the former

Barry Dock Hebrew Congregation

& Barry Jewish Community

Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales

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

Town of Barry

Barry (Welsh: Y Barri), a coastal town and resort in South Wales, is situated on the northern shore of the Bristol Channel, approximately 7 miles south-west of Cardiff.

From 1894 until 1939, Barry was an urban district within the county of Glamorganshire. It then beacame a municipal borough still within the county of Glamorganshire. From 1974 until 1996, it was part of the the district of Barry in the new county of South Glamorgan. Since 1996, it has formed part of the county borough of the Vale of Glamorgan - a unitary authority (within the ceremonial, or preserved, county of South Glamorgan).

The Jewish Community

"When Barry developed as a coal port at the close of the nineteenth century, Russian Jewish merchants settled there to provide goods and services to the town's growing working-class population, among them Joseph Janner, a wholesale dealer, and Abraham Hauser, a clothier and outfitter."⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ The Jews of Wales. A History by Cai Parry-Jones (2017) p31. A small Jewish congregation was formed in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

In the 1930s one or two seaside kosher boarding houses in Barry advertised in The Jewish Chronicle. Additionally annual day visits to Barry Island were organised for Jewish schoolchildren and the elderly from Cardiff over many years.

Congregation Data
Name:	Barry Dock Hebrew Congregation
Formation and Closure:	High Holy Day services were first held in 1904.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾ However, it was not until 1909, that the congregation was formed, holding services at the home of the president, Mr. J. Janner.^(iv) Numbers were never large and within a short while, almost certainly by 1920, there were insufficient members to hold services.^(v) Services recommenced for the high holy days in 1939, at the home of Samuel Kahn (32, Romilly Park, Barry),^(vi) and were subsequently held regularly,^(vii) but had ceased prior to the end of World War II.
Ritual:	Ashkenazi Orthodox
Affiliation:	The congregation was an unaffiliated provincial congregation, presumably under aegis of the Chief Rabbi.
Readers / Ministers:	None known.
Lay Officers of the Congregation:	President 1909-c.1920 - Joseph Janner^(xi) Treasurers 1909-c.1914 - S. Freedman^(xii) c.1914-c.1918 - Abe Henry^(xiii) c.1918-c.1920 - A. Hauser^(xiv)	Hon. Secretaries 1909-c.1914 - Barnett Janner^(xvii) c.1914-c.1915 - Hyman Hauser^(xviii) c.1915-c.1920 - Barnett Janner^(xvii)
Registration District:	Vale of Glamorgan, since 1 April 1996^(xxi) - Link to Register Office website
Cemetery Information:	There is no Jewish cemetery in Barry, the closest being in Cardiff.

Online Articles, and Other Material
relating to the Barry Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

Press Reports relating to the Barry Jewish Community 1909-1943.
Into the Vortex: South Wales Jewry Before 1914, paper by Geoffrey Alderman, presented at Conference on Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain convened by JHSE at University College, London, 6 July 1975.

Some Notable Jewish Connections with Barry

Barnett Janner (1892-1982), from 1970 Baron Janner, born near Kovno (today in Lithuania), was brought up in Barry. He was the son of the community's president Joseph Janner and attended Barry County School. He served as Liberal MP for Whitechapel and St Georges (1931-35) and Labour MP for Leicester West (1945-50) and Leicester North West (1950-70). President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (1955-64). Father of Greville Janner MP.

Jewish Population Data
Barry
Year	Number	Source
1915	8 families	Jewish Year Book 1916

Valley of Glamorgan (including Barry)
Year	Number	Source
2001	111	Census 2001 for England and Wales
2011	90	Census 2011 for England and Wales
2021	155	Census 2021 for England and Wales

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reserved.
(ii) The Jews of Wales. A History by Cai Parry-Jones (2017) p.31. ↵
(iii) Cajex (Magazine of the Cardiff Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women) ii (July 1952), p.65, article by M. Dennis. ↵
(iv) The Jewish Chronicle report of 8 October 1909. ↵
(v) No changes were made to the details given in Jewish Year Books after 1919 and although the congregation remained listed until 1924, it presumably had become defunct some years earlier. ↵
(vi) The Jewish Chronicle report of 27 October 1939, services being held "after a lapse of twenty years". ↵
(vii) Jewish Year Book 1940. ↵
(viii) to (x) Reserved.
(xi) J. Janner was the father of Barnett Janner (later Lord Janner). The Jewish Chronicle of 8 October 1909 reported his election as president on the formation of the congregation and he was listed as president in each edition of the Jewish Year Book in which the congregation was listed (1910 through 1924). He died in London on 29 September 1932, aged 68 (The Jewish Chronicle obituary of 7 October 1932). ↵
(xii) The Jewish Chronicle of 8 October 1909 reported S. Freedman's election as treasurer on the formation of the congregation and he was listed as treasurer in Jewish Year Books 1910 through 1914. ↵
(xiii) Abe Henry was listed as treasurer of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1915 through 1918. However, (The Jewish Chronicle of 23 October 1914 reports the election of Abe Hauser as treasurer, which is inconsistent with the year book listings.) ↵
(xiv) Although A. Hauser was listed as treasurer of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1919 until the final listing in 1924, the congregation is believed to have become defunct some years earlier. ↵
(xv) and (xvi) Reserved.
(xvii) Although Jewish Year Books from 1910 through 1914 and from 1916 through 1924 listed a B. Banner (sic), as hon. secretary, this is believed to be a typographical error. The Jewish Chronicle of 8 October 1909 reported that B. Janner (almost certainly Barnett Janner, the son of the president Joseph) was elected as hon. secretary on the formation of the congregation. Barnett Janner's entry in the Welsh Dictionary of Biography states his first communal service was as secretary to the small Barry Jewish community. He would have been aged 17 in 1909. (As regards the term from about 1915, although B. Banner(sic) was listed until 1924, it is believed that the congregation became defunct some years earlier.) ↵
(xviii) Hyman Hauser was listed as hon. secretary of the congregation in the Jewish Year Book 1915 and his election in 1914 is confirmed by The Jewish Chronicle of 23 October 1914. ↵
(xix) and (xx) Reserved.
(xxi) Previous Registration Districts: Cardiff from 1 July 1837 to 1 January 1835; East Glamorgan from 1 January 1835 to 1 April 1874; and South Glamorgan from 1 April 1874 to 1 April 1996. All registers would now be held by the current office. ↵

Jewish Congregations in the historic county of Glamorganshire

Jewish Congregations in the former administrative county of South Glamorgan

Jewish Congregations in Wales, listed according to current unitary authorities

Jewish Communities & Congregations in Wales home page
(including online articles)

Page created: 21 August 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes added: 5 February 2025
Page most recently amended: 17 February 2025

Research and formatting by David Shulman

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