Bournemouth & Poole Jewish Community

Online Articles, Bibliography and Other Material
relating to the Jewish Community in Bournemouth and Elsewhere in Dorset

on JCR-UK

• Press Extracts primarily relating to this congregation;

• Bibliography:

  • Bournemouth bibliography;

  • also refer to Bibliography section of individual congregations.

On Third Party websites

• The Rise and Fall of the Bournemouth Jewish Hotels, YouTube video;

• See also under individual congregations.

Notable Jewish Connections with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

• Jewish Former Residents connected the Arts, Entertainment or the Media:

  • Natalie Clein, OBE, British classical cellist, and her sister, Louisa Clein, British actress, known for portraying the role of Maya Stepney in the ITV soap opera "Emmerdale", were both born in Poole .

  • Sir Paul Fox CBE (b. 1925), the Controller of BBC1 between 1967 and 1973, was born in Bournemouth.

  • Max Harris (1918-2004), a British film and television composer and arranger, was born in Bournemouth.

  • Juliette Kaplan (1939-2019), British actress, most famous for playing the role of Pearl Sibshaw in the BBC comedy "Last of the Summer Wine' was born in Bournemouth.

• Sir Oliver Letwin PC FRSA (b. 1956), who is Jewish, was Conservative MP for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2014 to 2016.

• Jewish Mayors of Bournemouth:

  • Louis Victor Barney, in 1959/60.

  • Michael Filer, in 1984/5, and his wife, Anne Filer, in 2007/8 and 2023/4.

  • Barry Goldbart, in 2010/1.

  • Ben Grower, in 2000/1.

  • Pamela Harris, in 1995/6

  • Dr Gabriel Vivian Jaffe (1923-2016), in 1977/8.

  • Lawrence Williams, in 2017/8.

• Jewish Mayor of Christchurch:

  • Barrington Myers, in 1962/3.

• Jewish Mayor of Poole:

  • Elias (Charles) Van Raalte (d.1908), in 1903/4. He was the owner of Brownsea Castle and island, situated at Poole Harbour.

• The Royal Naval Cordite Factory, at Holton Heath, Dorset, (about six miles west of Poole) is where Dr. Chaim Weizmann (later the first President of the State of Israel) developed the industrial process of bacterial fermentation in the production of explosives. This gave valuable assistance to the British munitions industry, then (1916) in dire need of acetone (a vital ingredient of cordite).