the former

Barnsley Synagogue

& Jewish Community

Barnsley, South Yorkshire

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.

Town of Barnsley

The market town of Barnsley, with a population of over 90,000, is the largest urban area within the metropolitan borough of Barnsley, in Northern England. The present boundaries date from 1974, when the metropolitan district of Barnsley was formed within the then new metropolitan county of South Yorkshire. Barnsley became a unitary authority in 1986 when South Yorkshire lost its administrative status, becoming purely a ceremonial county. Until 1974, Barnsley was a borough within the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Barnsley Jewish Community

There was a small Jewish population in Barnsley, numbering no more than about 100 at its zenith, which established an organised Jewish congregation during in the first half of the twentieth century.

Plaque placed in 2018 on the building that
had been used as the Barnsley Synagogue.

Congregation Data

Name:

Barnsley Synagogue

Address:

82 Castlereagh Street, Barnsley.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ The building is now a house in multiple occupation.

Formation:

Founded in 1903⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Date Closed:

Closed in 1946^(iv)

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

None known, but the congregation would probably have been under the aegis of the Chief Rabbi.

Minister:

Rev. Israel Dobkin - the congregation's only known minister, who served from 1903 until an unknown date.^(vii)

Lay Officers:

All three lay officers named below were elected in 1903^(viii) and were listed as the officers of the congregation in all editions of the Jewish Year Book in which the congregation was listed.^(ix)

President

Treasurer

Hon. Secretary

B. Prosser

A.M. Glass

M. Feldmann

Registration District (BMDs):

Barnsley, since 28 March 1850^(x) - Register Office Website

Cemetery Details

There is no Jewish cemetery in Barnsley.

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to the Barnsley Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

Pamphlet on Barnsley Jewish Community (pdf), prepared and produced by Nigel Grizzard and the Barnsley Archives and Local Studies, on the occasion of the erection and unveiling of a Civil Trust Plaque on the building that used to be the Barnsley Synagogue. (Note the unveiling ceremony did not take place on the published date but was postponed to 18 March 2018.)
Press Reports relating to the Barnsley Jewish Community 1903-1979.

On Third Party websites

"Barnsley, home to a shul for 43 years" by Richard Dante, Scribe, No. 66, April 2019, April 2019, Magazine of UHC Leeds, page 20;
Barnsley - "Town’s Jewish history now remembered with plaque", The Barnsley Chronicle website.
(Note: The Barnsley Chronicle has been digitised and very helpful for searching for information on Barnsley and its inhabitants.)

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reserved.
(ii) This is the address of the congregation as listed in all Jewish Year Books from 1903/4. ↵
(iii) Jewish Chronicle report of 12 June 1903. The congregation was first listed in the Jewish Year Book 1903/4. ↵
(iv) Pamphlet by Nigel Grizzard on unveiling of a Civic Trust plaque (see Online Articles section). The congregation was last listed in the Jewish Year Book 1939. ↵
(v) and (vi) Reserved.
(vii) Rev. Dobson is first mentioned in the Jewish Chronicle report of 17 July 1903. He is not listed an any Jewish Year Book. ↵
(viii) Jewish Chronicle report of 17 July 1903. The Hon. Secretary's surname is spelled Feldman in this press report. ↵
(ix) Jewish Year Books 1903/4 through 1939. ↵
(ix) Previous registration district: Ecclesfield - 1 July 1837 to 28 March 1850. Any registers would now be held by the current register office. ↵

Jewish Congregations in South Yorkshire

Jewish Communities of England homepage

Page created: 22 August 2005
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 29 June 2021
Latest revision or update: 5 August 2021

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