Айкей Соломон: Прототип Фейгина из «Оливера Твиста»

English criminal
the author who wrote his first novel as "Ikey Solomons, Esq. Junior"

Isaac "Ikey" Solomon (1787 – 1850) was a British criminal who acted as a receiver of stolen property. His well publicised crimes, escape from arrest, recapture and trial led to his transportation to the Australian penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania). He is widely regarded as the model for the character Fagin in Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist.

Solomon was born into a Jewish family in Houndsditch, in the East End of London. He was one of nine children. Henry Solomon also worked in various places in London and once remarked "I have worked for every factory in London." Little is known about Solomon's mother except that she looked after her husband well into his old age. Solomon married Ann (or Hannah) Julian on 7 January 1807 in the Great Synagogue, Duke's Place, London. Ann was the daughter of Moses Julian, coachmaster, of Aldgate.

Solomon first had a shop in Brighton but later opened what was ostensibly a jeweller's shop in Bell Lane, London, in the vicinity of Petticoat Lane. (This business has also been described as a pawn shop.) Solomon used the shop to carry on business as a receiver of stolen goods, known as a fence, becoming one of the most active Londoners in the "trade". On 17 April 1810, Solomon and a man named Joel Joseph were caught stealing a pocket book (valued at 4 shillings) and £40 in bank notes from Thomas Dodd outside Westminster Hall (the site of Parliament) where a large crowd had gathered for a public meeting. Police chased the pair and caught them inside the Hall. Joseph attempted to get rid of the evidence by eating the bank notes while Solomon tried to ditch the notebook. Both were arrested and tried at the Old Bailey during the June Sessions 1810 and found guilty of stealing, a felony. Solomon, just 23 at the time, was sentenced to penal transportation, to spend the rest of his days in Australia. However, for reasons that are no longer clear, he remained in England, imprisoned in the prison hulk Zetland for four years, before being released in error or escaping. The judge referred to Solomon as being "evil disposed", another indication of the large notoriety he had garnered. Solomon was sent back to Hobart in the William Glen Anderson, arriving in November 1831. He was sent to Richmond gaol, where in 1832 he became a "javelin man", or convict constable. In 1834, he was transferred to Port Arthur Convict Settlement. In 1835, authorities granted Solomon a ticket of leave on condition that he lived at least 20 mile (32 km) from Hobart.

The first Fagin by Helen Gaynor and Alan Rosenthal, Canberra – A. C. T., Ronin Films, 2012