Solomon Levey ( 1794 10 October 1833) was a convict transported to Australia in 1815 for theft who became a highly successful merchant and financier, at one time issuing his own banknotes in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. Solomon was a backer of the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, and lost a fortune when it failed. He was also a noted philanthropist. He died in London aged 39. Port Levy on

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula () is a rocky peninsula on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand that was formed by two now-extinct volcanoes. It has an area of approximately . It includes two large deep-water harbours — Lyttelton Harbour a ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

is named after him.

Career

At age 19, Levey was sentenced in October 1813 at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales to seven years of

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

for his alleged involvement in the theft of of tea and a wooden chest. In January 1815, he reached Sydney and quickly became a businessperson. He was exonerated in February 1819 and in the same month he married Ann, whose father was a wealthy landowner. They had two children, a son born in 1819 and a daughter born in 1822 who died in infancy. Levey's wife left him for another lover and died in February 1824; Levey did not remarry. Levey found success as a shipbroker and reportedly had an annual salary of £60,000 by 1825. Among other things, he owned part of a water mill in Liverpool, ran a rope factory, and had land and livestock in Argyle and Cumberland. After being pardoned in 1819, Levey worked for the Bank of New South Wales, where he pushed for lower interest rates and partnership with English banks. He was also a trustee for the Sydney Public Grammar School. In 1825, he partnered with Daniel Cooper and founded Cooper & Levey which was headquartered at the Waterloo Waterhouse in George Street, Sydnet. The firm had wide-ranging interests, including in the import and export of goods, shipbuilding, wool-trading and whaling. The business had six vessels that made 9 whaling voyages between 1828 and 1836. By 1828, it was among the country's biggest stock-owners; Cooper & Levey eventually owned most of the land in Waterloo, Alexandria, Redfern, Randwick and Neutral Bay.

Later years and death

In December 1829, Levey met

Thomas Peel Thomas Peel (1793 – 22 December 1865)Alexandra Hasluck,, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 2, MUP, 1967, pp 320-322. retrieved 2009-11-04 organised and led a consortium of the first British settlers to Western Australia. He was a ...

, who convinced him to back the

. Levey became the director of Thomas Peel & Co. in London, although the partnership ultimately crumbled due to Peel's mismanagement. The company's £20,000 capital was entirely provided for by Levey, who even sold the land he owned in Sydney to purchase supplies for Peel and the other Swan River colonists. Levey died in London on 10 October 1833 at age 39, having been sick for some time. He bequeathed £500 to the Sydney College (later the Sydney Grammar School), making him the first benefactor of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. His real estate in New South Wales, which took ten years to liquidate, was worth an estimated £14,332.

Personal life

Levey was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. His success in New South Wales triggered the migration of many relatives. His brother

Barnett Barnett is both a surname and a masculine given name. Surname Barnett is an Anglo-Saxon and Old French surname that came after the Norman Invasion. The original Anglo-Saxon spelling is which means "the clearing of woodland by burning". The Norm ...

was the first free Jewish settler. His brother Isaac arrived shortly after Levey's death and was also a successful businessman and philanthropist.

Career

Later years and death

Personal life

References

Further reading