India: Statue of merchant and leader of the Jewish community in Bombay, David Sassoon (1792 - 1864), Sassoon Library, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai. Sassoon was born in Baghdad, where his father, Saleh Sassoon, was chief treasurer to the pashas (the governors of Baghdad) from 1781 to 1817, and leader of the city's Jewish community. Following the persecution of Baghdad's Jews by Daud Pasha, the family moved to Bombay via Persia. Sassoon was in business in Bombay no later than 1832, originally acting as a middleman between British textile firms and Gulf commodity merchants.