https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=David_Elias_EzraDavid Elias Ezra - Revision history2026-07-31T20:44:55ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=David_Elias_Ezra&diff=469938&oldid=prevMarkObd354 at 20:20, 19 August 20252025-08-19T20:20:56Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian banker of Baghdadi Jewish origin (1871-1947)}}<br />
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}<br />
[[File:Sir David Elias Ezra.jpg|thumbnail|Sir David Elias Ezra]]<br />
'''Sir David Elias Ezra''' (1871-1947) (or simply '''Sir David Ezra''') was a prominent member of the [[Baghdadi Jews|Baghdadi Jewish]] community in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], India. Ezra was a property owner and a director of the [[Reserve Bank of India]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 December 2017 |title=All that is left of the Jewish community in Kolkata: Two synagogues, a cemetery, two schools & a bakery |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/all-that-is-left-of-the-jewish-community-in-kolkata-two-synagogues-a-cemetery-two-schools-a-bakery/articleshow/62214357.cms?from=mdr |access-date=17 June 2025 |work=The Economic Times |issn=0013-0389}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Imber |first=Elizabeth E. |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Uncertain_Empire/UO1GEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv |title=Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism |date= |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-5036-4245-4 |location=Stanford |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":522">{{Cite book |last=Roland |first=Joan G. |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Baghdadi_Jews_in_India/05mfDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv |title=The Baghdadi Jews in India: Maintaining Communities, Negotiating Identities and Creating Super-Diversity |date= |publisher=Routledge |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-429-53387-7 |editor-last=Weil |editor-first=Shalva |location=Oxfordshire |language=en |chapter=Negotiating identity in a changing world: From British colonialism to Indian independence}}</ref><br />
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==Early life and family==<br />
David Elias Ezra was born in 1871,<ref name=jwa>[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/baghdadi-jewish-women-in-india Baghdadi Jewish Women in India.] Joan G. Roland and Tamar Marge Gubbay, Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 6 September 2015.</ref> the son of [[Elias David Ezra]] and the grandson of [[David Joseph Ezra]]. He married [[Rachel Sassoon Ezra|Rachel Sassoon]], daughter of [[Solomon David Sassoon (1841–1894)|Solomon David Sassoon]].<ref>[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/sassoon-flora Jewish Women's Archive: Flora Sassoon]</ref> Ezra owned various properties in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], including the [[Esplanade Mansions, Kolkata|Esplanade Mansions]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Niyogi |first=Subhro |last2=Ray |first2=Saikat |date=4 November 2024 |title=Kolkata's 237-year-old building has survived earthquakes and cyclones, can stand for 100 more years: Expert |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kolkatas-237-year-old-building-has-survived-earthquakes-and-cyclones-can-stand-for-100-more-years-expert/articleshow/114930463.cms |access-date=17 June 2025 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=24 November 2021 |title=Jews of Kolkata: A slice of history |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/jews-of-kolkata-a-slice-of-history-1054020.html |access-date=17 June 2025 |website=Deccan Herald}}</ref><br />
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==Positions and honors==<br />
Ezra was [[Sheriff of Kolkata|Sheriff of Calcutta]] and a director of the [[Reserve Bank of India]].<ref>[http://www.dangoor.com/issue76/articles/76060.htm Prominent Iraqi Jews of recent times.] Meer Basri, ''The Scribe'', Issue 76, Spring 2003. Retrieved 6 September 2015.</ref> He was president of the Jewish Relief Association<ref name="Roland">{{cite book|author=Roland, Joan G.|title=The Jewish Communities of India: Identity in a Colonial Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHJccZ92IecC&pg=PA177|edition=2nd|year=1998|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick|isbn=978-1-4128-3748-4|pages=177–178}}</ref> and of [[The Asiatic Society]].<ref>[http://www.jewishcalcutta.in/exhibits/show/imp_mem_com/david_j_ezra David Joseph Ezra.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304230410/http://www.jewishcalcutta.in/exhibits/show/imp_mem_com/david_j_ezra |date=4 March 2016 }} ''Recalling Jewish Calcutta: Memories of the Jewish community in Calcutta''. Retrieved 6 September 2015.</ref> Ezra was knighted by [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|King]] [[George V]] in 1927.<ref>{{Cite web |title=THE KAISAR-I-HIND GOLD MEDAL, AWARDED TO LADY RACHEL EZRA (NÉE SASSOON) IN 1947 {{!}} SASSOON: A Golden Legacy {{!}} 2020 |url=https://www.sothebys.com/buy/b1468a94-8da0-4182-8241-1875e94bd01d/lots/52f385a7-4d15-437c-bc90-5f99fe277bfc |access-date=17 June 2025 |website=Sotheby's}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Abraham |first=I.S. |title=The Origin and History of the Calcutta Jews |url=https://ia801501.us.archive.org/6/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.461583/2015.461583.The-Origin_text.pdf |access-date=18 June 2025 |website=Internet Archive |publisher=N. S. Levi |page=68 |format=PDF |publication-place=Bombay}}</ref><br />
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==Death==<br />
[[File:Jewish Cemetery beside Narkeldanga Main Road in Kolkata 20.jpg|thumb|right|Grave in Kolkata]]<br />
Ezra died in 1947.<ref name=jwa/><br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[History of the Jews in Kolkata]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ezra, David}}<br />
[[Category:1871 births]]<br />
[[Category:1947 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Ezra family (Calcutta)|David]]<br />
[[Category:Sheriffs of Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Presidents of The Asiatic Society]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Knights Bachelor]]<br />
[[Category:Indian people of Iraqi-Jewish descent]]<br />
[[Category:Bankers from British India]]<br />
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