successful scale. Most of what follows has been taken from the newspapers of the age. Like many of the Samuel and Reis family, Elkan suffered the indignity of having his various jewellry shops burglarized. These events were seized upon by the newspapers and written up and as a result most of what we know about Elkan comes from these reports.

1892

Pearson’s Weekly – Saturday 23 January 1892

MR. JOHN ELKAN, 35, Liverpool Street, London, E.C., has invented and is selling a cuff-link of novel pattern, which he calls the “El-Kan.” The link is so constructed that it can be instantaneously made into a rigid article as easy to put through the link holes of a cuff as a thin strip of steel would be. This improvement does not necessitate any springs or other complications, so there is no fear of these links getting out of order.

Hull Daily Mail – Thursday 17 July 1902

Thirteen years ago, John Elkan, of Liverpool-street, had occasion to make an arrangement with his creditors. Next Thursday Mr Elkan, says the “City Press,” will welcome his former creditors at dinner, and in the course of the evening present a cheque to each one for the balance due. This action on Mr Elkan’s part is the more deserving of remark in as much as the arrangement entered into was a strictly private one, and has not been in any way recorded against him.

1903

Weekly Mail – 21st February 1903
JEWEL ROBBERY: A DARING AFFAIR AT A LONDON SHOP

At the Guildhall, London, on Wednesday John Halford, 40, no fixed abode, was charged with breaking and entering the shop of Mr. John Elkan, jeweller, of 35, Liverpool-street, and stealing eight gold chains, value £20.-Police constable Kerridge said that about 8.30 o’clock on the previous night he heard a smash of glass in Liverpool-street, and, looking to see where it had taken place, he saw the prisoner standing in front of Mr. Elkan’s shop with the chains in his hand. Witness took him in custody. A large pane of thick glass had been smashed. Prisoner said “I broke the window with this knife,” taking it from his pocket, and added, “I was out of work.” Mr. H. G. Taylor, manager of the shop, said when he heard the smash he rushed out with the assistant and saw a large quantity of jewellery lying on the pavement. He instructed the assistant to take charge of that whilst he went after the prisoner, who was walking off with eight chains in his hand. He brought him back and gave him in custody. It was impossible to say if any of the jewellery was missing until stock had been taken. The damage done to the window was about 50s.—A remand was ordered.

1912

Evening News (London) – Monday 07 October 1912
CONVIVIAL CITY BURGLARS
A £4,000 Haul: Interval for Refreshments

As a result of a raid on a jeweller’s shop in Liverpool-street valuables to the extent of £4,000 have been cleared from the window.

An Evening News representative was informed that the shop, the proprietor of which is Mr. John Elkan, was locked as usual on Saturday night, when it was opened today the interior was in a state of confusion.

The cases had been stripped of their contents and cards and tickets and boxes were strewn about the floor. Watches, rings, necklaces, tiaras, pendants, and other articles had been swept into the burglars’ bag. The number of rings taken was over 400.

The thieves left behind them a set of tools including pliers, a crowbar, a saw, and a piece of iron. The safe was intact.

Entry was obtained through an empty shop adjoining the Metropolitan Railway Station. Ascending to the first floor, the thieves cut a hole through the wall into Mr Elkan’s office, and there refreshed themselves after the labour – which must have occupied some hours- with beef sandwiches and whiskey.

WHATS WAS LEFT OF THE FEAST

The supply of sandwiches must have been prodigious. Apart from the crumbs left behind there were twenty sandwiches in a packet which had not been required. Two empty whiskey bottles lay near, and the thieves had helped themselves to cigars in the manager’s office.

From the office the men were able to descend into the shop without difficult, so that it is clear that they were acquainted with the plan of the building.

Two walls had been pierced with holes large enough to allow the passage of a police officer, and the noise of the hammering had been deadened by the use of pieces of sacking.

The most hopeful clue consists of some finger impressions on the glass cases. The methods employed, especially the way in which the holes were bored through the walls are said to resemble those of the men who committed the daring robbery in Regent-street a few months ago.

“GREAT OPPORTUNITY”

Outside the premises selected by the thieves is a signboard with the words “Great Opportunity” in red letters. The jeweller’s shop, in which the men must have spent many hours, is a hundred yards from the Bishopsgate-street Police-station.

It is believed that the men – the evidence points to there having been two – reached the premises adjoining the shop by way of the narrow covered-in passage into the Liverpool-street Station of the Metropolitan Railway before one o’clock in the morning, leaving when the station was opened.

The Times 8 October 1912
JEWEL ROBBERY IN THE CITY.

During Saturday night or Sunday morning thieves entered the premises of Mr. John Elkan, of Liverpool-street, E.C., and stole jewelry to the estimated value ok £4,000.

Mr. Elkan’s shop is situated a few yards from a narrow, covered-in passage which leads to the Liverpool-Street Station of the Metropolitan Railway. The station was closed between midnight on Saturday and 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, and it is believed that the thieves concealed themselves until everyone had left and then entered the empty offices, access to which is provided by a flight of stairs from the station passage. To reach Mr. Elkan’s premises they bored through the brick walls of two rooms, deadening the sound of falling material by the use of sacking on the floor. In Mr. Elkan’s private room, they seem to have had a supper of meat sandwiches and mince pies with some whisky. Cigars were found in some drawers and smoked. On a table they found the catalogue of a safe-manufacturer which Mr .Elkan had obtained to select a safe for a business which he had purchased in the district. A leaf of this catalogue was turned down at a page where the following advertisement of a safe appeared — “Doors are hung on hinges, offering far greater resistance to burglars than the customary pivots and lugs.” By removing a pane of glass from the door of the private room the thieves were able to enter the shop. Two safes which stood here and which contained jewelry to the value of from £10,000 to £12,000 were not touched, but the windows and counter-cases were cleared of diamond rings, brooches and pendants, necklets, watches, gold chains, and gems of all descriptions. Heavy silver articles and jewelry which came within direct view of the observation hole in the street shutters were left. Eighteen shillings which Mr. Elkan had put aside for insurance stamps was also taken. It is clear that the thieves waited until the station was opened early in the morning and then crawled out through the holes they had made.

Londonderry Sentinel – Thursday 10 October 1912

During the week-end burglars broke into the premises of Messrs. John Elkan, jewellers, of Liverpool-street, London, E.C. and got away with jewellry valued at £4,000. The thieves had to break through two brick walls to gain access to the shop.

1913

Evening Post, 25 February 1913
JEWELLERY SCATTERED IN THE STREET: YOUTH’S RAID ON SHOP WINDOW.

There was a remarkable scene in London yesterday afternoon when at 4.30 a. young man of superior appearance walked up to the establishment of Mr. Elkan, the well-known Liverpool-street jeweller. with a parcel under his arm. He stopped outside one of the windows for a short time examining the jewellery displayed when, without the slightest warning, he smashed the window with a violent blow with the package he was carrying. “I at once rushed out when I heard the crash” the manager told a press representative, “and was just in time to notice a young man, apparently about 20 years of age, calmly extracting a tray of brooches through a large hole in the window. The youth then threw the Jewellery into the street. When I asked him what he thought he was doing he told me he was tired of walking about, had nowhere to go and nothing to eat.” The young man who seemed to treat the whole thing as a joke gave the name of Victor Smith, said he came from Ramsgate, and was later taken to the Bishopsgate Police-station. There has been an extraordinary sequence of outrages at Mr. Elkan’s establishment: It was at his shop that two expert Jewellery thieves got a haul of between £3,000 and £4,000 a few months after secreting themselves in a neighbouring building for nearly two days. On half a dozen previous occasions there have been attempts made on the establishment, either windows or showcases being smashed. 

1914

Shoreditch Observer – Saturday 31 January 1914

London Daily Chronicle – Tuesday 26 July 1927|
DEATH OF JOHN ELKAN

Mr. John Elkan, of Regent’s-park, who has just died after a short illness, was governing director of John Elkan, Ltd., goldsmiths and Jewellers, and resigned only last week from the City Corporation, of which he had been a member 20 years.

Weekly Examiner — Saturday, 30 July 1927
A REAL LONDONER DEAD.

A real Londoner was Mr. John Elkan, M.V.O., who died during last weekend at his home in Hanover Gate, Mansions, Regent’s Park, aged seventy-eight. He resigned from the City Corporation, of which he had been a member for twenty years, only a week or so ago, because of his illness. All his life Mr. Elkan had been spent in the City of London, either building up his own business of John Elkan, Ltd., Jewellers, or giving his time and attention to the affairs of the Corporation of London. His memories of London were absorbing. He got his schooling at Pinches School in George Yard, Lombard Street, which Sir Henry Irving, and Sir Edward Clarke also attended. He used to talk of Charing Cross when there was no station there and of other well-known spots as green fields where great buildings now stand. When he was sixty-six, Mr. Elkan decided to take up some hobby, as he had retired from active participation in his business. He chose painting and took a studio in Circus Road, bought some canvas, and set to work. Before long, his pictures were hung in the Whitechapel Art Gallery. He had never tried before to paint.

WILLS

Mr John Elkan (78), Hanover-gate Mansions, Regents Park, N.W., jeweller 34,206

1939

Evening Standard – Tuesday 11 July 1939
POLICE CHASE OVER ROOFS

A PATROLLING City policeman at 3 a.m. to-day peered through the small window at the back of the jeweller’s shop of John Elkan. Ltd., in Liverpool-street, E.C., and saw a man trying to force open the strong door leading from the back of the shop to the shop itself. He called up headquarters at Old Jewry. and a score of policemen arrived to surround the premises. The intruder, however, suddenly realised that he had been seen and disappeared upstairs, climbed back to the roof from which he had entered, and dashed across the rooftops adjoining Liverpool-street station. Police climbed to the roof tops and gave chase, but the man disappeared over the roof of an arcade near the station and vanished. Nothing of value stolen.

WIKIPEDIA

Lieutenant-Colonel Clarence John Elkan, DSO, OBE was an English officer of the British Army who served during the First World War.

He was born on 15 May 1877, in London, the son of John and Harriet Elkan (née Samuel), of London and Liverpool, respectively. His father was the governing director of John Elkan Ltd, a goldsmiths and jewellers,^[1] while his mother belonged to one of the Jewish community’s most prominent families. After studying at the City of London School, Elkan enlisted as an other rank on 24 July 1893, in the Hampshire Regiment. With the Hampshires, Elkan served in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900,^[2] and eventually reached the rank of corporal.

For his conduct in China, Elkan was commissioned on 14 May 1902 and transferred to Princess Victoria’s (Royal Irish Fusiliers).^[3] [4] He went to West Africa in 1904 on detachment to the Gold Coast Regiment. Almost a decade of service in West Africa followed, as the Assistant Commandant of the Northern Territories Constabulary and District Commissioner, Gold Coast.^[3] In 1911, Elkan led one of two columns into the Tong Hills.^[5]

Elkan retired on 18 February 1914, with the rank of captain. War broke out less than six months later, prompting Elkan to be recalled to active service. He rejoined his old battalion, accompanying it when it was dispatched to the Western Front. Elkan’s battalion fought at the Battle of Mons and formed part of the retreat to the Marne. His conduct during the retreat was recognised with the awarding of the Distinguished Service Order.^[3] He was appointed to Douglas Haig’s staff in July 1915, and became Assistant Quartermaster-General at General Headquarters and the Lines of Communication. By war’s end, Elkan had attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel and been mentioned in despatches five times. In addition, he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and, in 1919, awarded the Order of the British Empire.^[3]

He returned to civilian life shortly after the war, and resumed business in the city. When his father died in 1927, Elkan succeeded him on the Common Council of the City Corporation of Bishopsgate Ward. During his tenure, he sat as chairman on the Music and School Committees. Elkan died on 14 December 1940, and was survived by his wife, Gladys Dagnall, of Cape Town, South Africa.^[6][7]

Notes

1. The Times (44642), p. 8: “Obituary” 25 July 1927.
2. The Advertiser, p. 8: “On Active Service”. 17 April 1917.
3. The VC and DSO, Volume II, p. 378.
4. The London Gazette (27433), p. 3179. 13 May 1902, thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
5. The Times (39573), p. 8: “British Expedition In West Africa”. 1 May 1911.
6. The Times (48807), p. 7: “Colonel C.J. Elkan”. 24 December 1940.
7. ELKAN, Lt-Col Clarence John’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014