Coventry Jewish Community

On-line Articles, Videos and Other Material
relating to the Coventry Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

• The Rise of Provincial Jewry - Coventry by Cecil Roth, 1950, covering the period to 1840. Available on JCR-UK as part of the Susser Archive.

• Coventry from "Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain" - Papers for a conference at University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6th July 1975.

• Coventry Medieval Community

• Jewish Heritage Sites in West Midlands

• Coventry Bibliography.

on third parties' websites

• History of the Jewish Community in Coventry and Warwick, on the website of the Coventry Jewish Reform Society.

• Jewish Watchmakers in Coventry - video on Stamp / Hidden Histories Migration Stories website.

• Blogs by Patrick Comerford, from his Synagogues of England series (full list):

  • Coventry Synagogue needs tender loving care if it’s going to be saved, dated 30 June 2023.

Notable Jewish Connections with Coventry

(prepared with the assistance of Steven Jaffe)

• Siegfried Bettmann (1863-1951), was mayor of Coventry 1913-1914. Bettmann was a naturalised British citizen, but his German birth and upbringing resulted in his having to step down as Mayor following the outbreak of World War I. He was one of the leading entrepreneurs in the manufacture of bicycles in Coventry and its later development to production of motorbikes and cars. The company he founded in 1885 became the Triumph Motor Company.

• Philip Cohen (1827-1898), watchmaker, and his wife Priscilla Cohen (1820-1891). A blue plaque (part of the Coventry watchmaking heritage trail) marks their former home and watchmaking workshop. This is located at the corner of Allesley Old Road and Hearsall Lane.

• Maurice Edelman (1911-1975) was a Cardiff-born Labour MP who represented several Coventry constituencies for over 30 years. A published novelist and biographer of Ben Gurion, he was also president of the Anglo-Jewish Association.

• Councillor Alfred Emanuel Fridlander JP (1840-1928), born in Birmingham, built up one of the largest watch manufacturing businesses in Coventry. He was also a director and later chairman of the Triumph Cycle company.

• Keith M. Landy (c.1950-2017) born in Coventry, was a Canadian lawyer and former national president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Vice President of the World Jewish Congress and Governor of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. He was the son of the minister of the Coventry Hebrew Congregation, Rev. David L Landy, who also served in South Africa and Canada.

• Nahum Salomon (1828-1900), a chemist by training, was the first to establish a plant for the manufacture of bicycles, at Coventry, at the time when the invention of the spider-wheel resulted in the development of the modern bicycle and tricycle. He was chairman of the Coventry Machinists Company, which pioneered the mass manufacture of bicycles in the city, which became the world centre for the production of bikes. He wrote the first book on the modern bicycle. He was also a pioneer in the British trade in sewing-machines. He introduced from America into England the "Howe," the pioneer machine.