Following on from my previous post about Ludski/Ludlow it would seem that the Company’s name was originally Barnet Ludski & Son, and that they in fact started out as surgical instrument manufacturers. The earliest Trade Directory reference I have found up until now is from J. S. C. Morris’
Business Directory of London and Provincial Foreign Trade Guide (l’Annuaire du Commerce de Londres) 1884, where the entry in the alphabetical section on p. 411 says “Ludski B & Son surgical instrument mkrs 63 Commercial st E”. If anyone is interested an online version of this particular directory may be accessed via the
Historical Directories website. The Firm also makes an appearance in G. Eugene Harfield’s
A Commercial Directory of the Jews of the United Kingdom, published in 1894 which actually gives the date for the Company’s establishment as 1873. Again if anybody would like to see this, it is also available online through the
Internet Archive.
Barnet Ludski himself seems to have been a Polish Jew who had been born in Warsaw around 1830, and who may possibly have left his homeland during the late 1860s or early 1870s because of the anti-Semitism that I understand was prevalent in the Russian Empire during the mid-nineteenth century (and of which Poland would have been a part at this time). The 1881 census returns for Spitalfields clearly show Barnet and his family living at 63 Commercial Street, with his occupation listed as a “Surgical Instrument Maker”:
Ref. RG11/436, f. 4, p. 2
I have not yet been able to establish exactly when the Firm changed from making surgical instruments to making badges and other military ornaments, but in the 1891 census Barnet is down as what looks to be a “Millitary ornament Maker” (incidentally this was also the trade given as that of his son Walter, who was living elsewhere at this time), and was still living at the Commercial Street address:
Ref. RG12/274, f. 56, p. 24
Having said that for some reason
The Post Office London Directory for 1899 still has the Firm listed as “Ludski Barnet & Son, surgical instrument mas.”, so maybe whilst they were beginning to move more and more into military badges and regalia perhaps they were still concentrating on the surgical instruments side of the business at this time? Anyway it seems that Barnet died in 1910, as according to the General Register Office Death Index a Barnet Ludski died that year aged 80 in the Hackney District (Vol. 1b, p. 208). Presumably the Company was carried on by his family, and I am hoping to go through other directories to try and establish the movements of the Firm over the following years. Once again when I have done this I will post up the various addresses here, in case Forum members are interested.
Regards
Martin