by Jason Lever
Posted on Tue, 03 Dec 2013 16:52:22 GMT
An appreciation
His Jewish Chronicle obituary stated that:
‘This kindly, unassuming former Mayor of Hackney was a well-loved figure not only in the Jewish social and trade union circles in which he moved but also in the wider sphere of local politics...
‘At the 1947 [TUC] Congress at Southport he was cheered by delegates for a brilliant speech denouncing the fascist activities of the British League of ex-Servicemen. At Brighton in 1954 he spoke eloquently against the rearmament of Germany’.
Online records of ITN, which provided the main national news bulletins for the commercial ITV network, lists 25 feet of footage (40 seconds) of his funeral in Hackney, including the ‘
coffin out of synagogue’, ‘
mourners on synagogue steps’ and hearse moving with ‘
both sides of street lined with crowds’.
The Jewish Chronicle estimated crowds of 2,000 people, including local MPs, Mayors and Councillors and trade union members.
Four years after his death, Lever Court was named after him – a block of 14 maisonettes built for £46,500 on a former bombed site in Valentine Road, a stone’s throw from Hackney Town Hall where his portrait hangs outside the old council chamber.
His widow, Mrs A (Annie) Lever was invited to name the dwellings in memory of Solomon Lever. The fine, blue marble plaque remains in situ, after nearly fifty years.
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