JCR-UK

Brighton & Hove Jewish Community

Brighton and Hove, East Sussex

 

 

 

JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the official website for this community.

City of Brighton and Hove

The Sussex seaside resort of Brighton (originally known as Brighthelmstone) and adjoining Hove to its west, on England's south coast, have a population of nearly 250,000. Until 1974, Brighton was a county borough and Hove, a the municipal borough in the county of East Sussex. They were then united to form the district of Brighton & Hove in the county of East Sussex. In 1997, Brighton & Hove became a unitary authority, and in 2000 it was granted city status.

The Brighton and Hove Jewish Community(iii)

Brighton & Hove has the fifth largest Jewish community in the United Kingdom, and there exists a local Jewish Representative Council, which now covers all of Sussex. The first record of a Jewish resident in Brighton was in 1766(iv) and the earliest Synagogue (in Jew Street) was established in 1792.

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that exist or existed in Brighton and Hove:

* An active congregation.

The following are former or alternative names of the above congregations:

 

Search the All-UK Database


The records in the database associated with Brighton and Hove include:

  • Burials:

    • Meadowview Jewish Cemetery (112 records). 

  • UK Jewish Communal Leaders Database - Brighton and Hove records:

    • Jewish Directory for 1874 (records of 26 individuals);

    • Jewish Year Book 1896/97 (records of 6 individuals); and

    • JCR-UK Listings (records of 130 individuals - as of the March 2024 update).

  • 1851 Anglo Jewry Database (as of the 2016 update):

    • Individuals in the "1851" database who were living in:
      Brighton during the 1770s (2 records), 1780s (2 records), 1790s (3 records), 1800s (11 records), 1810s (11 records), 1820s (30 records), 1830s (73 records), 1840s (95 records), 1850s (141 records), 1860s (75 records), 1870s (64 records), 1880s (44 records), 1890s (33 records), 1900s (23 records) and 1910s (12 records); and
      Lewes during the 1800s (2 records), 1810s (3 records) and 1850s (4 records).

 

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to the Brighton and Hove Jewish Community

on JCR-UK


Some Notable Jewish Connections with Brighton and Hove
(compiled with the assistance of Steven Jaffe)

  • Tony Bloom MBE (b. 1970 in Brighton), businessman, is the majority owner and chair of Brighton and Hove Albion FC. He is the principal funder of the redevelopment of the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation’s New Church Road site into a state of the art Jewish community campus and hub.

  • Ivor Kieth Caplin (b. 1958) was the Labour MP for Hove (1997-2005) and the first Jewish MP for a Brighton or Hove constituency.

  • Levi Emanuel Cohen (1796-1860), son of Emanuel Hyam Cohen, who is credited as the founder of the Brighton Jewish community, was the founding editor of the Brighton Guardian, a radical local newspaper which ran from 1827 to 1901 and at its peak had a circulation of 60,000.

  • Sir Michael Fabricant MP (b. 1950 in Brighton), son of Rabbi Isaac Fabricant, served as Conservative MP for Lichfield in Staffordshire, formerly Mid Staffordshire, from 1992 to 2024. He was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2023.

  • Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, 1st Baronet, (1778-1859), financier, advocate for Jewish emancipation and who helped establish University College Hospital in London, purchased the Wick estate in Brighton in 1830. He built a mansion there called Wick Hall (which was demolished in the 1930s).

  • Sir Julian Goldsmid, 3rd Baronet, (1838-1896), grandson of Sir Isaac Goldsmid, a lawyer, businessman and Liberal (later Liberal Unionist) MP between 1866 and 1896, lived at Wick Hall and died in Brighton. Julian Road in Brighton is named after him.

  • Sir John Howard (1831-1917), born in Liverpool, a railway and water engineer, in 1898 established a company to complete the construction of the Palace Pier in Brighton which had been damaged by a storm. A local philanthropist, the John Howard cottages at Roedean Road, Brighton, for former nurses and carers, were funded from his estate.

  • David Jacobs (1913-1969), Hove resident, was solicitor to celebrities, including the Beatles, Judy Garland, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Marlene Dietrich and Shirley Bassey.

  • Natasha Kaplinsky OBE (b. 1972 in Brighton), newsreader, TV presenter, studio anchor and journalist, was appointed president of the British Board of Film Classification in 2022. In 2014 she became a Holocaust Commissioner, leading a project which interviewed 112 survivors. Her paternal grandfather's family came from Slonim in Poland.

  • David Land (1918-1995), impresario and producer, who backed Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's earliest musicals, owned and ran the Theatre Royal in Brighton up until his death.

  • Sir Ivan Lawrence (b. 1934 in Brighton), leading criminal barrister, was Conservative MP for Burton 1974-1997. He was Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 1992 to 1997. His private member's bill in 1991 instigated the UK's national lottery.

  • Ruth Lawrence-Neimark (b. 1971), was a child maths prodigy born in Brighton, who joined St Hughs College, Oxford, in 1983, aged 12. She graduated in 1985 with a starred first as the youngest graduate of the university in modern times. She teaches at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

  • Harry Leader (1906-1987), one of Britian's best known bandleaders and song writers (signature: "Music Maestro Please"), was resident bandleader at the Regent Ballroom in Brighton in the 1950s and 1960s. He died in Brighton where he spent his latter years teaching and performing.

  • Sir George Lewis, 2nd Baronet (1868-1927), solicitor, bought the Grange, originally the vicarage in the village of Rottingdean, and had it extended and the gardens developed by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Today the Grange is a library, a tearoom, art gallery and a museum run by Rottingdean Heritage. Sir George is buried in Rottingdean.

  • Samuel Lewis (1837-1901), born in Birmingham, a self made millionaire, maintained a home at Brunswick Terrace in Hove. The Samuel Lewis Housing Trust provided affordable housing for rent in London and across the South East (later known as the Southern Housing Group).

  • Eleanor Marx (1855-1898), socialist activist and literary translator, youngest daughter of Karl Marx, who identified strongly with her Jewish heritage, lived in Brighton briefly in the 1870s and worked as a teacher. A grey plaque at 6 Vernon Terrace Brighton marks where she lived.

  • David Mocatta (1806-1882), architect of the London and Brighton railway, who designed Brighton Train station and other stations along the line, as well as Brighton's Regency Synagogue and other synagogues.(v) Mocatta House, a modern office development in Trafalgar Place, Brighton, is named afer him.

  • Harold Poster (c.1912-1978), a London businessman who became a hotelier and developer in Brighton, was a pioneer of the conference and exhibition trade and one of the earliest backers of the Brighton festival which launched in 1967. At one point he owned the Norfolk, Bedford and Metropole hotels (the Norfolk he sold to the Feld family). Poster built the highest building in Brighton, Sussex Heights. He also owned Brighton's West Pier but his plans for its development were refused by the Council and it became dilapidated. A philanthropist and fundraiser both in the UK and Israel, Harold Poster house at Kingsbury, north west London, was home for the JNF charity from 1977 until about 1997.

  • Sir Albert (Abdullah) Sassoon, 1st Baronet, (1818-1896), born in Baghdad, businessman, banker and philanthropist, set up a home at Eastern Terrace in Brighton where he died and was initially buried in the Sassoon Mausoleum in Brighton. Sir Edward Albert Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, (1856-1912), son of Sir Albert Sassoon, born in Bombay (now Mumbai), businessman and Liberal Unionist MP for Hythe in Kent, vice president of Jews' College and the Anglo Jewish Association, maintained the family home in Brighton and died there.

  • Ben Sherman (born Alfred Sugarman) (1925-1987), who grew up in Brighton returned there in 1962 having lived in North America. He established a shirt and fashion factory in Brighton. Ben Sherman's distinctive shirts became a prominent feature of the 1960s fashion scene.

  • Sir Hans Singer (1910-2006), German born, came to the UK as a refugee from Nazism. An international development economist, he was knighted in 1994 and awarded the United Nation's Food for Life award in 2001 for his work combating hunger. In 1969 he joined the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and he died in Brighton. The Hans Singer Memorial Lecture on Global development alternates between Bonn and Brighton on an annual basis.

  • Dr Herzl Sless MBE (1922-2002), born in Cork, for over 50 years a GP in Hove, was Brighton and Hove Albion FC’s honorary medical officer for 42 years. He was also chairman for many years of the Jewish Representative Council in Sussex and life president of Hove Synagogue.

  • Henry Solomon (1794-1844) a London born watchmaker turned police officer, became the first chief constable of Brighton Borough Police. He was murdered in his police station by a suspect during an interrogation. At the time of his death Henry Solomon was vice president of the Brighton Hebrew congregation. His grave at the Florence Place cemetery was restored in 2018.

  • Jack Solomons OBE (1902-1979), born in Petticoat Lane, East London, boxing promoter, lived for many years at Furze Court in Hove.

  • Solomon Teff (1892-1979), a solicitor, was president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 1964 to 1967. He was a member of the Hove Hebrew Congregation.

  • Edward Zeff MBE, Croix de Guerre (1904-1974), a British agent of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, was born in Brighton. A plaque in Brighton marks his post war home.

  • Jewish Mayors of Brighton or Hove:

    • Lewis Cohen (1897-1966), Labour councillor, Mayor of Brighton (1956) and founder of the Alliance Building Society, was made a life peer in 1965 and took the title Lord Cohen of Brighton.

    • Alfred Feld was Mayor of Brighton (1978-1979)

    • Norman N. Freedman was Mayor of Hove (1969-1970)

    • Barnett Marks (1863-1944), an active member of the Brighton Hebrew Congregation and local charities (both Jewish and non-Jewish) was the first Jewish Mayor of Hove (1910-1913)

  • Jewish Names on the Buses
    Since 1999 the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company has named every new bus that enters the fleet after a deceased person who has made a significant contribution to the area or had a strong connection during his or her lifetime. The names of those honoured are listed here, with a link to a short profile and, where available, photographs. By 2016, some 200 individuals had so far been honoured and Godfrey R. Gould(vi) identified 22 of these as Jewish or of recent Jewish descent. These are the following:

    • George Basevi; Dr. Julius Carlebach; Levi Emanuel Cohen; Lord Cohen; Baron Goldsmid; Alfred Feld; Norman Freedman; Sir John Howard; David Jacobs; David Land; Harry Leader; Sir George Lewis; Samuel Lewis; Eleanor Marx; David Mocatta; Harold Poster; Sir Edward Sassoon; Ben Sherman; Sir Hans Singer; Dr. Herzl Sless; Henry Solomon; and Jack Solomons.




Holocaust Memorial at Brighton Meadowview Jewish Cemetery
(© 2011 Gina Marks)

Other Brighton Jewish Institutions & Organisations
(apart from institutions closely connected to the Hove Hebrew Congregation)

Educational & Theological

  • Religious Educational Institution

    • Hebrew Classes (Cheder),(vii) probably existed from the birth of the Hebrew Congregation. By 1900 they were held four times per week, although by 1915, they were three times per week.
      Numbers of Pupils (1896-1907):

         year

      1896

      1898

      1899

      1900

      1901

      1902

      1904

      1907

         boys

      12

      19

      19

      22

      25

      25

      30

      40

         girls

      8

      13

      11

      13

      25

      19

      23

      178

         Total

      20

      32

      30

      35

      50

      44

      55

      571

    • Hove Hebrew Congregation Talmud Torah - see under Hove Hebrew Congregation.

    • Independent Talmud Torah, 31 New Church Road, Hove. These religious classes had been established by at least 1985 and are run jointly by the city's orthodox congregations.(viii)

    • Shaare Torah Institute, 26 Hove Street, Hove 3, existed from at least 1965 until at least 1976.(ix)

  • Jewish Schools

    • Schools in West Street and Artillery Place, established 1772 to 1816 by Emanuel Hyam Cohen.(x)

    • Jewish Day School adjoining synagogue at Devonshire Place, founded 1871 (27 pupils in 1874)(xi)

    • Carmel House School (previously the Brighton and Hove Jewish Day School and Nursery until 1979), opened in 1975. It was situated at Ralli Hall, Denmark Villas, Hove, from 1977 to 1979, when it moved to 29 New Church Road, Hove. In 1981 the school became affiliated to the Zionist Federation Educational Trust. It closed in 1984, due to lack of funds.(xii) The nursery, however, continued as the Yavneh Nursery (see below).

    • Torah Academy Jewish Primary School, established by Rabbi Pesach Efune and his wife Penina, in 1988, with 7 pupils. By 1995, the numbers had risen to fifty. From 1999, it incorporated the former Yavneh Nursery. However, the school closed in 2007 due to declining numbers.(xiii)

  • Kindergartens and Nurseries

    • A number of kindergartens had existed over the years including kindergartens in Muck Luck Hall, Hove and the Talmud Torah Hall, Holland Road, in the mid 1970s.(xvi)

    • Yavneh Nursery, 31 Church Road, had previously been the nursery section of the Carmel House School and was established in 1984, when the school closed. It continued until 1999, when it was amalgamated with the Torah Academy.(xvii)

    • Torah Montessori Nursery (JeMs Nursery), 29-31 New Church Road, Hove, BN3 4AD, established by Penina Efune in 2007, following the closure of the Torah Academy.(xviii)

  • Jewish Boarding School(xxi)

    • Wellesley House Collegiate and Commercial School, Wellington Road, 1874

    • Pombai House (for girls), 11 The Drive, Hove,  founded 1887.

    • Clopthorme School, run by Madame Levy, founded 1894.

    • Mansfield House (for girls) 47 Cromwell Road, Hove, founded 1894 and still active in 1938.

    • Southdown College, 69 Brunswick Place, founded by the 1920s.

    • Whittinghame College (for boys) was opened in September 1931 by Jacob Halevy. At its height, the school had some 200 pupils. Initially situated in The Drive (no. 62, expanding to 66 and 64), Hove, it subsequently moved to Woodland, Surrenden Road, Brighton. During World War II the building was requisitioned by the military and the school relocated to Llandello, Wales. It returned to Surrenden Road in 1945. In 1958, additional facilities at Handcross Park, Handcross, Sussex, were acquired, and these were used initially for the younger pupils. In 1965, the Surrenden Road premises were sold and all the school relocated to Handcross Park. This did not prove a success and the school closed in December 1967.(xxii)

    • Aryeh House (for boys and girls), Upper Drive, Hove, by 1938.

    • Macauley House College, founded 1920, initially in Cromwell Drive, Hove, but moved to Ockenden Manor, Cuckfield (near Haywards Heath), Sussex in 1924. Closed in 1940.

  • Other:

    • Brighton & Hove Hebrew Education Board, existed from at least 1934 until at lear 1949.(xxiii)

    • Centre for German-Jewish Studies, was founded in 1995.(xxiv)

    • Sussex Jewish Continuity was founded in Brighton in 1997 but due to lack of funding, closed in about 2000.(xxiv)

Welfare Organisations

  • The Brighton and Hove Jewish Welfare Board had started life in 1846 as the Brighton Hebrew Philanthropic Society with objects for "the relief of Jewish poor". By the 1890s it was known as the Brighton (later the Brighton & Hove) Jewish Board of Guardians, with objects for "the relief of residents and casual poor". Its present name was adopted in about 1976.(xxvii)

  • Jewish Children's Convalescent Home was established at 76 Montpelier Road, Brighton, by 1919 and existed until at least 1923.(xxviii) A Convalescent Home Aid Society had been founded by 1916.(xxix)

  • Jewish Refugee Hostel. A Refugee Relief Council had been founded by 1939(xxx) and it appears that a Hostel for refugees, managed by the Hostel Management Committee(xxxi) had been established at 33 Vernon Terrace during or shortly prior to World War II.

  • A Jewish Orphanage Aid Society existed in Brighton by about 1939 until at least 1959,(xxxiv) with a Norwood Orphanage Junior Aid Society from at least 1954 until 1959.(xxxv) The Brighton and Hove Aid Society for the Home and Hospital for Jewish Incurable was active from at least 1935 until at least 1950.(xxxvi)

  • Plans had existed for some time to establish a home for Brighton's aged Jews and by 1946, the Brighton & Hove Aid Society for a Home For Aged Jews had been founded. The Brighton and Hove Home for Aged Jews was opened in 1954 at 99 Marine Parade Brighton and was later initially renamed the Sadie Lewis Home for Aged Jews for a number of years. In the early 1970s it was extended and substantially rebuilt, being situated between Marine Parade and Bristol Road, with its main entrance in Burlington Street, BN2 1AK. There were further extensions in 1978 and the mid-1990's, when the home became part of the London-based Jewish Care. In 2001 it was renamed the Hyman Fine Jewish Home.(xxxvii)

  • The Brighton & Hove Jewish Housing Association was founded in 1969 by the Brighton & Hove Jewish Board of Guardians (and was until 1980 known as the Brighton & Hove Jewish Board of Guardians Housing Association). It was founded in order to help meet the growing need for subsidised housing for Jewish people on limited means. The association owns a number of residential properties in Brighton and Hove which provide sheltered accommodation for those in need.(xxxviii)

  • Sussex Tikva. The Sussex Jewish Society for the Mentally Handicapped was formed in 1983 and renamed Sussex Tikva in 1999. It was initially set up as a club meeting in Ralli Hall. A home, in Chatsworth Road, was opened in 1990 and subsequently named Rachel Mazzier House. Since 2009, it has been run by Norwood.(xli)

  • Helping Hands was founded in 2001 to provide care and assistance, both practical and emotional, to members of the local Jewish community.(xlii)

Cultural, Social, Youth and Sports Organisations

  • The Brighton and Hove Jewish Literary and Social Society(xlv) was active until about 1933 (see below). It was the successor to the Jewish Literary and Debating Society (pre-World War I),(xlvi) the Jewish Literary and Social Society (early 1920s)(xlv) and the Jewish Social Society (late 1920s).(xlvii) Later, following World War II and in the early 1950s, a Jewish Literary Society was re-established.(xlvii)

  • Brighton and Hove Maccabi was established in June 1934 when the Brighton and Hove Jewish Club became formally affiliated to the British Maccabi Association. The club had been formed a year or two earlier on the merger of the Brighton Jewish Sports Club and the Brighton and Hove Jewish Literary and Social Society (see above). In 1936 it had been planned that Brighton would host the Maccabi World Games, but these were cancelled. Among its activities were a Cricket Club and a Football Team (both active from at least 1934).  It remained in existence on and off until the 1960s and was revived in the 1990s.(xlix) It was one of the organisations incorporated into the Brighton & Hove Jewish Centre (see below).

  • Other Sports Institutions:

    • The Carmel Tennis Club, formed in the early 1950s, which had its own tennis courts until the 1980s.(lii)

    • The Sussex Jewish Golfing Society, formed in 1954 and still active.(liii)

  • Other Youth Organisations:

    • Scouts. The first Jewish Scout troop (the 20th Brighton (Jewish) Troop) was founded in Brighton by 1925 and probably continued until the outbreak of World War II. A scouts troop (the 52nd Brighton Scouts Troop and Cub Pack) was reestablished at the Middle Street synagogue in 1955. In the late 1950s it moved to the New Church Road premises and became the 15th Hove (Jewish) Troop and later moved to a church hall near Seven Dials and subsequently to Ralli Hall. It disbanded in the late 1980s. The was also a short-lived Brownie pack in the 1960s.(liv)

    • A company of the Jewish Lads Brigade was formed in Brighton in 1934 but appears to have been disbanded during World War II. It was restarted in 1972 as the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade and continued until the mid-1980s.(lv)

    • Club Shalom - formed in 1969 as a youth club. Activities included music and discos, talks, snooker, subbuteo as well as a football team. the club closed in the late 1970s.(lvi)

  • The Jewish Ladies Society (1920s and 1930s)(lix)

  •  

    Ralli Hall 

    Ralli Hall, 82 Denmark Villa, Hove BN3 3ST, is a non-denominational community and social centre, hosting many Jewish events. It was acquired in 1975, initially as a Jewish youth centre, by the Brighton and Hove Jewish Youth Council, which later changed its name to the Brighton and Hove Jewish Community Foundation (Registered Charity number 269474, registered on 18 June 1975) and was formally opened by singer Frankie Vaughan on 30 June 1976. From its earliest days it hosted the Friendship Club for senior citizens and gradually the emphasis changed from youth to senior activities. It also hosted a number of services for the Hebrew Congregation, while the synagogue in New Church Road was closed for major redevelopment (2020-2023). The Hall was built in 1913 as a memorial to Stephen Ralli, a member of a wealthy Greek family, and is a Grade II Listed Building (number 1298671), designated on 2 November 1992. View description on Historic England website.

     

    Ralli Hall 

    Other instutions hosted at Ralli House include:(lx)

    • the Ralli Hall Lunch and Social Club (Registered Charity number 1142922, registered on 18 July 2011, and private company by limited by guarantee, number 07451576);

    • the Ralli Hall Amateur Theatre Society;

    • the New Ralli Bridge Club;

    • the Jewish Community Society; and

    • Brighton and Hove Maccabi.

  • A branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association had existed in Brighton from as early as 1900 and as late as the late 1950s, although it is not clear whether such existence was continuous.(lxi)

  • A branch of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women (AJEX) was founded in the Brighton area immediately following World War II.(lxii)

  • The Jewish Arts Society (until 2003 the Brighton and Hove Jewish Community Arts Society) was founded in 1981.(lxiii)

  • The Jewish Association of Cultural Societies (JACS) was established in Hove in 1988.(lxiv)

  • Brighton Union of Jewish Students (formerly the Jewish Students Association) - the University of Sussex Jewish Society - was established shortly after the opening of Sussex University in 1965.(lxv)

  • Brighton Hillel House - residential accomodation for Jewish students - was established in 1968, when two houses (former an engineering apprentice hostel) in Harrington Hill (near Preston Park) were purchased and converted to a students residence. Student accommodation needs gradually changed and the Harrington Road premises were sold. In 2012 a students drop-in centre was opened at the rear of the Middle Street synagogue.(lxvi)

  • B'nai B'rith Brighton and Hove Lodge No. 1182, founded in 1933 and active until at least the late 1970s. A young adults chapter was founded in 1964 lasting until the mid-1970s and there was also Brighton B'nai B'rith Youth Organisation (BBYO) started in the late 1970s, active until at least the 1990s.(lxvii)

  • B'nai B'rith Ladies Lodge No. 145, founded in about 1935 and combined with the men's lodge in the 1970s.(lxviii)

  • Jewish Historical Society of England, Sussex Branch, established in 2004.(lxix)

  • Jewish Women Friends of Sussex, an unaffiliated forum for women, founded in 2003, which meets regularly to discuss a wide range of topics and interests.(lxx)

Israel & Zionist Organisations

  • JNF/JIA - Brighton already had Jewish National Fund (JNF) Commission representative in the 1920s.(lxxii) There was a joint committee of both the JNF and the Joint Israel Appeal - JIA (previously the Joint Palestine Appeal - JPA)  in Brighton until the 1970s, after which the were run as separate committees. Beginning in the 1990s, funds for these organisations tended to be raised centrally and much of the work of the local committees ceased.(lxxiii) There was a JIA Ladies' Committee from at least the mid-1990s until at least 2006.(lxxiv)

  • The Brighton & Hove Youth Aliya Committee (formerly the Children and Youth Aliya Committee) was formed in 1950 and continues to function.(lxxv)

  • Zionist Organisation:

    • A Zionist Society had been formed in Brighton by 1923(lxxvi) and continued to be active until at least World War II. There was a Zionist Central Council from at least the early 1980s until at least the early 1990s.(lxxvii) World Jewish Congress (WJC)(lxxviii) was represented in Brighton and Hove in the mid/late 1950s as well as a Young Zionist Society.(lxxxix)

    • A Women's Zionist Society existed from at least 1929 until World War II.(lxxxii) There followed a number of women Zionist organisations, including the Federation of Women Zionists (mid/late 1950s)(lxxxiii), a branch of WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organisation) (late 1950s)(lxxxiv) and, most recently, Sussex WIZO Ziona (by 2005).(lxxxv)

    • A Mizrachi Association was present in Brighton from at least 1947(lxxxvi) with a Women's Mizrachi Organisation from at least 1949.(lxxxvii)

  • Other Funding of Israeli Institutions:

    • Friends of the Hebrew University University, founded in Brighton by 1946.(xc)

    • Technion Committee, founded by 1954(xci)

    • Friends of Ben Gurion University, founded in Brighton by 1996.(xcii)

    • Friends of Magen David Adom, founded in Brighton by 1996.(xciii)

    • Sussex ORT, founded by 1996.(xciv)

Religious Institutions

  • Brighton and Hove Joint Shechitah Board was founded by 1936 and existed until at least 1992.(xcviii)

  • Brighton and Hove Joint Kashrut Board was founded by 1992. (xcix) There was also a Kashruth Committee from at least 1950 until at least 1959.(c)

  • The Community's Mikva was established by 1989, at the Prince Regent Swimming Complex.(ci)

  • The Chevra Kadisha was formed by 1923.(cii)

  • The Brighton and Hove Interfaith Contact Group (IFCG) was founded by 2005.(ciii)

Miscellaneous

  • Sussex Jewish Representative Council (until about 2011, the Brighton and Hove Jewish Representative Council) was formed by at least 1945. The council comprises and represents every synagogue and affiliated Jewish organisation in Brighton, Hove and the rest of Sussex (including Eastbourne, Hastings, Bexhill and Worthing).(cvi)

  • Sussex Jewish News was first published in October 1993 and replaced the Jewish News, when the latter ceased publication.(cvii)

  • Trade Advisory Council, active from at least 1945 until about 1953.(cviii)

  • Sarid (Holcaust Survivors Group), existed from at least 2005 until about 2012.(cix)

  • BNJC (Brighton & Hove Jewish Community), opened in March 2023, is a purpose built Jewish community complex, comprising the new Brighton & Hove Hebrew Congregation synagogue and mikveh, 45 new housing units, various dining options, including a kosher cafe, restaurant, bakery, deli and shop, plus other recreational, educational, cultural, social, commercial and co-working facilities. It is supported by the Bloom Foundation, founded by Tony Bloom, chairman of Brighton and Hove Albion football club.(cx)

 

Community Records

  • Registration District (for BMD): Brighton & Hove (since 1 November 1998).

    • Previous Registration District for Brighton:
         Brighton (previously called Brighthelmston) (from 1 July 1837 to 1 November 1998).

    • Previous Registration Districts for Hove:
         Steyning (from 1 July 1837 to 1 April 1935); and
         Hove (1 April 1935 to 1 November 1998).

    • Any registers would now be held by the current register office.

    • Register Office website

 


Brighton and Hove Jewish Cemeteries Information

Florence Place Jewish Cemetery

Brighton and Hove have the following Jewish cemeteries:

  • Florence Place Old Jewish Burial Grounds, off Ditchling Road, Brighton BN1 7GU. This is the original Orthodox Jewish cemetery, opened in 1826. The land had been donated to the Jewish community by Thomas Read Kemp.
    The cemetery ohel (number 1380504), the gates and walls (number 1380505) and a lamp post outside the cemetery (number 1380506) are all Grade II Listed Buildings since 26 August 1999. To view descriptions on the Historic England website, click here, here and here, respectively.

  • Bear Road (Meadowview) Jewish Cemetery, Meadowview Road, Bevendean Road, Brighton, Brighton BN1. The Orthodox Jewish cemetery currently in use, opened in 1920 and enlarged in 1978.

  • Hove Cemetery, Jewish Sections, Old Shoreham Road, Hove This is the cemetery of Brighton's non-Orthodox congregations, the Brighton & Hove Reform Synagogue and Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue.

In addition, the structure at 83 St. George's Road and Paston Place, Kemp Town, Brighton, BN2 1EF was the Mausoleum of Sir Albert Sassoon Family and was situated adjacent to where the family home once stood. It was erected in 1869 and is stated to be an enlarged replica of the marble mausoleum at the Ohel David synagogue at Poona, India. The Mausoleum served as the family burial place until 1933 when the remains of those buried there were transferred to the Liberal Jewish cemetery at Willesden, North London. Subsequently the Mausoleum was used as a war-time air raid shelter, a club and is now part of Hanbury Arms public house. It has been a Grade II Listed Building (number 1380706) since 13 October 1952. View description on Historic England website.

(For additional information, see IAJGS Cemeteries Project - Brighton)

 

Brighton and Hove Jewish Population Data

Year

Number

Source

1813

only 9 adult male Jews

(Brighton Herald 1813)

1851

estimated 150

(C. Roth - The Rise of Provincial Jewry)

1896

estimated 60 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1896/7

1898

estimated 70 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1898/9)

1900

estimated 80 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1900/01)

1901

estimated 90 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1901/02)

1904

estimated 100 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1904/5)

1912

115 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1913)

1915

150 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1916)

1919

200 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1920)

1923

350 families

(The Jewish Year Book 1924)

1929

1,525

(The Jewish Year Book 1935)

1945

2,500

(The Jewish Year Book 1945/6)

1950

4,500

(The Jewish Year Book 1951)

1966

7,500

(The Jewish Year Book 1967)

1974

10,000

(The Jewish Year Book 1975)

1987

12,000

(The Jewish Year Book 1988)

1990

10,000

(The Jewish Year Book 1991)

1996

8,000

(The Jewish Year Book 1997)

2001

3,358*

(2001 Census results)

2011

2,670*

(2011 Census results)

2021

2,455*

(2021 Census results)

*The 2001, 2011 and 2021 census result figures represent those who answered the voluntary question 'What is your religion?' by clicking the category 'Jewish' among the eight check-box options (another of which was 'No religion'). However, between 6.0% to 7.7% of the population nationally did not answer the question and the figure would not have included those who considered themselves Jews by ethnicity but not by religion, and accordingly the actual number of Jews would be higher than the figures shown.

 

Notes & Sources
( returns to text above)

  •     (i) and (ii) Reserved.

  •     (iii) The primary book on the Brighton Jewish community is Brighton Jewry 250 - An anthology of the Brighton & Hove Jewish Community 1766-2016 edited by Godfrey Gould and Michael Cook, (2016) ("Brighton Jewry 250").

  •     (iv) This was Israel Samuel, whose address was given as 22 East Street, Brighton, when he was married in London on 31 December 1766. For a discussion on the town's early Jewish residents see the Brighton section of Cecil Roth's Rise of Provincial Jewry.

  •     (v) To view a description of the Jewish architectural works by D. Mocatta, hold your cursor over his name.

  •     (v) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 186/191.

  •     (vii) All data on the Hebrew Classes is extracted from Jewish Year Books, in which the classes were listed from the first edition (1896/7) through 1938.

  •     (viii) Listed in Jewish Year Books 1986 through 1996.

  •     (ix) Jewish Year Books 1966 through 1976.

  •     (x) Brighton Jewry 250 p. 138.

  •     (xi) The Jewish Directory for 1874, edited by Asher B. Myers, p. 62.

  •     (xii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 143/4. It was listed in Jewish Year Books 1978 through 1987.

  •     (xiii) Website of Chabad Lubavitch Brighton, accessed September 2022 and Brighton Jewry 250, p.105. It was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1991 through 2009.

  •     (xiv) and (xv) Reserved.

  •     (xvi) Both these kindergartens are listed in Jewish Year Books 1976 and 1977.

  •     (xvii) Brighton Jewry 250 p. 144. It was listed in Jewish Year Books 1988 through 1996.

  •     (xviii) Brighton Jewry 250, p.105 and Chabad Brighton's and JeMs websites. It was listed in Jewish Year Books from 2010.

  •     (xix) and (xx) Reserved.

  •     (xxi) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 138/9. All these schools had closed by the 1950s, 1960s.

  •     (xxii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 140/2. The school took its name from Whittinghame, the ancestral seat in Scotland of Lord Balfour, emphasizing the schools Zionist orientation.

  •     (xxiii) Listed in Jewish Year Books 1935 through 1949.

  •     (xxiv) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 151/2. It was listed in Jewish Year Books 1997 through 2015 (the last edition).

  •     (xxv) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 162/3. It was listed in Jewish Year Books 1997 through 2003.

  •     (xxvi) Reserved.

  •     (xxvii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 84/5. It was listed under its original name in The Jewish Directory for 1874, edited by Asher B. Myers, p. 62. It was listed as the Board of Guardians in Jewish Year Books from 1896/7 through 1976 and thereafter until 2015 (the last edition) it was listed under its present name.

  •     (xxviii) Listed in Jewish Year Books from 1920 through 1923.

  •     (xxix) Listed in Jewish Year Books from 1917 through 1919.

  •     (xxx) Listed in the Jewish Year Book 1940.

  •     (xxxi) Listed in the Jewish Year Book 1945/6.

  •     (xxxii) and (xxxiii) Reserved.

  •     (xxxiv) Listed in Jewish Year Books 1940 with the last listing in 1959.

  •     (xxxv) Listed in Jewish Year Books from 1955 through 1959.

  •     (xxxvi) Listed in Jewish Year Books from 1936 through 1950.

  •     (xxxvii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 89/91. It was first listed in the Jewish Year Book 1955.

  •     (xxvviii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 87/88. It was first listed in the Jewish Year Book 1985.

  •     (xxvix) and (xl) Reserved.

  •     (xli) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 92/93. It was first listed in the Jewish Year Book 1985.

  •     (xlii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 102/3. It was first listed in the Jewish Year Book 2006.

  •     (xliii) and (xliv) Reserved.

  •     (xlv) Listed under this name in Jewish Year Books from 1921 through 1923 and from 1932 through 1934.

  •     (xlvi) Listed under this name in Jewish Year Books from 1910 through 1915.

  •     (xlvii) Listed under this name in Jewish Year Books from 1925 through 1927.

  •     (xlviii) Listed under this name in Jewish Year Books from 1948 through 1951.

  •     (xlix) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 119/123. Brighton's Maccabi Association listed in Jewish Year Books 1938 through 1959.

  •     (l) and (li) Reserved.

  •     (lii) Brighton Jewry 250 p. 126. Listed in Jewish Year Books in 1956.

  •     (liii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 127/128. Listed in Jewish Year Books from 1997.

  •     (liv) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 131/132.

  •     (lv) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 133/134.

  •     (lvi) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 124/125.

  •     (lvii) and (lviii) Reserved.

  •     (lix) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 124/125.

  •     (lx) Charity Commission website and Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 129/130 and listing in Jewish Year Books from 1976.

  •     (lx) Listed in the Jewish Year Book 1900/01 and then in the 1950s.

  •     (lxii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 98/99 and first listing in the Jewish Year Book 1945/6.

  •     (lxiii) Brighton Jewry 250 p.161 and listing in Jewish Year Books from 1997.

  •     (lxiv) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 155/156 and listing in Jewish Year Books from 1994.

  •     (lxv) The Jewish Students Association and subsequently the Union of Jewish Students were Jewish Year Books from 2006.

  •     (lxvi) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 153/4. Brighton's Hillel House was in Jewish Year Books from 1971.

  •     (lxvii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 100/101. The B'nai B'rith lodge was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1934 through 1959.

  •     (lxviii) Based on listing in Jewish Year Books from 1936 through 1938.

  •     (lxix) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 159/160. First listed in Jewish Year Book 2006.

  •     (lxx) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 170/1. First listed in Jewish Year Book 2006.

  •     (lxxi) Reserved.

  •     (lxxii) JNF Commission was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1928 until at least 1940.

  •     (lxxiii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 96/97. JPA/JIA was listed in Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1955 until at least 1989.

  •     (lxxiv) The JIA Ladies Committee was listed in Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1997 until 2006.

  •     (lxxv) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 94/95. Children & Youth Aliyah was listed in Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1955 until 1959.

  •     (lxxvi) Zionist Society was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1924 through 1940.

  •     (lxxvii) Zionist Central Council was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1982 through 1992.

  •     (lxxviii) WJC (Brighton and Hove Community) was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1955 through 1959.

  •     (lxxix) A Young Zionist Society was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1955 through 1959.

  •     (lxxx) and (lxxxi) Reserved.

  •     (lxxxii) A Women's (formerly Ladies') Zionist Society was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1930 through 1940.

  •     (lxxxiii) Federation of Women Zionists was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1955 through 1959.

  •     (lxxxiv) WIZO No 2 Branch was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1957 through 1959.

  •     (lxxxv) Sussex - WIZO Ziona was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1997 until the final edition (2015).

  •     (lxxxvi) Mizrach Association was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1948 and 1949.

  •     (lxxxvii) Mizrach Women's Organisation was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1950 through 1959.

  •     (lxxxviii) and (lxxxix) Reserved.

  •     (xc) Friends of the Hebrew University was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1947 through 1959.

  •     (xci) Technion Committee was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1955 through 1959.

  •     (xcii) Ben Gurion University Foundation was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1997.

  •     (lxciii) Magen David Adom was listed for Brighton in Jewish Year Books from 1997 through 2005.

  •     (xciv) Sussex ORT was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1997 through 2006.

  •     (xcv) to (xcvii) Reserved.

  •     (xcviii) The Shechitah Board was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1937 through 1992.

  •     (xcix) The Kashrut Board was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1993.

  •     (c) A Kashruth Committee was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1951 through 1959.

  •     (ci) The Mikva was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1990 through 2011.

  •     (cii) The Chevra Kadisha was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1924 through 1959.

  •     (ciii) The IFCG was listed in Jewish Year Books from 2006.

  •     (civ) and (cv) Reserved.

  •     (cvi) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 109/111. The council was first listed in the Jewish Year Book 1945/6.

  •     (cvii) Brighton Jewry 250 pp. 112/113. It was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1996.

  •     (cviii) Based upon listing in Jewish Year Books from 1945/6 through 1953.

  •     (cix) Based upon listing in Jewish Year Books from 2006 through 2012.

  •     (cx) BNJC website, accessed March 2023 and Jewish Chronicle reports.


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Page created: 2003
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 15 September 2022

Page most recently amended: 12 July 2024

Research and formatting by David Shulman


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