The Saleeby family

Frances M. Saleeby lived at No. 3 from 1891 until 1905. She was recorded there in the census on 05 April 1891¹ and listed as Mrs Elias Saleeby in directories from 1893-94.² She was Frances Maria Williams or Saleeby, the wife of Elias Geris Yousef Saleeby.

Frances Maria Williams was born at York in 1838,³ daughter of Caleb Williams, a medical practitioner, and Mary Mennell.⁴ She married Elijah George Saleeby (his Anglicised name) at York in 1877.⁵ She was his third wife.⁶ She was living ‘on private means’ at Chaseside Villa, Winchmore Hill, north London in 1911,⁷ and died in London on 24 August 1921.⁸

Elijah George Saleeby was born in Syria, the son of a land owner. He came to Britain to further his education. His occupation in 1881 was recorded as a proprietor, missionary and merchant in cutlery and produce of Mount Lebanon, Syria.⁹ He founded schools in Syria and devoted considerable time touring Britain to raise funds for them.¹⁰ He died in Beirut on 04 December 1891,¹¹ following a fall from the roof of his house.¹²

Frances Maria Williams or Saleeby appears to have moved to Edinburgh for the education of her two sons, who were both recorded at No. 3 Malta Terrace in the censuses of 1891 and 1901.¹³

• Caleb Williams Saleeby was born at Worthing, Sussex on 03 May 1878.¹⁴ He attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh before studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh.¹⁵ He graduated M.B. Ch.B. with first-class honours in 1901. He gained an M.D. in 1904 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.¹⁶ He practiced medicine for a short time before embarking on a freelance career, writing and lecturing on eugenics, nutrition and clean air. During the First World War, he became chairman of the national birth-rate commission and was an adviser to the Minister of Food, advocating creation of a Ministry of Health. He founded the Sunlight League in 1924, and served on numerous committees, including the Divorce Law Reform Union, National Temperance League and National Council for Public Morals.¹⁷

Caleb Saleeby married Monica Mary Meynell on 23 June 1904. They had two daughters. His second wife was Muriel Gordon Billinge. He died 09 December 1940.¹⁸

• Francis George Saleeby, Frances Maria Saleeby’s second son, was born in Syria, in 1880. In 1898 he began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh,¹⁹ but did not graduate. Following his death on 05 September 1905, at his mother’s house in Winchmore Hill, an inquest verdict was ‘suicide while insane’.²⁰

1. Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 05 April 1891. SALEEBY, Frances Maria (Head). 685/2 13. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021.
2. PO Directories 1893-94 to 1904-05.
3. Births index (CR) England. York, Yorkshire. 3rd Q., 1838. WILLIAMS, Frances Maria. vol. 23, p. 618. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021.
4. Census records. England. York, Yorkshire. 06 June 1841. WILLIAMS, Caleb (Head). HO107/1354/11. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021.
5. Marriages index (CR) England. York, Yorkshire. 4th Q., 1877. WILLIAMS, Frances Maria. vol. 9d, p. 5. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021.
6. Marriages (PR) England. Brighton. 06 August 1869. SALEEBY, Elijah George and SADLER, Marianne King. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 06 July 2021.
7. Census records. England. Southgate, Middlesex. 02 April 1911. SALEEBY, Frances Maria. RG14/32/7382. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 06 July 2021.
8. Wills and Estates. The Scotsman. 29 October 1921. p. 07, col. 05. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 06 July 2021.
9. Census records. England. Hampstead, London. 03 April 1881. SALEEBY, Elijah G. RG11/168/20, p. 34. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 06 July 2021.
10. Pearson, Ellen Clare. (1871) Eastern Sketches: Notes of Scenery, Schools, and Tent Life in Syria and Palestine. Edinburgh: William Oliphant & Company. pp. 78-81. https://google.co.uk/books/: accessed 06 July 2021.
11. Death announcements. 1891. York Herald. 08 December 1891. p. …, col.
12. Green, John P. (1920) Fact Stranger than Fiction. Cleveland, Ohio: Riehl Printing Company. p. 238. https://archive.org: accessed 06 July 2021.
13. Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 05 April 1891. SALEEBY, Frances Maria (Head). 685/2 13. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021. Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 31 March 1901. SALEEBY, Frances M. (Head). 685/1 46. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021.
14. Births index (CR) England. East Preston, Sussex. 2nd Q., 1878. SALEEBY, Caleb Williams. Vol. 2b, p. 348. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021.
15. Searle, G. B. (2004) Saleeby, Caleb Williams Elijah. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/47854: accessed 06 July 2021.
16. Medical Directory 1940. p. 288. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 05 July 2021.
17. Searle, G. B. (2004) Saleeby, Caleb Williams Elijah. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/47854: accessed 06 July 2021.
18. Searle, G. B. (2004) Saleeby, Caleb Williams Elijah. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/47854: accessed 06 July 2021.
19. Medical Students Register 1898. p. 63. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 06 July 2021.
20. Sad Suicide at Winchmore Hill. Middlesex Gazette. 09 September 1905. p. 07, col. 05. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 06 July 2021.