What’s in a Name?  

 
‘A PEOPLE WHICH TAKES NO PRIDE IN THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF REMOTE ANCESTORS 
WILL NEVER ACHIEVE ANYTHING WORTHY TO BE REMEMBERED BY REMOTE 
DESCENDANTS’ 
 Thomas Babington Macaulay

 
The Gold family line should really read ‘Goldberg’, or for the absolute purists ‘Gülfuchs/Gilfuchs’, the name having been changed 
to Goldberg on arrival in England. The Berg was dropped for professional reasons by Harry and Laurie, two grandsons of Lewis 
Goldberg, both of whom were well known musicians, and by the time their youngest children were born both were using the name 
Gold in private as well as in public. Only the youngest sons of the two brothers were officially Golds on their birth 
certificates. This site has been developed by Laurie’s descendants, with enormous help from the extended family.  

The extended family all descend from Lewis Goldberg, born c.1835 in Sevastopol. Lewis was conscripted as a young child into the 
Russian Army, we think he might have been a drummer boy but we do know he was a musician and played the clarinet. You can read 
about Lewis and the change of name on his profile page.

He and his family came to England after the eldest son Michael, known as Mark, fled Poland, escaping from the threat of being 
forcibly recruited to the Russian army. He settled and wrote to the rest of the family to join him. They endured the hazardous 
journey from the Kingdom of Poland to Hamburg, where they boarded the boat to take them to their new life in England, landing at 
Tilbury.
The main departure point for East Europeans fleeing persecution in the latter part of the 19th century was Hamburg as it was the 
cheapest route to London - 16 shillings per head for adults and half price for children. Many families travelled on foot for 
periods of ten to sixteen days to reach Hamburg en route to London. 
The steerage conditions were appalling. The ship resembled a cattle boat, with passengers herded together, sleeping on fouled 
rags or blankets in small spaces between decks. All had to bring their own food and bedding. Toilet facilities were extremely 
limited. A scribe from the East London Reporter, on seeing passengers disembark in 1891 at Irongate Stairs, Tilbury Docks, wrote
as follows: 
‘Of the passengers some were young women wearing shawls on their heads and clad in soiled, faded and torn refinery. Some were 
men, young or middle-aged, but so enfeebled and spiritless that one might have fixed their age at nearer 70 than 30. A few were 
old women, bent, emaciated and almost lifeless. On landing, scroungers and loafers often robbed the new immigrants of their 
meagre means, selling them bogus tickets to the USA and trying to coerce the young unprotected females into prostitution.’ 
It was, therefore, a truly horrendous journey that the Goldbergs were forced to undertake, Katy Goldberg was 11 and her sister 
Rachel was 13 when Lewis and Hannah took them and their siblings to England. It is thanks to their remarkable memories and their 
far-sighted grandson Neil Hornick, who taped their stories on Boxing Day in 1960, that we have information on their early days 
in Poland. Martha, the youngest sister, born in Poland in 1888, was possibly only a year or eighteen months old when they left. 
Carrie married Julius Conreich in London City in 1890, as we know the family travelled together (apart from Mark). So they must 
have arrived at Tilbury between these dates. In later years, Katy’s daughter Annie Freeman recalled hearing that a couple of the 
children were smuggled on board under Hannah’s skirts.
The family settled in London’s East End, an awful place to live in 1889. The overcrowding, poverty and prejudice, coupled with the
smells of the industrial factories, busy river and docks, must have been overwhelming. 
By 1891 Mark was living with his family in Mount St Whitechapel and already employed a servant girl. Carrie was living with Julius
in Cannon Rd St George in the East, and Lewis and Hannah were living with the rest of the children in Langdale Street, St George 
in the East. They were all in the tailoring business.
During the next 10 years, until the 1901 census, there were many changes to the family. In 1892 Hannah died of pneumonia and 
chronic bronchitis and by the 1901 census Lewis was living with a woman called Deborah Chencholsky (the family called her ‘the 
Miminke’) and running a chandler’s shop in Planet Street, St George in the East. His sons and daughters were living in 
neighbouring streets. The youngest Goldbergs, Sam and Martha, resided with Harry and Katy Phillips (née Goldberg) and their 
children in Sidney Street, while  Barnet and Rachel Hornick, Israel and Annie Goldberg, Julius and Carrie Conreich and Alfred and
Rose Ring and their families were a couple of streets away in Bedford Street.
Mark had by this time moved out to Downs Road Hackney and had three servants, including Samuel Berkowitz, a stableman and 
groom. We can find no trace of Benjamin and Annie Goldberg or Ada Goldberg in the 1901 census.
During the 20th century the Goldbergs spread far and wide. They gradually moved away from the East End and settled in other 
parts of London and the country, some going as far afield as America and New Zealand. But most Goldbergs settled into life 
in England and their children went on to become accountants, musicians, TV producers, doctors, a JP and an MBE, actors and 
performance artists, several writers and a high concentration of university graduates. We have editors and choral singers as well
as computer whiz kids, commercial artists and prison officers. They all occupy branches on our family tree.
They have also had their fair share of sorrow. Sam, Lewis’s youngest son, lost his daughter Bessie when, aged 9, her scarf caught 
in the wheels of a carriage in the Whitechapel Road. Laurie, his youngest son, lost an eye in an accident involving an arrow; and
Sydney, his middle son, was killed on Christmas Day 1942 when a bomb exploded as he was sitting outside a café in Beirut in 
Lebanon.
Another of Lewis’s sons, Israel, and his wife Annie moved to the countryside during World War II. He and his wife, their daughter 
and a grandchild were instantly killed in 1940 when a returning RAF plane that had taken a hit crashed directly onto their 
cottage.
Like many of the families who escaped from Poland and Russia the family lost relatives in the holocaust. If they had not joined 
the wave of East European Jews (called Ashkenazis) who emigrated to England and America to escape hardship and persecution 
following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 but instead stayed put and survived the pogroms, they would almost 
certainly have perished themselves in the Holocaust. 

There have also been some legendary moments.  Again during World War II, Percy Phillips, another grandson of Lewis, was 
scrabbling though the rubble of his office, which had been bombed the previous night, when someone called out “What are you 
looking for?”  “What the bloody hell do you think?” he snapped. “My entire livelihood.” On looking up, Percy grimaced at the 
podgy, siren-suited questioner and realized it was Winston Churchill, who offered him due condolences.
On a lighter note, Harry Phillips took his granddaughters Corinne and Marilyn on a boat trip to Canvey Island, leaving from 
Southend. On arrival they were astonished to discover that it looked exactly like Southend. It was Southend. Harry had got on 
the wrong boat which had merely sailed on a trip round the bay.
When Danny Kaye was appearing at the London Palladium in the early 1950s, Lily Hornick confided her belief to her niece Corinne 
and Charles Templar, Corinne’s husband, that Kaye’s mother might well be her long-lost Aunt Martha, on account of the red-haired 
entertainer’s supposed ‘family resemblance’. Intrigued, Corinne determined to settle the matter and booked three tickets for her, 
Charles and her cousin Neil Hornick, Lily’s son. Before the show they left a letter for Kaye at the stage door, asking him to 
declare himself. Alas, Kaye never replied. Lily took this as likely proof that he was ashamed of his humble origins.
When Ann Gold read about this incident nearly 50 years later she resolved to make enquiries about the origins of Danny Kaye, or 
David Daniel Kaminski, his real name, She too was intrigued that some members of the family today did indeed resemble the 
legendary entertainer. 
Sadly Martha was nowhere to be found in David Daniel Kaminski’s well- documented life. His father, Jacob Kaminski, his mother, 
Clara, and his two older brothers, Mack and Larry, emigrated from Ukraine to the United States in 1910. Three years after this 
journey, their third and last child was born, the only one born in America: David Daniel, or as his parents called him: 
Duvidelleh. Ann wondered what Danny Kaye made of the letter left at the Palladium’s stage door and whether the family 
resemblance was mostly the red hair that some family members have inherited from Lewis.
So much for another lovely family story, shattered by the relentless truth-seeking of a family historian. 
During the 1920s another of Lewis’s grandsons, Harry Gold, had decided to be a professional musician, Harry played the tenor 
and later the bass saxophone. His autobiography, Gold, Doubloons and Pieces of Eight (available from Northway Publications), 
details the story of his eight decades as a professional musician. His memoir provides a history of 20th century jazz and 
popular music in Britain. Harry was not the only musician in the family.  His brother Sydney played drums and Laurie was a 
saxophonist. Laurie also became a professional musician and during the early 1950s took over the leadership of the Pieces of 
Eight band while Harry continued with arranging. They had regular spots on the Light Programme and were often to be heard on 
Workers Playtime. The band became a household name. Harry was very active in the Musicians Union and fought hard for decent 
working conditions.  Harry and Laurie, along with pianist Norrie Paramor, formed the Paramor/Gold Orchestral Service, for 
which Geoff Love worked as an arranger. Both brothers continued to play and arrange music well into old age. In February 1997 
Harry’s  90th birthday was celebrated at the 100 Club in Oxford Street where he played along with Laurie and a who’s-who of the 
music world; Laurie had a heart attack, aged 82, in 2000 while working on music arrangement at his home in Essex, and Harry 
followed his brother in 2005, aged 98. 
Marilyn Gold, Laurie’s daughter, worked at the BBC for most of her short but vivacious life. She was involved with many 
productions, including The Onedin Line, All Creatures Great and Small, and, most memorably, Doctor Who. Marilyn invited her 
niece and nephew, Paul and Ruth, to the BBC to watch an episode of Doctor Who being made. This was in the early 1980s with Tom 
Baker as the Doctor and Lalla Ward as his assistant Romana. Marilyn’s brother Martin also went to supervise the children and he 
invited his wife-to-be, Ann, and her children Sarah and Paul to join them.
The excitement on the short journey there was huge and that was just the adults…. While waiting in the BBC reception to be 
escorted to the set, Tom Baker, resplendent in full Doctor Who costume, strode into the room. Seeing the children and spotting 
their nametags, which also gave the name of the Doctor Who set they were visiting, he stopped in mid- stride, knelt down in 
front of Sarah and boomed, “Don’t I know you?” Sarah, struck dumb, shook her head, “Yes I do,” said Tom, “I’m sure of it. Wait 
a moment, I’ve got it. Didn’t I see you watching me on the TV? I’m sure I did.” Sarah, still dumb, just nodded. Ann, standing 
behind Sarah, was also struck dumb by this amazing man and was only capable of nodding. The actor said, “Keep watching, I’ll see 
you on set later” and strode off. In those few moments, he gained lifelong fans. The crew and the actors on the set treated the 
children with great kindness. They played with the actors’ ray guns and met K9, as well as wandering around the set. But the big 
treat was an invite into the police box known as the Tardis, Paul being the youngest was first in and as he came out through the 
curtain at the back had the biggest disappointment of his young years.
“Is that it?”, he said. “You just walk through and go out into the studio again. That’s it, that’s all. And it smells in there.” 
He was so shocked at finding out that not all is as it seems.
They were then invited to visit the Jackanory set, another favourite children’s TV programme at the time. The story that day was 
read by Bernard Cribbins, and they toured the set before having tea in the BBC canteen. It was a great day out and still fondly 
talked about at a time when the Doctor is enjoying renewed popularity. 

When I was asked to cobble a few sentences together to put into the ‘About the Golds’ folder, I soon realised that this 
fascinating family could never be summed up in a few sentences. As someone who married into the Golds, I am always amazed at 
the way they take their remarkable heritage for granted. In the 30 years I have been a part of this family I can honestly say 
I have always been welcomed into every household with wonderfully warm hospitality and friendliness. They are as a family 
extremely charming and witty, intelligent and intellectual. Music and the arts run through the family, a legacy from Lewis, who 
seems to have successfully passed on his gift of musicianship and performing. The family members of the generation who travelled
to England for a better life each spoke at least two languages. Lewis, and the older children spoke at least four: Polish, 
Russian, English and Yiddish. They worked hard in sweatshops for long hours, enabling their children and children’s children to
achieve success.
When I stated a few years ago that I was intending to research the family line I was encouraged by many family members. 
Neil Hornick in particular has been very interested in the project, allowing me access to his many files and notes on the family
and sharing photos as well as offering support and encouragement when I kept hitting dead ends. I have freely lifted a lot of 
the information and text in the above articles from his two family booklets, Roots Shmoots, prepared with the help of his cousins 
for the Phillips family reunion in 2000, and Ginger Beards, Herrings and Bloody Good Hidings, the transcript of his 1961 taped 
conversation with his grandparents Katy and Harry Phillips and Rachel Hornick, that he kindly gave me copies of. 
I do hope you have enjoyed some of these memories and if you would like to add anything as a family member please do email me. 
I will finish with the following quote which I think possibly sums up many of the Gold/Goldbergs attitude to life.


 
‘LIFE IS NOT A JOURNEY TO THE GRAVE WITH THE INTENTION OF 
ARRIVING SAFELY IN A PRETTY AND WELL PRESERVED BODY
BUT RATHER TO SKID IN BROADSIDE, THOROUGHLY USED UP, TOTALLY WORN OUT,
AND LOUDLY PROCLAIMING WOW.... WHAT A RIDE!!!’ 
 unknown

 
                                     



Ann Gold, April 2009