Southampton Jewish Community

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

• 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:

  • Paper on Southampton - historical background data on the Community;

  • Chief Rabbi's Questionnaire of 1845 - Southampton Congregational Data and Southampton Educational Data & Other Remarks.

• Southampton Bibliography.

• Jewish Heritage Sites in Hampshire.

Centres for Research

• University of Southampton -

  • The Anglo-Jewish Archives, Hartley Library - contains over 850 collections in Anglo-Jewish history, from organisations as well as personal papers of significant individuals, making it one of the most important centres for the study of Anglo Jewry.

  • The Parkes Institute and Library, established by James Parkes, a campaigner against antisemitism. The Institute is the world's oldest and most wide-ranging centre for the study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations. Its collection forms the basis of one of the Hartley Library's special collections.

Notable Jewish Former Residents of Southampton

• Jewish Mayors of Southampton (or other notable council members)

  • Abraham Abraham, who was elected to the Southampton town council in 1838, being first British Jew to be so elected. However he declined to swear the Christian oath (a requirement until 1845). ("Abraham Abraham: a forgotten politician of mid-nineteenth century Southampton" by Richard Preston in Southampton Local History Forum Journal, no. 22, Spring 2014, pp.3-10);

  • Henry Abraham (b.1824), the son of Abraham Abraham, served as Mayor of Southampton in 1876;

  • Samuel Michael Emanuel (1801-1894) served as Mayor of Southampton in 1865 and in 1866 (portrait);

  • Michael Emanuel, JP (1836-1911), son of Samuel Michael Emanuel, served as Mayor of Southampton in 1895. He also served as warden of the Southampton Hebrew Congregationfor 26 years and was the congregation's president from 1896 until 1911 and its secretary from about 1806 to 1911;

  • Joseph Emanuel Silverman (c.1885-1937) served as Mayor of Southampton in 1925.

• Barons Swaythling (Swaythling is a suburb of Southampton):

  • Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling (1832-1911), philanthropist, Liberal politician and founder of the bank of Samuel Montagu & Co., who established the Federation of Synagogues. He purchased South Stoneham House, Swaythling in 1888 and resided there until his death;

  • Louis Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling (1869-1927), a prominent member of the British Jewish community, financier and political activist, who also served as president of the Federation of Synagogue. He lived in Townhill Farm, Southampton, which has been purchased for him by his father Samuel Montagu in 1897;

  • Stuart Albert Montagu, 3rd Baron Swaythling (1898–1990), although he became a resident in Guernsey, was described in 1983 as a long-standing member of the Southampton Hebrew Congregation:

• Craig David, MBE (b.1981), singer, songwriter, DJ and record producer, whose mother is Jewish, was born in Southampton.

• Sir Leon Simon, CB (1881-1965), the son of Rev. Isidore Simon and a leading British Zionist, was born in Southampton. As a British civil servant, he participated in the drafting of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and later served on the Zionist Commission with Chaim Weizmann and became President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.