HORT, ABRAHAM (1799-1869) arrived in New Zealand in 1843. His son Abraham preceded him to Wellington, where he arrived in the Oriental in 1840 and established himself in business. There were several other Jews on board under engagement to him. Hort, junior, was elected to the committee of colonists in April. He was a keen oarsman and took part in amateur crews at regattas. In 1840, when sailing his whaleboat up the harbour (Heaphy being also on board) she upset in a gust of wind.

Abraham Hort, senior, arrived in Wellington in the Prince of Wales (3 Jan 1843). A man of wide Hebraic knowledge, he had authority from the Chief Rabbi (Dr Herschell) to form a congregation, and on the Saturday following his arrival (7 Jan) he conducted the first Jewish service held in New Zealand. Immediately afterwards he applied to the Administrator of the Government (Lieut. Shortland) for a site for a synagogue and cemetery in Wellington; 'grants which,' he said, 'will greatly conduce to the direction of the capital and industry of the Jewish people to these distant shores.' The application was approved on 16 May, and on the 31st Nathaniel Levin, Solomon Mocatta, and Kauffman Samuel were named as trustees. Hort was on the burgess roll in 1843, and seems to have been one of the aldermen elected in October of that year. He also signed the address of sympathy with the Nelson settlers after the Wairau affray. In 1845 he was a member of the military sub-committee for the defence of Wellington.

In 1848, when he was about to visit England, Hort moved a resolution at a public meeting to receive an address of sympathy from Auckland inhabitants on the earthquake in Wellington. He said it was a matter of congratulation to him that he had not left New Zealand before he heard such a message had been received from the people of Auckland. Some members of the Hort family settled in Tahiti as merchants a few years after the father's arrival in New Zealand.

Hort returned to England in the Clontarf in 1859, and died there on 18 Oct 1869. (See SIR F. BELL and N. LEVIN.)

N.Z.C.; Jewish Review; Dora Hort, Tahiti, the Gem of the Pacific, 1891; Ward; Wellington Independent, 20 May 1859; N.Z. Spectator, 20 Jul 1853.

Reference: Volume 1, page 224

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