the former

Leamington & District Progressive Jewish Group

Leamington Spa, Warwick, Warwickshire

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the website of the Leamington Spa Jewish community.

Town of Leamington Spa

Leamington Spa, or Royal Leamington Spa, to give its correct name (in the county of Warwickshire), a spa town on the river Leam with about 45,000 inhabitants, is now part of the local government district of Warwick. This was formed in 1974 by the merger of the municipal borough of Royal Leamington Spa with adjoining areas (including the municipal borough of Warwick).

Jewish Community

There were a number of Jewish families in Leamington and Warwick in the mid-nineteenth century, and Leamington Spa actually had a Jewish Mayor - Henry Bright (see below).⁽ⁱ⁾ However, it appears that no organised Jewish congregation or group was established until the formation of a progressive Jewish group in Leamington in the 1960s. Warwick had a Jewish community in the medieval period.

Group Data
Name:	Leamington & District Progressive Jewish Group
Former Name:	Leamington Spa Progressive Jewish Group, until about 1979⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾ Leamington Spa Liberal Jewish Group, until about 1970^(iv)
Date Founded:	mid 1960s^(v)
Current Status:	It would appear that the group closed in about 2009^(vii)
Ritual:	Liberal / Progressive
Affiliation:	The group was initially an affiliate (later, from about 1970, a branch) of Birmingham Progressive Synagogue (BPS).^(viii) From about 1986, it was listed as a constituent of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues (ULPS, later known as Liberal Judaism), being listed as an associate community from 2000.^(ix)
Membership Data:	National Reports and Surveys:^(x) 1990 - 53 members (comprising 15 households, 3 individual male and 35 individual female members). 1996 - Membership included with Birmingham Progressive Synagogue.
Registration District:	Warwickshire since 17 December 2008^(xi) - link to register office website
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above) (i) The Palgrave History of Anglo-Jewish History, edited by W.D. Rubinstein, M.A. Jolles and H.L.Rubinstein, page 124. ↵ (ii) Reserved. (iii) Based upon this being the name under which the group was listed in Jewish Year Books 1971 through 1979. ↵ (iv) Based upon this being the name under which the group was listed in Jewish Year Books until 1970. ↵ (iii) The first listing of the group was in the Jewish Year Book 1967. ↵ (vi) Reserved. (vii) The group's last listing was in the Jewish Year Book 2009. ↵ (viii) The group was described as affiliated to BPS in Jewish Year Books from 1967 through 1969 and as a branch of BPS from 1970. ↵ (ix) The group was listed as a constituent of ULPS in Jewish Year Books from 1987 through 1999 and as an associate community from 2000 through 2008. ↵ (x) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports. ↵ (xi) The former Registration Districts were: Warwick - from 1 July 1837 until 1 April 1932; Warwick & Leamington - from 1 April 1932 until 1 October 1985; Mid-Warwickshire - from 1 October 1985 until 1 May 2005; and Warwickshire South - from 1 May 2005 until 17 December 2008. Any registers would now be held by current register office, which is situated in Warwick. ↵

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to this Community or Congregation

On third party website

History of the Jewish Community in Coventry and Warwick, on Coventry Reform Jewish Community's website

Notable Jewish Connections with Leamington
(compiled with the assistance of Steven Jaffe)

Alderman Henry Bright JP (1817-1904), a local jeweller, born in Sheffield, was three times Mayor of Leamington Spa between 1876 and 1882. He laid the foundation stone of the new Town Hall in 1882 and presented the clock in the Town Hall tower. He is particularly associated with the development of the town's water supply (biography). The Bright obelisk and drinking fountain erected in 1880 in his honour on the Parade, Leamington Spa, was designated a Grade II Listed building on 25 March 1970 (List Entry Number: 1381438) - Historic England Listing & Description.
Ruth Rix, artist, was born in Leamington Spa in 1942. Her parents were war-time refugees from Nazi persecution.
Renee Short (1919-2003) née Gill, born in Leamington Spa, was Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East from 1964 until her retirement in 1987. Her mother was Jewish but she was brought up by her Church of England grandparents.

Search the All-UK Database

The records in the database associated with Leamington Spa and Warwick include:

1851 Anglo Jewry Database (last updated 2016)

Individuals who were living in Leamington Spa during the 1830s (3 records), 1840s (7 records), 1850s (9 records) and 1860s (2 records); and

Individuals who were living in Warwick during the 1800s (2 records), 1810s (1 records), 1840s (3 records) and 1880s (2 records).

Jewish Cemetery Information

There is no Jewish cemetery in Leamington Spa or Warwick.

Leamingto Spa Jewish Population Data

1989

40

(The Jewish Year Book 1990)

1990

132

(The Jewish Year Book 1991)

Warwick Medieval Jewish Community

List of Liberal Judaism Congregations

Jewish Congregations in Warwickshire

Jewish Communities of England home page

Page created: 7 November 2005
Page reformatted and enhanced: 27 July 2020
Page most recently amended: 10 July 2024

Research and formatting by David Shulman0

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