Person:Louis Hassell (1)

The 1891 census shows Louis Hessel living with his wife and children then born at 1 15 Court, Thorpe Street, Birmingham. The census records appear incorrect as to ages of children and places of birth of some Children. Details below.

Surname, First name(s), Rel, Status, Sex, Age, Occupation, Where born
HESSEL, Louis, Head, M, M, 28, Tailor(Emigre)Foreign, b Russia
HESSEL, Rose, Wife, M, F, 27, b London
HESSEL, Ecsik, Son, S, M, 5, Scholar, b Warwickshire, Birmingham
HESSEL, Samuel, Son, S, M, 3, b Warwickshire, Birmingham
HESSEL, David, Son, S, M, 5m, b London
HESSEL, Backa, Dau, S, F, 7, b Warwickshire, Birmingham
HESSEL, Diane, Dau, S, F, 2, b Unknown

The 1901 census shows Louis, a tailor as being born in "Russia Poland", living in Birmingham and his surname is spelt HESSALL. Note the gradual change towards HASSELL

Louis was living at 71 Gough Road, Birmingham shortly before he died. He died at Sally Oak Hospital, Birmingham and is buried at Witton Jewish cemetery next to his first wife Hilda Rose Hassell in plot F67`

The following was written in 2007 by a then 85 year old man who lived near Hessel Street.

"HESSEL STREET -words to conjure with.. Smells of herring -baking - pickled cucumbers -freshly slaughtered chickens and stenches of real poverty and hardship. Yet I cannot say that I had an unhappy childhood. The bond of the need to live that existed in the East end of London could be understood especially among the poor oppressed Jewish immigrants who literally lived on the bottom line. The whole of the square mile bounded by Aldgate in the west and Mile End in the east, Hackney in the north and the Thames in the south was a melting pot of sweatshops in all the needle trades and cabinet-making. There were no Jewish property millionaires or business tycoons just a few shneiders and workers whose whole life was working round the clock -keeping kosher and the shul. The yiddish language flourished - antisemitism was rife - yet we kids still had socks and shoes - darned and repaired for ever- no one actually starved . Coffee and cheesecake was a luxury in Goides or Monnicadams. Chicken soup did cure all ills. Every hall was booked fully for weddings. Boris the photographer had a full diary of appointments. The Tower of London was free. The Mile End waste - and Petticoat Lane were full of characters as well as genuine bargains. Barmitzvahs did not require a second mortgage. Your worst enemies, 12 hours later were your best friends, All kids respected their parents. Truancy was virtually non-existent among Jewish boys and girls. You could leave your front door open - ice cream in a cup -cost a halfpenny, who had a halfpenny? Not me thats for sure. Playtime was a real pleasure. Goldring's challah melted in your mouth. A first class Shmaltz herring was about tuppence. Smoked salmon was expensive 9d for 2 ounces.A saltbeef sandwich in Feld's was 8d. Fish and chips plus a beigel plus half a pickle was 3d at Johnny Isaacs in Whitechapel. Slaters the baker in Burslem Street baked a zemele (a seeded platted roll ) for a halffpenny. Bagel sellers humped their sacks with their famous street cries "Drei a penna bagels". On Sunday mornings, the men with small barrows roamed the streets with cries of "Kippers are nice kippers are nice pair of kippers for a penny. The little coal-fired barrows and the baked potato and roasted chestnuts. I cannot imagine how we all yearned for a different life and only now when my life is approaching it's end, I see that although I have no real regrets, there is a nostalgia that bites so hard and digs so deep that really brings me to tears. The East End probably gave me a sense of values and proportion, but at a price that I realise today was a very high price to pay indeed. I know that we all have travelled to parts of the world where poverty and despair are unimaginable. One needs the wealth of the world to be diverted to those areas, but the developed world has made greedy bastards of us all. I am afraid that the attitudes that prevail today among us will destroy us all even before another Big Bang will happen. As long as there is a need to invent and seek to improve personal wealth and gain, the need for charity will increase at a rate 10 times as much. Hessel Street was a paradise compared to what you may have seen in India, perhaps I should weep for the poor of India. Compassion is an easy word to write, but boy oh boy what a hard word to actually feel."