The English Library, Tenerife

A British institution in Puerto de la Cruz for over 100 years.

The English Library
Calle Irlanda 5, Parque Taoro
Puerto de la Cruz 38400
+34 922 383098

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OUR MAN IN TENERIFE

12th October 2021 by Graham

I have written this article to bring to the attention of my fellow Spanish historians that they have overlooked one of the prime sources of the history of the Canary Islands, which well deserves further research.

Solomon Berliner, as the name suggests, was Jewish. He was also a native New Yorker. President Grover Cleveland, a fellow native New Yorker, and friendly towards the Jewish race, had appointed him as the consul to the Canary Islands in 1897. Unfortunately, Solomon had to wait until the end of the Spanish-American war of 1898 before taking up his position in November, 1899. He was 43 years old, single and his residence was in Tenerife. He was the first US Consul because the job description before his appointment was Consular Agent.
From the first days he was in office, Solomon took his work seriously and continually sent reports back to the United States Secretary of State. These early reports seemed to concentrate on the situation that the Canary Islands were in, respecting the various illnesses that were flying around.

Two examples of these reports serve to illustrate the point.
Sir: I have the honour to report that the French coast on the west of Africa, especially Senegal, has been declared under quarantine on account of the yellow fever. I am informed that the disease is of a very malignant form; persons attacked with it generally do not live over two to three hours. Solomon Berliner, Consul, Tenerife July 20th 1900.

Perhaps Solomon was looking for sympathy or danger money or both. The second is more detailed and interesting.
Sir: I have the honour to report that quarantine has been declared on vessels arriving from Cardiff. The first one to arrive here today is the SS Dalmally with coal; she has been placed in quarantine. After three days of observation she will have to put to sea again and empty all the water she has on board, then return and undergo a thorough fumigation and disinfection, being, after this, allowed to discharge her cargo. I am informed that there are at present 3 steamers on their way here. They will have to undergo the same opus operandi. Solomon Berliner, Consul, Tenerife October 19th 1900.

All Solomon’s reports are well documented and many are open to researchers.

Jenny Ottenberg lived in Washington and was a graduate of the Columbia University in New York. She was an ardent postage stamp collector and had taken up a business approach to this hobby. Jenny had located the addresses and written to all United States Consular Agents in out-of-the-way places asking them to save and forward stamps to her. Solomon was a recipient of one of these letters. He obliged the young lady and Jenny’s sweet reply of gratitude led to another letter and more stamps. Before long there was regular correspondence between the two, even to exchanging photographs. Romance was in the air.

None of the letters survive and it is left to our imagination to picture how the romance developed.

Notwithstanding the loss of this original source of information, we do know that, in the summer of 1901, Solomon took special leave of absence from the Consulate in Tenerife and sailed to the United States via Liverpool.

Their wedding on September 1st was a glorious affair. The New York Times reported it in detail, carefully chronicling all the presents given to the bride by the groom, without mentioning any dowry.

The procedure was a little different from a Christian Wedding: – The bridal party entered, the six ushers preceding Miss Bertha Ottenberg, maid of honour and sister of the bride, followed by the bride with her mother and father, and the groom accompanied by his best man, S.M.Goldfogle.
(The Yiddisher Momma, unlike Anglican mothers, didn’t take a back seat while her husband gave their daughter away)

The bride was arrayed in a dress of white China silk, the gift of the groom. It was brought by him from Teneriffe and was entirely wrought in fine cobwebs of drawn work by natives who are skilful in the art. A diamond sunburst, one of the gifts of the groom, caught the bride’s veil.

Other gifts of the groom to the bride were diamond earrings and finger rings, an American flag made of rubies, sapphires and diamonds and a diamond butterfly.

There were many valuable gifts given to the bride by the guests. (These were listed)

After a wedding banquet served for about 100 guests the bridal couple left for New York to remain at the Fifth Avenue Hotel until Wednesday, when they will leave for England by the SS Germanic on the way to the Canary Islands, stopping for a short time in Morocco. At Teneriffe, Mr Berliner has prepared a fully furnished villa which he has presented to his bride.

Jenny was 22 and Solomon 44 years old. Not unusual in those days.

One of the guests at the wedding was Walter Wyman who happened to be the Surgeon-General of the U.S.Marine-Hospital Service. He requested that Solomon remit to him a report about the Canary Islands as a resort for tuberculosis cases.

Before his departure to get married, Solomon had sent a well researched report on “Leprosy in the Canary Islands” but his commission to investigate the suitability of the Canary Islands for tuberculosis was even more detailed and, as he also sent this to the Secretary of State, he was held in great esteem by his masters.

Solomon and Jenny Berliner had two children during their time in Tenerife, Julius Frederick Thomas born in 1902 and Miriam born in 1904.

They carried out their duties in an exemplary fashion and Solomon’s reports continually rolled in making them ideal references to future historians of Canary Islands history.

Here is another example of his meticulous reports in 1910, one of his last – “I have the honour to report from Tenerife that 11,746 persons left the Canary Islands for Cuba in 1909, an increase of 5,917 over 1908. These emigrants comprise the best labour that can be obtained for agricultural purposes and, after accumulating what they consider enough money to enable them to purchase a small plot of ground, they return to their former homes.”

Sadly, in July 1910, Solomon and family were forced to return to Washington on account of his failing health. They were staying with Jenny’s parents waiting for a promised posting to Switzerland when Solomon died suddenly on 14th November 1910. He was 54 years old Jenny was 31 with two children aged 8 and 5. Their youngest child, Miriam saw in the new millennium, dying at 96 years old. The posting to Switzerland indicates a pulmonary disease.

To all who are interested in the History of the Canary Islands and would like to ask any questions or would like to receive monthly newsletters please contact me at englishlibrarytenerife@gmail.com

We could also help resolve any genealogical enquiries.
Ken Fisher.

Filed Under: President

IN HIDING

9th October 2021 by Graham

IN HIDING

by Ronald Fraser (1930 -2012)

At the Library, we receive quite a few donations and they find their way on to the shelves by-passing the new books section. This book is one of them. I always say that books find me not the other way round.

“In Hiding” has an amazing story to tell about the young republican mayor of Mijas, in Andalucía, Manuel Cortes who, in 1939, found himself on the losing side of the Spanish Civil War. Instead of crossing the border into France like half a million of his compatriots, he decided to return to his wife and family and face the music, serve his time in jail, and then start his life again.

When he arrived home he found that some of his ex-colleagues in the town hall, on their return, had either faced the firing squad or been hanged. And he had been the mayor; one of the most wanted men in Andalucia. He had no choice but to go into hiding.

In 1969, thirty years later an amnesty was declared in the Boletin Oficial del Estado which pardoned all the alleged crimes committed during the Civil War and Manuel was able to come out of hiding and resume his life.

The thirty years in between has been faithfully copied by the Scottish historian, Ronald Fraser, one of the pioneers of oral history. Manuel, his wife Juliana and his daughter Maria are the protagonists of the adventure, telling their stories of pre-tourism Spain which were called the “Hungry Years” in Spain and leading us through to the end of their ordeal. Juliana shines like the Christmas star throughout the book.
After Franco died in 1975, Manuel was the founder of the local PSOE (Socialist party) and presided over it until his death in 1991.

As ever, I don’t want to disclose any of the incidents but I guarantee that this book is a fantastic page-turner. First published in 1972, our copy is a re-print in 2010.

In Hiding, is on sale on Amazon at a most reasonable price and will be back on our shelves pretty soon.

Ken Fisher, President.

Filed Under: President

RAMON x3

12th August 2021 by Graham

NEW TO THE LIBRARY – “Ramón x3” – a bilingual autobiography by noted local author Ramón Michán Doña.

The book that I want to draw your attention to this month is a charming autobiography by a man of many parts who is extremely popular with our library members. Those who have attended his talks or joined him on his strolls through the town sharing his wide knowledge of the history of Puerto de la Cruz are always delighted to see him.

Ramon Michan Doña was born in Algeciras, Andalucía in the Peninsula, as the Canarians call the mainland of Spain. The title of his book refers to his grandfather, his father and himself. He tells how his family respected his wishes and encouraged him to study languages. Ramon’s destiny was to work his way up through the hotel industry until he reached his goal of becoming a respected hotel manager spending the majority of his working life in Tenerife, having noticed in the late 1960s that Tenerife would play a major role in the Spanish tourist boom.

His study of different languages and his experience of working in London, in 1968, brought him to Puerto de la Cruz and the new tower block Hotel Belair, an Aparthotel which had , become very popular in the tourist resorts by having some apartments privately owned and the majority of apartments run as a hotel.

To those of us who love our island, he brings back memories of the early years of the growth of the south into one of Europe’s major playgrounds.

Today, after his retirement from the hotel industry Ramon has taken groups to all parts of the island on carefully prepared walks sharing his knowledge of the places visited.

The last talk at the Library, just before the Covid pandemic, was about “The Cavendish Banana and a Murder” What do the two things have in common? Well, they don’t – and that’s what makes Ramon’s talks so interesting. Two for the price of one.

His book has a similar surprise. It is written in two languages English and Spanish; the left hand pages in English and the right hand pages in Spanish; a great companion to the text book for someone learning either of the two languages.

Ramon’s contribution to the Tourist Industry of the Island was recognised by the Centre for Initiatives and Tourism (CIT) of Puerto de la Cruz who awarded him a prize in 2017.  For those of you who live on the island the book is for sale at Stratford Book Shop in Calle Iriarte, Puerto de la Cruz.  It can also be bought as an e-book from atlantidadistribuciones.com

Filed Under: President

FORTUNATE ISLE

9th August 2021 by Graham

FORTUNATE ISLE –

Many books have been written about Tenerife by historians and travellers but here we have a memoir written of a time when there were few British holiday makers visiting this lovely island.

Boatloads of islanders had emigrated to Venezuela, known as the Eighth Canary Island, to seek their fortunes. The year was 1960. Ronald Mackay, a young man of 18, stepped off a tramp steamer at Las Palmas and, after a series of mishaps, found himself in a small village, Buenavista del Norte, situated on the north-west coast of Tenerife. His idea had been to work his passage to South America but a year later he was still living in the village.

Ronald’s story is about his exploits with the local people. All the men in the village had nick-names and he became – “El Extranjero” – The Foreigner. The strangest name belonged to the Lighthouse-keeper at Teno – with the nick-name, “El Torrero” which would bring a smile to anyone’s face. The double “r” makes him the “keeper of the tower” not the bull-fighter.

Ronald quickly settles in and will put his hand to anything to help. In return the villagers give him work and friendship and his willingness to learn leads him to many adventures, one or two of them being on the wrong side of the law.

The book is thoroughly entertaining and beautifully written. The reader will learn a lot about village life in Tenerife; information which would never come from a tour guide. Ronald Mackay is a wonderful storyteller or should I say “El Narrador.”

If you are lucky enough to live on this island, why not take a trip to Buenavista del Norte and buy Fortunate Isle at one of the two bookshops there – Librería Juguetería Korakí or Librería Acuarela.

To all our friends and followers who are not fortunate enough to live here, but have a part of us in your heart, the book is for sale on Amazon UK.

To our Library members – you lucky people!

Ken Fisher.
President.

Filed Under: President

D H LAWRENCE

27th July 2021 by Graham

LAWRENCE and ME: KEN FISHER
Ken Fisher is the President and greeter of the English Library in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. In 2019 a chance meeting with Ruth Hall led to plans to have Lawrence commemorated on a stamp. Here he explains more…


I was born in Derby and raised in Long Eaton and remember the Lady Chatterley Trial as though it was yesterday. I run a history group at the library, which is mainly a study group of the Anglo/Canarian connection from the 16th century to date.

After meeting Ruth Hall, I thought that we could have some fun with the life and times of Lawrence, and so I began preparing some notes of introduction to my group. But then Covid came along, and plans were put on hold. During the isolation Lawrence became an obsession. I think I’ve read almost every article about him on the web, especially JStor, and I certainly enjoyed the Digital Pilgrimage. To cut a long story short, I devised a daily task for myself, whereby I selected a postage stamp from a different country, printed the stamp at the top of an A4 and described for my classes the history behind the stamp. I now have a collection of 130 sheets.

With my new obsession for Lawrence, I found that he figured nowhere in the philatelic world which I think is a shame. I have searched the countries that he visited and found that Italy would probably be interested as he was full of praise when he left for the first time a hundred years ago. On top of this he had translated two books by Giovanni Vega, the Sicilian author, into the English language and written the foreword to a translation of a book into English by the Nobel Prizewinner for Literature, Grazia Deledda, the Sardinian 1926 Nobel Prize winner. Both these Italian writers had postage stamps issued in their honour in Italy.

I have now become a member of the D.H.L Society with the hope of pushing for a stamp of Lawrence to be printed in Italy or in America to mark the centenary of his death in 2030.

Filed Under: President

PARA NUESTROS AMIGOS CANARIOS

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LA BIBLIOTECA Inglesa del Puerto de la Cruz se construyó en 1903 y desde entonces ha sido punto de reunión para la comunidad británica.
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