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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 of this congregation.
Town of Grimsby
Grimsby, also known as Great Grimsby, is a seaport of about
90,000 inhabitants located on the southern bank of the Humber estuary in
eastern England. Adjoining Grimsby along the coast to the southeast is the
fishing and resort town of Cleethorpes.
Until 1974, Grimsby was a county borough in the administrative
county of Lindsey, one of the three Parts into which Lincolnshire was divided.
From 1974, it formed the greater part of the Borough of Great Grimsby, a
district of the now defunct administrative county of Humberside. On the abolition of Humberside in 1996,
Great Grimsby was merged with the adjoining borough of Cleethorpes to form North
East Lincolnshire, a unitary authority, treated for ceremonial purposes as part
of the county of Lincolnshire.
The Sir Moses Montefiore Memorial Synagogue, Grimsby
The Jewish Community
Although there
had been a Medieval Jewish presence in Grimsby, the Jews were not to return until the 1860's,
when the situation in Eastern Europe coupled with the deep water port facilities and railway connections made Grimsby an attractive place to travel through. The Great Central Railway Company offered cheap package deals from Riga, Libau, Hamburg and Rotterdam to America via Grimsby (railway to Liverpool and Steamer to USA).
At the height of the Exodus from Eastern Europe Grimsby saw some 5,000 immigrants a year (approximately 100,000 in total).
The Grimsby population swelled from 8,860 in 1851 to 40,000 in 1880, although
Jews represented only a handful of this increase.
The Jewish population is recorded as being 87 in 1871, rising to 450
in the early twentieth century and then gradually declining to 120 in 1982 and dwindling
still further thereafter.(ii)
The principal book on the history of the community is The Story of the Grimsby Jewish Community by Daphne
and Leon Gerlis,
1986
(here referred to as "the Gerlis History").
Congregation Data
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Name:
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Sir Moses Montefiore Memorial Synagogue(iii)
also known as Grimsby Hebrew Congregation
(previously also known as Great Grimsby Hebrew Congregation)
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Address:
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Holme Hill, Heneage Road, Grimsby DN32 9DZ, Lincolnshire
(Foundation stone laid July 1885
by Mr. F.D. Mocatta.(iv)) The Synagogue was consecrated 11
December 1889, with the Delegate Chief Rabbi Dr. Hermann
Adler
officiating.(v)
The Synagogue is a Grade II Listed Building (number 1379853), designated on 30 June 1999.
(View description
on Historic England website.)
The congregation's mikvah is also a Grade II Listed Building (number 1379854), designated on 30 June 1999.
(View description
on Historic England website.)
The congregation formerly held services in a cottage in Strand Street, Grimsby, Lincolnshire.(vi)
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Formation:
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The congregation was founded in 1865.(vii)
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Current
Status:
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Active.
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Ritual:
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Ashkenazi Orthodox
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Affiliation:
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The congregation is an
unaffiliated congregation under the aegis of the Chief
Rabbi.
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Beth Hamedresh:
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The Grimsby Beth Hamedresh,
situated in Hamilton Street, existed from at least 1916
until at least 1940, at which daily services were held.
The minister of the congregation was the rav of the Beth
Hamedresh.(xi)
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Early Readers:(xii)
(To view a short profile
of a minister or reader whose name appears in blue - hold
the cursor over the name.)
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Until the appointment of the congregation's first formal
minister in February 1896, the reader of the congregation
generally performed many of the functions of a minister
and was often described as such.
Rev. I. Cohen - reader and shochet in
about 1870
Rev. S. Shapira - reader and shochet
in about 1871
Rev. M. Walkenberg - reader and shochet
in 1875
Rev. Simon Marks
- reader and shochet in about 1876(xiii)
Rev. Lazarus Jacob Slevansky
- shochet in about 1876 and 1877(xiv)
Rev. H. Barman
- reader and shochet in about 1881
Rev. H. L. Goldstein (first term)
- reader and shochet in 1882-1886(xv)
Rev. Joseph Emanuel Myers
- reader and shochet in about 1886-1887(xvi)
Rev. H. L. Goldstein (second term)
- reader and shochet in 1888-1889(xv)
Temporary Readers:(xvii)
Rev. Israel Wolpe - conducting high holy day services in October 1889(xx)
Rev. Saltman - preached at the high
holy day services in October 1889(xxi)
Rev. Solomon
- temporary reader and shochet in 1890 and referred to "pro tem"(xxii)
Rev. S. Jaffe
- temporary reader in about 1890(xxiii)
Rev. Israel (or Isaac) Yellin
- reader and shochet in 1890-1891(xxiv)
Rev. E. M. Kreugal
- reader and shochet from June 1891 until February 1892(xxv)
Rev. David Goldschmidt
(later Goldsmith) - reader and shochet
from 1892 until about 1899(xxvi)
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Ministers:
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(Rev. Lebovitch -
proposed minister and teacher in March 1893 but unable
to obtain Chief Rabbi's approval(xxviii))
Rev. B. H. Rosengard
- minister and teacher from 1896 until 1905(xxix)
(Rabbi Mendel Behrman
was in Grimsby from about 1903 until about 1906 although he does not appear to have been formally
employed by the congregation.(xxx))
(Rabbi David Rabbinowitz
reportedly appointed minister, dates unknown.(xxxi))
Rev. L. Joseph - minister in about 1914(xxxii)
(Rev. Jacob Mann
was appointed minister in 1915, but as a citizen of Austria, with which the UK was
then at war, he was unable to take up
the post.)(xxxiii)
(Rabbi Lewis Miller
-
reportedly appointed minister, dates unknown.(xxxiv))
Rev. Morris Warshawsky - minister about
1915/1916 - see under
Readers below
Rev. Isaac Solomon Fox
- minister from 1916 until about 1920(xxxv)
Rev. Benson Fertleman
- minister from 1920 until 1922(xxxvi)
Rabbi Louis Harrison
- minister from 1923 until 1933 and minister of the
Grimsby Beth Hamedrash from at least
1929(xxxvii)
(Rev. Simon J. Goldberg
- in Grimsby from 1924 until no later than 1926 but his actual position is uncertain(xxxviii))
Rabbi Pinchas Shebson
(previously known as Rabbi Pinchos Szebszynski)
- minister from 1933 until 1947(xxxix)
Rev. Irving Chazen
- minister from February 1948 until 1949(xl)
Rev. Wilfred Wolfson
- minister from 1953 until 1956(xliii)
Rev. Gerald Rockman
- minister from 1957 until 1960(xliv)
Rabbi Aaron Fischel Herling
- minister from 1960 until 1964(xlv)
Following the departure of the last resident minister, the
congregation appointed Mr. H. Goodman as lay reader and teacher (1966-1974)
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Readers
from 1900:
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(Rev. Hirsch Meyer Bendas
- reputedly appointed reader in 1901(xlviii))
Rev. Joseph Glushak
- reader and shochet from about 1900 until 1903(xlix)
Rev. M. Glaser
- reader and shochet from about 1903 until about 1904(l)
Rev. A. Kantor (or A. Kanter)
- reader and shochet from about 1904 until about 1910(li)
Rev. A. Kassel
- reader and shochet from about 1910 until about 1916(lii)
Rev. Morris Warshawsky
(first term)
- minister (1915/6) and reader and shochet from about
1916 until 1923(liii)
Rev. Bernhard Tessler
- reader and shochet from about 1924 until about 1926(liv)
Rev. Morris Warshawsky
(second term) - in about 1926/7(liii)
Rev. B. Harrison
- reader from about 1927 until about 1929(lv)
Rev. Morris Warshawsky
(third term) - reader and shochet from about
1929 until 1953(liii)
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Lay Officers of the
Congregation:
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Unless otherwise stated, all data on lay officers has been extracted
from
listings in
Jewish Year Book (first published 1896/7).(lxi)
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Presidents
1889-1891
- Benjamin Cohen(lxii)
1891-1893
- M. Abrahams(lxiii)
1893-1894
- Solomon Bennett(lxiv)
1894-1896
- Benjamin Cohen(lxv)
1896-1898
- Henry Harris
1898-1899
- Solomon Bennett
1899-1900
- Harris Rosenberg
1900-1903
- H. Altman
1903-1905
- Solomon Bennett
1905-1908
- Harris Rosenberg
1908-1909
- H. Rachkind
1909-1910
- H. Reuben
1910-1912
- Israel Wood
1912-1915
- J. Rosenberg
1915-1918
- C.Z. Rachkind
1918-1922
- B. Cohen
1922-1925
- R. Morris
1925-1928
- B. Levinson
1928-1929
- J. Rosenberg
1929-1933
- R. Aaron
1933-1935
- J. Rosenberg
1935-1936
- R. Morris
1936-1937
- I. Wood
1937-1961
- H. Rachkind(lxvi)
1961-1970
- W. Solomon
1970-1972
- L. Solomon
1972-1975
- A. Peters
Chairmen
1975-1978
- Dr L.M. Gerlis
1978-1988
- M. Green
President
1988-2014
- L. Solomon
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Treasurers
1889-1890
- Solomon Bennett(lxx)
1890-1891
- S. Bernstein(lxxi)
1891-1893
- Israel Wood(lxxii)
1894-1895
- Harris Rosenberg(lxxiii)
1895-1896
- D. Berman(lxxiv)
1896-1897
- Aaron Guttenburg
1897-1898
- Israel Wood
1898-1899
- H. Reuven
1899-1900
- Jacob Berman
1900-1903
- L. Bloom
1903-1905
- M. Woolf
1905-1906
- A. Rabinowitz
1906-1909
- H. Roshkina
1909-1912
- N. Rosenberg
1912-1914
- B. Levinsohn
1914-1915
- N. Rous
1915-1917
- J. Goldstein
1917-1922
- R. Morris
1922-1923
- D. Saacks
1923-1928
- I. Solomon
1928-1929
- I. Alge
1929-1933
- I. Solomon
1933-1935
- W. Solomon
1935-1936
- I. Solomon
1936-1937
- A. Asher
1937-1938
- H. Harris
1938-1945
- no data
1945-1947
- B. Roseman
1947-1954
- A. Yale
1954-1959
- E. Berman
1959-1961
- Cllr A. Peters
1961-1968
- S. Morris
1968-1971
- A. Peters
1971-1978
- Dr L.M. Gerlis
1978-2014
- H. Kalson
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Secretaries and Hon. Secretaries
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1895-1896
- Abraham Cohen
1896-1899
- Cllr. M. Abrahams(lxxv) 1899-1900
- Isaac Morris
1900-1901
- R. Lyons
1901-1903
- C. Altman
1903-1904
- C.A. Rabinowitz
1904-1909
- N. Rosenberg
1909-1912
- Isaac R. Morris
1912-1914
- Simon Kalson
1914-1917
- I. Alge
1917-1922
- H. Pearlman
1922-1923
- A. Altman
1923-1933
- Harold Rosenberg
1933-1936
- H. Altman
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1936-1938
- S. Levy
1938-1939
- Miss S. Kalson
1939-1945
- no data
1945-1946
- S. Morris
1946-1948
- M. Greenberg
1948-1949
- Rev. Irving Chazen
1949-1952
- Miss R. Morris
1952-1973
- H. Goodman
1973-1978
- S. Rose
1978-1985
- A. Bowers
1985-1995
- M.M. Lewis
1995-2004
- B. Greenberg
2004-2014
- M. Saunders
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Membership Data:
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Number of Seatholders - Board of Deputies Returns
1875 |
1880 |
1890 |
1900 |
35 |
20 |
35 |
60 |
Number of Seatholders - as reported by Jewish Year Books
1897 |
1900 |
1905 |
1906 |
1917 |
60 |
80 |
73 |
95 |
85 |
Reports & Survey(lxxx)
1977 - 74 male (or household) members and 77 female members
1983 - 56 male (or household) members and 23 female members
1990 - 36 members (comprising
18 households, 7 individual male and 11 individual female members)
1996 - 28 members (comprising
10 households, 5 individual male and 13 individual female members)
2010 & 2016 - listed as having under 50 members (by household)
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Worship Registration:
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The synagogue in Holme Hill, Heneage Road
is registered as a Place of Worship -
Worship Register Number 31166 - under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.(lxxxi)
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JCR-UK HOSTED DATABASE
Search the
Grimsby Jewish Cemetery Database,
including burial records and photographs of the headstones, as well as a
description of the cemetery
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Basic Cemetery Information
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Grimsby Jewish Cemetery, First Avenue, Nunsthorpe, Grimsby, consecrated in March 1896,
and subsequently extended. See above
database. The site was bombed by the Germans in World War II.
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Grimsby Old Jewish Cemetery, Doughty
Road, Grimsby, opened in 1854 and closed following World War I. In 1959, it
was converted to a recreational park, the remaining
headstones being lifted and buried under turf.
(For some additional information, also
see IAJGS Cemetery Project - Grimsby)
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Online Articles, Congregational
Documents and Other
Material relating to the Grimsby Jewish Community
on JCR-UK
Notable Jewish Connections with Grimsby
(courtesy Steven Jaffe)
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Jonathan Arkush, former president of the Board of Deputies, was made honorary president of the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation in 2017,
to mark 40 years of his leading Yom Kippur services at Grimsby synagogue. In recent years visitors from Leeds and
London join members of the congregation to ensure a minyan on the High Holydays.
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John Bowers KC, principal of Brasenose
College, Oxford, was born in Grimsby in 1956. He is a practising barrister and author of
several legal books. His mother Irene headed the congregation's cheder and was its sole teacher for many years
following the departure of the last full-time minister in 1964.
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Max Gold (1944-2017), born in Grimsby was a prominent lawyer in Hull. He represented the families of the trawlermen
whose vessel, Gaul, sank in the Barents Sea, north of Norway, in 1974, claiming 36 lives.
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Dr David Husain (1937-2007) was brought up in Grimsby by his grandparents (and then at Norwood orphanage in south London).
He became a distinguished scientist, was appointed a scientific adviser to Harold Wilson’s Labour government (1974-1976) and retired as
emeritus reader of physical chemistry at Cambridge University.
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Jewish Mayors of Grimsby:
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Ald. Moses Abrahams JP (d.
1925), mayor in 1901-1902.
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Ald.Isidore Abrahams OBE (c.1887-1962),
son of Ald. Moses Abrahams, was mayor in 1929-1930 and awarded freedom of the borough of Grimsby in 1957.
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Ald. Max Bloom JP (c.1891-1962), mayor in 1943-1944.
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Ald. Wilfred Harris OBE (d.1961), mayor in 1954-1956.
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Jewish Mayors of Cleethorpes,
which adjoins Grimsby:
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Ald. Wolf Solomon JP OBE (1899-1970) was Mayor of Cleethorpes
and a life president of the Grimsby Hebrew congregation.
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Margaret Solomon (d. 2020), Mayor of Cleethorpes (in 1994),
though not herself Jewish, was married to Leo Solomon MBE,
president of Grimsby Hebrew congregation and the son of Ald. Wolf Solomon. Margaret was also Mayor of North East Lincolnshire in 2004.
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Alan Caine, a member of the Grimsby
Hebrew Congregation, was mayor in 2002 of Caistor, a
town some 20 miles inland from Grimsby. and was the chairman of West Lindsey District council from 1999 to 2001.
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Other Grimsby Jewish Institutions &
Organisations
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Educational & Theological
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Welfare Organisations & Friendly Societies
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Grimsby Jewish Philanthropic Society
(founded April 1900) for grant loans of money to necessitous resident Jewish poor.(xciii)
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Grimsby Jewish Tailors Society - founded by 1905.(xciv)
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Hebrew Ladies Dorcas and Philanthropic Society - founded by 1912.(xcv)
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Grimsby Refugee Committee - founded by during World War II.(xcviii)
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Maccabean Mount Zion Beacon - founded by 1917.(xcix)
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B'nai Brith Lodge - founded by 1946.(c)
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Social, Cultural & Zionist Organisations
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Jewish Literary Society - founded by 1900(ci)
for the study of Jewish Literature and Ancient Classics.
[1900/1]
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Young Ladies' Club - founded by 1914.(cii)
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Jewish Circle (later Club) - founded by 1917.(ciii)
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Jewish Centre - founded by 1938.(cvi)
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Jewish Institute - founded by 1939.(cvii)
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Zionist and Literary Society (previously Zionist Literary Society) - founded by 1905.(cviii)
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Zionist Association - founded by 1910,(cix)
Grimsby Zionist Society founded by 1952.(cx)
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JNF Commission - founded by 1927.(cxiii)
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Other Institutions
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Chevra Kadisha - founded 1892,(cxiv)
Board established 1896.(cxv)
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Jewish Naturalisation Society
- founded by 1910.(cxvi)
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Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women
- founded by 1946.(cxvii)
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Jewish Defence Committee
- founded by 1946.(cxviii)
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Records: |
Synagogue Records : |
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Marriage Records & Registration District (BMD): |
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Grimsby Jewish Population Data
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Year
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Number |
Source |
1896
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149 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1896/7) |
1897
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236 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1897/8) |
1898
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320 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1898/9) |
1899
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550 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1899/1900) |
1900
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450 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1900/1) |
1917
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400 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1918) |
1945
|
400 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1945/6) |
1957
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350 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1958) |
1966
|
210 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1967) |
1973
|
200 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1974) |
1980
|
130 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1981) |
1984
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105 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1985) |
1986
|
85 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1987) |
1987
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45 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1988) |
1990
|
90 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1991) |
1995
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45 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1996) |
2001
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40 |
(The Jewish Year Book 2002) |
2003
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35 |
(The Jewish Year Book 2004) |
Notes & Sources
(↵
returns to text above)
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Jewish Congregations in Lincolnshire
Jewish Communities of England homepage
Page created: 2002 Latest significant expansion and notes added: 2
August 2023
Page most recently amended: 19 September 2023
Initial research and
formatting by John Berman Subsequent research by David Shulman
and Steven Jaffe
Current formatting by David Shulman
Explanation of Terms |
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