Lion Lions

Lion Lion (1817-94) was born in Pontpierre, a small village not far from Metz in Lorraine, France. He appears to have migrated to Britain around the 1830s/40s, marrying Rosine Bing-Jacob in the Great Synagogue in 1846. In later life he would serve as a member of Council at the Great Synagogue, and a representative at the Poets Road (or Dalston) Synagogue.

His parents, Alexander Lion and Fanny (Fradel) Lambert, along with three brothers and a sister migrated here too. It is likely they all arrived together, one among many Jewish families from north-eastern France who were migrating to Britain at the time. The father, Alexander, died in 1843 and we do not know his occupation, but it is a fair guess that he was a boot and shoe manufacturer, because all four of the sons went into that line of business.

They appear to have been very successful. Settling first in crowded Spitalfields and then Shoreditch, by the 1860s all the brothers had moved to Islington, which was noted for its cleaner air and more salubrious housing. The eldest brother, Emanuel (1815-94), lived for some 40 years in Marquess Road; Mayer Alexander (1819-95) on Upper Street and latterly Canonbury Square; and Abraham Jacob (1825-91) at the top of City Road and then at 71 Grosvenor Road, now Avenue.

Lion Lion, for his part, moved to Canonbury Square in the 1860s, and then to 12 Highbury New Park for the remaining years of his life. It is here that we see two stone lions guarding the steps up to his front door (his first name in Hebrew 'ארי׳ה' translates in English to Lion). The ones we see today are not the originals: they appear to have been replaced relatively recently. But the previous pair must surely have been placed there by Lion Lion … who else?