Judah Cohen

Judah Mordechai Cohen (17688September 1838) was a Dutch-born British merchant and planter with interests in Jamaica. Owning over 1255 slaves on his plantations, Cohen was one of the largest slave owners in both Jamaica and the British West Indies in general at the time of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. He had been involved in trade in the West Indies as a partner of his older brother Hymen Cohen since 1804.

Biography

Judah Mordechai Cohen was born in Amsterdam, Dutch Republic to Mordechai Levie Cohen (1733–1830) and his wife Rachel Coenraad Blits, a Dutch Jewish couple born in Amsterdam who relocated to Herne Hill, Surrey, England. Along with his brother, Hymen Cohen (1762–1845), Judah Cohen was a co-partner in Hymen Cohen & Company which was listed in the London Gazette in 1804 and operated out of 58 Mansell Street: it dealt with trade in the West Indies. Another partner was Ellis Wolfe of Kingston, Jamaica.

In August 1822, a ship owned by the Cohens, the , carrying coffee from their Jamaican slave plantations, was plundered by pirates operating out of Cuba and ended up being sold in Havana. The pirates also took from the ship expensive Nicaraguan wood, lignum vita and lancewood spars. Hymen Cohen, Judah Cohen, Andrew Cohen, Alexander Haim Cohen and Judah Hymen Cohen, the joint owners, reported loses of over £27,000 (worth £ in ).

Personal life Cohen was married to Grace Gomes da Costa, the daughter of Aaron Gomes da Costa (177615Aug 1847). The couple had a large number of children, including Judah, Jacob (born 1793), Andrew (1795–1800), Miriam (born 1798), Sarah Frances (1799–1874), Fanny (born 1799), Rachel (1801), Sarah Esther (1803–1893), Albert (1807–1821), Eliza (born 1810), Abigail (1811–1872), Rebecca (born 1813), Matilda (1815–1901) and Henry Cohen (1818–1900). Cohen was buried at Brady Street Cemetery in Whitechapel in the East End of London, where he has a tombstone.