An ambitious property development in North London provides link to 19th century Bombay

Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig and Sir Philip Sassoon during World War I. (Photo: National Library of Scotland via Wikimedia Commons)

A real estate project in North London involving the construction of 262 houses and flats will transform the last prominent vestige of the Sassoon family’s commercial and political success into a site of muted public splendour.

The Sassoons, known as the ‘Rothschilds of the East’, are of Baghdadi Jewish descent. Their patriarch David Sassoon escaped to Bombay (now Mumbai) in early 19^th century from where the family branched out to China, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

Trading in cotton and opium, the Sassoons became one of the biggest merchant houses in colonial Bombay, which unlike Calcutta (now Kolkata), developed into a prominent centre for vernacular capitalism. Increasing branches and profits also led to a manifold increase in philanthropy, but it brought in its wake a natural pull towards England, the seat of the Empire.

Around 50 years after David Sassoon’s arrival in Bombay in 1832, most of his descendants moved away, although their multiple cotton mills and offices maintained the importance of the city for the family, necessitating the constant presence of a sibling or two.

Though members of the Sassoon clan spread out across England and owned several extravagant mansions and houses, none matched the exuberance of Trent Park which was chiselled by the aesthetic taste of Sir Philip Sassoon, the great grandson of the founder.

David Sassoon’s eldest son Abdullah financed Bombay’s first wet dock in 1875 and was also a member of the Bombay Legislative Council. But in England where he led the board as chairman of David Sassoon and Company he preferred to be called Sir Albert-Abdullah, thus making his birth name secondary to his taken name. Six years before his death in 1896, he was made a Baronet in 1890. Denoting a far greater integration with the British establishment as a result of rapid Anglicisation, Sir Albert’s son Sir Edward Sassoon went on to represent the constituency of Hythe in House of Commons.

Trent Park, which has a history stretching back to the 14^th century when it was a hunting ground for Henry IV, was ultimately purchased by Sir Edward Sassoon in 1909.  After his death in 1912, his son Sir Philip Sassoon inherited the Baronetcy and his vast estates, including Trent Park. Sir Philip had further narrowed down the gulf between a young Sassoon and scions of the English elites, by going through the mores of attending Eton and Oxford.

Philip Sassoon, Edward VIII, and Winston Churchill (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

The family’s links with Persia, China and kinship ties with other prominent Jewish families had brought them close to the British royal family. Besides, each senior member of the Sassoon family had their own qualities and resources that catered to the wants and needs of the British state and its guests. From judiciously tackling the demand of the visiting Shah of Persia to witness naked British women take a bath, to ensuring Russia’s advances were kept in check, the Sassoons’ had all the aces up their sleeves.

Whatever reservations Sir Philip might have faced owing to his Jewish background and pronounced French accent – he mingled regularly with the maternal side of his family; his mother was the daughter of multi-millionaire Baron Gustave de Rothschild, based in Paris ­– they all slipped into obscurity due to his own immeasurable charm. With Trent Park under his command, and teaming up with his sister Sybil, he became the epitome of a cultured party host.

During the First World War, he served as private secretary to Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, and in 1920, the UK Prime Minister David Lloyd George appointed him his Parliamentary private secretary. It seemed that his political graph and the finesses with which he hosted the high and the mighty went hand-in-hand. A century ago, when civilian flying was just taking shape, he built his own private aerodrome in Trent Park to take forward his enthusiasm for flying. Very soon he earned the sobriquet of being the most eligible bachelor. That he continued to be surrounded by beautiful men and women added to his mysterious charm.

A sculpture brought to Trent Park by Sir Philip Sassoon. (Photo: Stu's Images via Wikimedia Commons 3.0)

All through, while being at the helm of Trent Park, he continued to embellish it with the best of materials. Renaissance statues from auctions, and rose-coloured bricks from old and derelict pulled-down mansions found their way to Trent Park. No price was too high for any artefact that caught his fancy. It was no surprise that Winston Churchill, a regular, made several paintings of the estate. The entirety of the British Royalty, aristocrats, political stars, and celebrities thronged to Trent Park for the most pleasurable weekends. Charlie Chaplin, Lawrence of Arabia, George Bernard Shaw and other glittering lights of high society came to be regular visitors.

The visiting Walker Cup teams would indulge Prince of Wales and Sir Philips by playing at the picturesque golf club. But what forced the celebrities to not miss a Trent Park party was the extra attention paid to the food. A retinue of well-appointed butlers and chefs would come up with the most exquisite dishes using only the finest ingredients. In his fondness for food and art collection, Sir Philip got the support of his cousin Hannah Gubbay, whose husband David, managed the affairs of the David Sassoon and Company.

Sir Philip continued supporting the innumerable charities in India to carry forward his family’s tradition. He became the nominal chairman of David Sassoon and Company which still owned several mills in Bombay. And while his father, in his will, impressed upon his only son to diligently attend to the interests of the business of David Sassoon and Company, to ensure that its name does not get tarnished, a busy political life ensured he was never a hands-on businessman. As Under-Secretary of State for Air, he made air trips of thousands of miles visiting far-flung areas of the Empire, combining his passion for flying with the imperatives of a political office.

Sir Philip died in 1939, just months before the Second World War started, at the age of 51. He left the Trent Park estate to his cousin Hannah Gubbay. It was requisitioned during the Second World War, and played a key role in Britain’s fight against Hitler. The tastefully decorated Trent Park estate was used to house captured German generals. But unknown to them, the estate was bugged and planted undercover interrogators facilitated in the voluntary sharing of crucial information. Trent Park’s metamorphosis from a weekend getaway to a major spying centre only added to its historic appeal.

In 1951, the estate was used as a teacher training college and later as a campus for Middlesex University. David Sassoon and Company too suffered a somewhat similar fate. UBS bought it after the Second World War, bringing down the curtains on more than a century-old firm, which had made continent-hopping for its members both fashionable and profitable.

Hannah Gubbay was allowed to live in a cottage on the estate till she died in 1968. Just the furniture that she inherited was valued at £1 million (Rs 10 crore). And now the estate is a site for an ambitious property development which is supposed to be completed by the end of 2022. A Sassoon Lodge and plans to have a museum in the basement area of the Grade II listed houses will ensure that the historical connection will be remembered.

The extraordinary dynamism of Trent Park estate (which includes nuggets like this: the Duke and Duchess of Kent had their honeymoon here on the invitation of Sir Philip, or that he organised a cinema party for King Edward VIII just days before the abdication in December 1936) owes to the commercial success of the once Bombay-headquartered David Sassoon and Company. The persona of Sir Philip Sassoon was shaped by the financial and cultural capital of a family firm that owed its existence to trading in opium and cotton.

Also read: Mumbai real estate: An Iraqi Jew, Opium wars and India’s most expensive building