David E. de Lara

David Etienne de Lara was present at the meeting that led to the founding of the Theosophical Society on September 8, 1875.

Many thanks to Joma Sipe and Marc Demarest for their excellent research related to David E. de Lara, and also to John Patrick Deveney and Boaz Huss. Locating biographical details about this family is complicated by the existence of other David de Laras married to other wives named Sarah in both England and the United States.

Personal life

David Etienne de Lara was born in 1796 in the Netherlands to a Jewish family of Portuguese descent. His family were probably among of the Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands who referred to themselves as "Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation," distinguishing their community from the Ashkenazi Jews of eastern Europe. During the 1820s he seems to have traveled between the Netherlands and London, working as a language teacher. On December 8, 1828, he married Sarah Elizabeth Crawcour (1802-1872) in a Church of England ceremony. They had two sons, Etienne and Isaac, and three daughters, Flora, Emma, and Victoria. in 1925, he published a booklet called A Key to the Portuguese Language with vocabulary, expressions, and grammar, and it was regularly advertised by publisher Boosey & Sons until 1930. He taught French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and German, offering lectures, correspondence courses or instruction in his home.

In addition his scholarly work, he worked as an accountant and a successful merchant. He seems to have been in partnership with Henry Crawcour (a relative of his wife) as stationers at 21 Mount Street, Whitechapel.

Sometime in the 1850s, the family emigrated from London to New York City. There are few mentions of de Lara in census records or newspapers of that time, although he was named in a New York legal notice in 1857.

A modern historian, Boaz Huss, described de Lara as "an Anglo-Jewish scholar and Freemason," but no specific evidence of the masonic connection can be cited at this time.

As of 1870, Mr. de Lara was living in Manhattan with his daughter Victoria and her family, and had a personal wealth of $50,000. He died on June 26, 1879 in Manhattan of "senectus" (old age) and was buried in Ozone Park, Queens, New York.

Lectures and articles

De Lara was associated with John Storer Cobb, another TS founder and editor of the journal New Era.

In June 1873 appeared the first part of a fifteen-part series by “Lara” on “Defence of our National System of Education against the Attacks of the Catholic Press” — a vigorous attack on admitting religion, especially Catholicism, into the public schools, with learned historical digressions on the evil consequences of Catholic political thought. At the conclusion of this diatribe, “Lara,” who now appears by his full name of D.E. de Lara, took up the cudgels again in an eight-part series, beginning in the issue for September 1874, on “Freemasonry, Judaism, and Christianity.” From this and his other contributions we can glean a bit more about the mysterious man whose name appears among those attending the formative meeting of the T.S. on September 8, 1875, and who read a paper before the group on the 18th. David de Lara was first of all quite old, since he mentions a book he had seen in Spain in 1820 or 1821, and he was a Portuguese Jew, a Sephardi.

In a review of a lecture given by de Lara on Pope Sixtus V before the Liberal Club in July 1875, the editor says of him:

Mr. de Lara, who is well-known, at any rate, to the readers of the New Era, through his writings upon the school question and other subjects, is a gentleman who has for a period of nearly half a century been engaged with his pen in enriching English literature, though chiefly under a nom de plume, in consequence of a too great modesty, which, being a part of his nature, cannot be eradicated. The history of European nations he has made a special study, and is eminently qualified to speak to us upon any question relating to the social or political condition of those countries.

Later that year:

In October 1875, the New Era, probably with Cobb at its helm, took up Theosophy and its personae in a big way. It gave a long review of Olcott’s People from the Other World, recommending it as “well written” and filled with “a desire to arrive at the truth, at whatever cost.”

Theosophical Society involvement

On September 8, 1875, he was present at the meeting when Col. Henry S. Olcott proposed formation of a society "for the study and elucidation of Occultism, the Cabbala, etc." and Mr. de Lara handed in his name to the newly-appointed secretary, William Quan Judge, to be one of the founding members. He may not have been present at all the subsequent meetings. Historian Josephine Ransom described him as:

A learned old gentleman of Portuguese-Hebrew extraction. H. P. B. and H. S. O. had great affection for him. He seems to have remained a member till he died.

Additional resources

• Deveney, John Patrick, "D.E. de Lara, John Storer Cobb, and The New Era" Theosophical History 15 no.4 (October, 2011): 27-33. The Theosophical History website is here.
• Huss, Boaz, "In Search of the Jewish Theosophists" The Newsletter of the Friends of the Theosophical Archives FOTA no. 6, Spring-Summer 2016. The issue, including the printed version of the article (with pictures), can be downloaded here.