{{Short description|Pastoralist of New South Wales (1798–1860)}} {{About|the pastoralist of New South Wales|the businessman and politician of South Australian and the Northern Territory|Vaiben Louis Solomon}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Vaiben Solomon''' (abt 1800 – 21 June 1860) was a Jewish-English convict who, with his brother Emanuel, was transported for larceny to New South Wales in 1818.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Richards |first=Eric |title=Emanuel Solomon (1800–1873) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/solomon-emanuel-4623 |access-date=2025-04-27 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref> Despite further brushes with the law, Solomon and his brother seized business opportunities and became prosperous Sydney merchants. The brothers were later joined by more of their siblings, and became patriarchs of a family line that would go onto make its mark on Australia business and politics, particularly in New South Wales and South Australia.<ref name=":0">State Library of South Australia. ''[https://archival.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/d/D7922_Solomon_letters_transcript.pdf, 17 D 7922(L) Business Letter-book of Emanuel Solomon, 1840–1846]''. Transcribed by Ernest Roe, 2008, and edited with explanatory notes by Kathy Hurley, 2014. Volunteers at the State Library of South Australia. "The brothers, Emanuel and Vaiben Solomon, arrived in New South Wales from England (via Van Diemen's Land) as teenage convicts in 1818 aboard ''Lady Castlereagh'', having been sentenced to seven years transportation for larceny. Upon receiving their Certificates of Release in 1824, they settled in the Colony and went into business in George Street, Sydney as general merchants and auctioneers. By the late 1820s both had married, accumulated property and become solidly established as respectable citizens."</ref>
==Early life and transportation== Vaiben was born in 1798, the son of Samuel Moss Solomon, a London pencil maker.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Levi |first=John S. |title=These Are the Names : Jewish Lives in Australia, 1788-1850 |publisher=Melbourne University Publishing |year=2006 |language=en}}</ref>
On the evening of 16 October 1816, Vaiben and his brother Emanuel Solomon were arrested at a boarding house in Northallerton, Yorkshire. They were charge with breaking and entering and stealing clothing<ref name=":5" /> from the house of Thomas Prest.<ref name=":2">Jewish Museum of Australia. ''[https://www.jewishmuseum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Calling-Australia-Home-Teachers-Resource.pdf. Calling Australia Home: Teacher's Resource]''. St Kilda, VIC: Jewish Museum of Australia, 2020. </ref> They were committed for trial at the Durham Assizes, which took place on 4 August 1817.<ref name=":1" /> They were found guilty of larceny and sentenced to transportation for seven years.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Biography - Vaiben Solomon - People Australia |url=https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/solomon-vaiben-29525 |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au}}</ref>
The brothers were transported to Australia on the ''Lady Castlereagh''<ref name=":0" /> in mid-December 1817. The ship first arrived at Port Jackson on 30 April 1818,<ref name=":5" /> where 39 prisoners were unloaded and the remaining 261,{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} including the Solomon brothers, were taken to Van Diemens Land.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3" />
The two brothers did not prove to be model prisoners and, after committing a further theft of clothes, they were sentenced on 3 March 1821 to the penal settlement at Newcastle, New South Wales for three years.<ref name=":3" /> The brothers received their certificates of release in August 1824.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3" />
==Career== By 1826, Vaiben had gone into business. In July 1826, he wrote to the authorities to ask that the convict David Myers be assigned to him at his business in King Street, Sydney.<ref name=":5" />
By 1828,<ref name=":5" /> Vaiben and Emanuel were in business at 74 George Street as general merchants and auctioneers.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1842-09-09 |title=City of Sydney: List of Citizens in Bourke Ward |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37116765?searchTerm=vaiben%20solomon |access-date=2025-04-27 |work=Australian}}</ref> Their father joined them in 1833.<ref name=":5" /> The brothers continued in partnership for over ten years, for a time acting as agents for the ship ''Nereus''. Emanuel moved to Adelaide and acted as agents for both brothers. The pair owned the brig ''Dorset'',<ref name=":0" /> which ferried goods and passengers between the two cities. They built the Queen's Theatre, Adelaide in 1840,<ref name=":0" /> however, the theatre, folded after a year. As trade between the two colonies dried up and, with increased competition from rival brig ''Emma'', relations between the two brothers became strained. Emanuel accusing Vaiben of insufficient zeal and lack of communication.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Richards |first=E. S. (1975) |title=The fall and rise of the brothers Solomon |journal=Journal of Proceedings of the Australian Jewish History Society |volume=VIII |issue=2 |pages=1-28}}</ref> In 1844, Emanuel made his way to Sydney and the brothers dissolved their partnership.<ref>{{cite news |date=4 April 1844 |title=Advertising. |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37125123 |access-date=18 January 2016 |newspaper=The Australian |location=Sydney |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Emanuel went into business with their nephew, Judah Moss Solomon as agents and auctioneers, and become very wealthy.thumb|Horningsea Park, restored and <br /> now heritage-listed
While Vaiben was not as prosperous, he was still significantly wealthy. During his life, Vaiben accumulated a considerable portfolio of properties.<ref>{{cite news |date=4 May 1872 |title=Mercantile and Money Article |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13256915 |access-date=15 January 2016 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1866-06-19 |title=Notice Under Real Property Act |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225468821?searchTerm=vaiben%20solomon |access-date=2025-04-27 |work=New South Wales Government Gazette}}</ref> In 1831, Vaiben bought into the Jamieson subdivision and, in 1836, he opened a tailoring establishment in George Street and purchased {{convert|13|acres|ha}} of land in Brighton.<!--by 1838 VS had at least one block of land at Liberty Plains, county of Cumberland http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/32160080 -->
Together with his sons David, Abraham and Saul, they formed the partnership "V. Solomon and Sons". In 1855, they purchased a {{convert|500|acres|ha}} estate "Horningsea", near Liverpool, New South Wales, with a grand but somewhat dilapidated<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60146809 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Empire |location=Sydney |date=30 November 1853 |access-date=18 January 2016 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> mansion, which they renamed Horningsea Park. Vaiben and his family lived at Horningsea Park and ran the farm.
Vaiben withdrew from the partnership with his sons in April 1857. His sons continued as D., A. & S. Solomon<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12994192 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=14 April 1857 |access-date=15 January 2016 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and subsequently left the district in 1872.
==Personal life== Solomon married Mary "Sarah"<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=1860-07-13 |title=Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229946263?searchTerm=vaiben%20solomon |access-date=2025-04-27 |work=New South Wales Government Gazette}}</ref> Smith (c. 1809 – 18 May 1879) in 1826.<ref name=":5" /> Among their children was Hannah Alexandra Solomon (c. 1840–1929), who married Louis Alexander, a man some 30 years her junior. She divorced him in 1907 due to his infidelity, but he was able to sue her for continuation of his £200 p.a. allowance.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 December 1907 |title="A Matter of Money" May and December |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79608894 |access-date=12 January 2016 |newspaper=The Singleton Argus |location=NSW |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Wealthy and eccentric, her £80,000 will ($10–20 million in today's money) was contested by nephew Edwin Solomon and widely (and sensationally) reported.<ref>{{cite news |date=22 March 1931 |title=Amazing Will Case |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169128364 |access-date=18 January 2016 |newspaper=The Truth |location=Sydney |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Solomon's grandson, Lance Vaiben Solomon was a noted painter. Solomon's nephew and Emanuel's son, Vaiben Louis Solomon, became Premier of South Australia.<ref name=":1" />
== Death == Solomon died at his home at Horningsea Park on 21 June 1860.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1860-06-23 |title=Family Notices |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/90247194 |access-date=2025-04-27 |work=South Australian Weekly Chronicle}}</ref> He was survived by his wife.<ref name=":4" />
== Legacy == Solomon and his family contributed to the building of the first synagogue in Sydney.<ref name=":5" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book|author=Solomon, David |title=The crime and punishment of Emanuel and Vaiben Solomon |date=November 2007 |url=https://www.oocities.org/solomon_genealogy/Trial_of_Emanuel_and_Vaiben_Solomon.html |access-date=25 April 2025}} *Richards, E. S. (1975) ''The fall and rise of the brothers Solomon'' Journal of Proceedings of the Australian Jewish History Society, Vol VIII, Part 2, pp. 1–28.
*Levi, J. S. and Bergman, G. F. J. (1974) ''Australian genesis – Jewish convicts and settlers 1778–1850'' London: Robert Hale and Company, 360 pp. *Levi, J. S. (1976) ''The forefathers – a dictionary of biography of the Jews of Australia (1788–1830)''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Vaiben}} Category:Colony of New South Wales people Category:Convicts transported to Australia Category:Australian Jews Category:1802 births Category:1860 deaths