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JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
Town of Dorking
Dorking, a market town in southeast England (population about 11,000), lies about ten miles to the south of the administrative boundary of Greater London. It was an urban district from 1894 until 1974,
when it was merged with adjoining localities to form the local government district of Mole Valley, still within the county of Surrey.
Dorking Jewish Community
An organised Jewish community in Dorking was formed during World War II but was
disbanded in the 1950s.
In 1989 the North West Surrey Reform
Synagogue, centred in Weybridge, formed an area group in Dorking to organise welfare and social events.(i)
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Congregation Data |
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Name: |
The World War II
congregation was known as Dorking Hebrew Congregation.(ii)
Post war, it was known as the Dorking Jewish Communal Centre(iii) |
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Address: |
During the war, the congregation met in Leslie House, Church Street, Dorking.(iv)
After the war, from at least 1948, the Centre was at
Windycroft Street, St Pauls Road, Dorking, Surrey.(v) |
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Formation: |
The congregation was formed in 1941.(viii)
However, it is unclear whether the congregation developed directly
into the Jewish Communal Centre or whether the latter was established
(by 1948) sometime after the congregation became defunct.(ix) |
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Date Closed: |
Closed mid 1950s.(x) |
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Ritual: |
Ashkenazi - Orthodox |
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Affiliation: |
None known. |
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Minister:
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Dr. Charles H. Cohn
was "Rab" minister
from at least 1948 until early 1950s.(xiii) |
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Lay Officers:(xiv) |
Treasurer - R. Leiserach from at least 1948 to about
1953
Hon. Secretaries - Dr. K. Brandl from at least 1948 to
about 1953
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Registration District (BMDs): |
Surrey since 4 August
2008(xv)
- link to register office website |
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Cemetery Details |
There are no Jewish cemeteries in Dorking
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Online Articles and Other Material relating to
relating to
the former Dorking Jewish Community
on JCR-UK
Notable Jewish Connections with Dorking
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Sir Louis Bernhard Baron, 1st Baronet (1876-1934), was the managing director of the Carreras Tobacco Company.
His country estate, comprising 340 acres, was at Holmbury, near Dorking. His residence was located close to the
top of Holmbury Hill.(xviii)
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Jon Kimche (1909-1994) journalist and historian, and for 15 years editor of the Jewish Observer and Middle East Review,
lived in the village of Westhumble, about a mile from Dorking.
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Rebecca Markovitch (c1877-1971), an actress in the Yiddish theatre in London, who used the stage name Becky Goldstein,
died at the Jewish Blind Home at Westcott village, near Dorking. She was the widow of actor and playwrite
Joseph Markovitch.(xix)
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Claude G. Montefiore (1858-1938), communal leader, scholar and founding President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism,
lived at Hopedene, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking,
from 1924.(xx)
Hopedene was later the home of his son,
Leonard Montefiore (1889-1961) communal leader and philanthropist.
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Dayan Dr Eliezer Posen (c.1892-1969) senior Dayan of the Orthodox Hebrew Congregation, and previously Dayan at Frankfurt, Germany,
lived at Leslie House, Church Street, Dorking from about 1941 for several years, before being appointed Dayan to the Adath Yisroel congregation in London.
Rabbi Posen organised the first Jewish services in Dorking
in 1941.(xxi)
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Leopold Salomons (1841-1915), pioneer in selling employers' liability insurance, purchased Box Hill, overlooking Dorking,
in 1914 to safeguard the hill from development. He then presented the 230 acre Box Hill estate to the nation. A memorial to Salomons
is situated at the highest point of the hill. His residence was at Norbury Park, Mickleham, about three miles north of Dorking.
Salomons is believed to have converted to Christianity and is buried at St Michael's church, Mickleham.
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Other Dorking Jewish Institutions & Organisations
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Rokefield House, Westcott village, about 1.5 miles west of Dorking town centre, was a home set in over 10 acres purchased, extended
and run by the Jewish Blind Society (JBS) The Home was consecrated in June 1948. An additional wing was built the following year.
From 1961 it was named the Leonard M. Alfred Home for the Blind on the retirement of the JBS's long-term chair.
In the 1960s and 1970s the home accommodated up to 64 residents and a staff of 10 qualified nurses, and had a dedicated occupational therapy unit.
The upkeep and improvement of the home near Dorking and the comfort of its residents was one of the main charitable endeavours of Anglo-Jewry.
The home was taken over by Jewish Care and closed in about 1996.
Click
here for a picture postcard of the Home.
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Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above) |
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World War II Evacuee Communities
Jewish Congregations in Surrey
Jewish Congregations in Greater London and its Outskirts
Jewish Communities of England homepage
Page created: 2 May 2006
Data expanded and notes first added: 11 January 2023
Page most recently amended: 10 September 2023
Research by David Shulman and
Steven Jaffe
Formatting by David Shulman
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