The iron fountain was a memorial to Daniel Joseph Jaffe erected by his son Offo Jaffe in 1874. Daniel Jaffe was a German industrialist who founded the linen exporters of Jaffe Brothers of Hamburg, Dundee, Belfast, Liepzig and Paris. He was originally born in Schwerin in 1809 and died in 1874.
Daniel Jaffe’s interest in the textile industry brought the family to Belfast, by then known as ‘Linenopolis’.
In 1851, Daniel Jaffe financed the construction of a linen warehouse ‘in Italian Renaissance style’ at the corner of Linenhall Street and Donegall Square South.[1] His son Otto, took over the family business in 1877.
The Memorial was first sited by in Victoria Square, then the fountain was later moved to the Botanic Gardens. It was then moved to its present location in 2008.[2]
[1] Belfast News-Letter, 9 November 1929.
[2] https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/jaffe-memorial-drinking-fountain-260394?msclkid=e6235290cf9611ec9b36c5cabaf4a4de Access 9.5.22.