East London Synagogue

Name:

East London Synagogue

Address:

The synagogue was at Temple Court, 52 Rectory Square, Stepney Green, London E1 3NU, and was opened in 1877, the foundation stone having been laid in 1873.

The synagogue was designated a Grade II Listed Building (number 1065762) on 11 March 1988 (most recent amendment 11 November 1988). View description on Historic England website.

(Location: Rectory Square is a short cul-de-sac at the southern end of White House Lane, almost at the junction with Stepney Green, lying approximately half a mile south of Stepney Green Underground Station and Mile End Road.)

Date Formed:

1877 - It was the first synagogue to be erected under the auspices of the United Synagogue.

Current Status:

Building sold in 1987 (building converted to apartments). Congregates initially moved into an adjoining community centre. In 1993, remaining congregants merged with Hackney Synagogue, which changed its name to Hackney & East London Synagogue

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

A constituent synagogue of the United Synagogue from 1877 until its closure. 

Membership Data:

Number of male seat-holders (source)

Source: The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by Aubrey Newman (1977), pages 216/7

1877	1880	1890	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970
221	227	272	345	340	397	383	359	411	467	376

Local Government Districts:

Rectory Square is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, created on 1 April 1965, within the administrative area of Greater London.

Previously, Rectory Square was in the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney (established 1900) in the County of London (established 1889), both of which entities were abolished in 1965.

Rectory Square was also in the civil parish of Mile End Old Town (abolished in 1927 to be absorbed into Stepney Borough parish, which itself was abolished 1965), which was in the former County of Middlesex until 1889. From 1856 to 1900, the Vestry (council) of the Parish of Mile End Old Town was a local authority, with functions similar to that of a local government district council.

Registration Districts:

From 1 October 1857 - Mile End Old Town
From 1 January 1926 - Stepney
Since 1 January 1983 - Tower Hamlets (which now holds the registers)