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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.
City of Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton, with a population of about 240,000, lying to
the northeast of Birmingham, became a metropolitan borough in 1974 within the newly created
metropolitan county of West Midlands. In 1986, Wolverhampton became a unitary authority, when
West Midlands lost its administrative status, becoming purely a ceremonial
and geographical county. Until 1974, Wolverhampton was a
county borough and part of the county of Staffordshire (and included most of the
former borough of Bilston from 1966). Wolverhampton achieved Millennium City Status on 31st January 2001.
The Jewish Community
An Introduction by Martin Rispin
The history of Judaism in Wolverhampton is not particularly well documented and some of the frequently stated ‘facts’ have been found to be, at best,
based on tradition rather than documented evidence. The following is, unfortunately, the best (currently) available record:
The first Synagogue in Wolverhampton was a licensed room in a house in the now demolished St. James’ Square, this is recorded in contemporary (1850/51)
Trade Directories which also note that the Rabbi was Isaac Barnett (indeed the Synagogue was in his house). There was also a Jews’ Boys’ and
Girls’ School, also in St. James’ Square, presumably also in Rabbi Barnett’s house, with the School Master a Reverend Manasseh Cohen.
Trade Directories also record that the community was already saving for a dedicated Synagogue and had amassed £300.
This finally materialised in 1858 on the corner of Long Street/Fryer Street but there are no extant plans of this Synagogue although there are
newspaper reports of its opening by the Chief Rabbi Dr. Adler. In 1902 it suffered a major fire and in 1903 the entire building
was largely reconstructed in the Ashkenazian style by Wolverhampton architect Frederick Beck (these plans still exist).
The Synagogue’s heyday was in the 1930s but after the Second World War the congregation gradually dwindled before transferring to
Singers Hill Synagogue in Birmingham
in 1999 when a quorum (minyan) could no longer be obtained. The old Synagogue is now a Church but is still recognisable as the former Synagogue.
(See below for Wolverhampton Jewish Cemetery Information by Martin Rispin.)
Research by the All Saints and Blakenhall New Deal for Communities Heritage Project (2005-2011) has (re-)stimulated interest in the history of Judaism
in Wolverhampton with considerable research being carried out at the old Burial Ground.
In the mid-1960s a Wolverhampton Liberal Jewish Circle was formed in the town, existing until the mid-1970s(ii)
Congregation Data
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Name:
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Wolverhampton Synagogue
also known as
Wolverhampton Hebrew Congregation
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Address:
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Fryer Street (corner Long Street,
previously known as Short Street(iii)), Wolverhampton.(iv)
Plot acquired in 1857,(v)
foundation stone laid in 1858,(vi) and synagogue consecrated
in 1858 by Chief Rabbi Adler.(vii) The synagogue was
severely damaged by fire in 1902 and largely rebuilt.(viii)
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Former
Address:
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The previously synagogue was in St. James Square(xi), Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton, held under
a lease taken in 1850(xii)
and expiring in 1857(xiii), which also
included the residence for the congregation's minister.(xiv)
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Formation:
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The
first Jew known to have settled in Wolverhampton is
believed to be a Levi Harris
in about 1837.(xv)
The first organised congregation reputedly owes its
origins the a Mr. Aarons of Berry Street who, in the mid
1840s, on the death of his father, was able to organise
a minyan
(prayer quorum) of ten local Jewish men at his home in
order to recite prayers during the week of sheva.
At the end of the week, those ten men met and decided to
form an organised congregation, initially meeting in
private homes with a Mr Gordon of St George's Parade, Wolverhampton, acting as a lay reader.(xvi)
Subsequently (in 1850) premises were rented for a synagogue.
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Current Status:
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Synagogue closed in 1999(xvii)
and was sold and converted into a Church of England
(Continuing) place of worship, St Silas Church.
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Ritual:
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Ashkenazi Orthodox
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Affiliation:
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The congregation was an
unaffiliated congregation under the aegis of the Chief
Rabbi.
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Ministers: (To view a short profile
of a minister whose name appears in blue - hold
the cursor over the name.)
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Rev. Isaac Barnett
- from before 1850 until about 1851(xxi)
Rev. Menasseh Cohen
- from about 1852 until October 1859(xxii)
Rev. Woolf Marcus Spero
- in and about 1862(xxiii)
Rev. Elias Phillips
- in and about 1874(xxiv)
Rev. Israel Greenberg
- from 1876 until February 1883(xxv)
Rev. Isaac Aarons
- from 1889 until 1894(xxvii)
Rev. I. Levy
- from at least 1896 until about 1903(xxviii)
Rev. Joseph Julius Rosin
- from 1903 until about 1912(xxix)
Rev. H. Macht
- visiting chazan in 1899(xxx)
Rev. Simon Wykansky
- from 1912 until 1920(xxxi)
Rev. Joseph Herman
- from 1920 until 1925(xxxii)
Rev. Wilfred Wolfson
- from 1925 until 1928(xxxv)
Rev. Michael Isaacs
- from 1928 until 1932(xxxvi)
Rev. Louis Wykansky
- from 1932 until 1936(xxxvii)
Rev. Reuben Restan
- from 1936 until 1937(xl)
Rev. Ephraim Shine
- from 1937 until about 1945(xli)
Rev. Isidor Wilner
- from 1950 until 1952(xlii)
Rev. Abraham Bernstein
- from 1953 until 1967(xliii)
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Lay Officers of the
Congregation:
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Very limited data is available
prior to 1896 (the sources being indicated below) and
this is somewhat sketchy. From 1896, all data on lay officers has been extracted
from
listings in
Jewish Year Book (first published 1896/7).(xlvii)
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Presidents
elected 1850
- David Lazerus Davies(xlviii)
c.1859
- Marcus Gordon(xlix)
c.1862
- Jacob Cohen(l)
at least 1869 to 1873
- Herman Zusman(li)
1873 to at least 1874
- Marcus Gordon(lii)
* * *
1896-1903
- M. Goldenberg
1903-1904
- G. Greenstone
1904-1905
- M. Goldenberg
1905-1908
- G. Greenstone
1908-1909
- M. Goldenberg
1909-1913
- H. Rosenshine
1913-1915
- H. Richmond
1915-1916
- G. Greenstone
1916-1924
- H. Rosenshine
1924-1927
- H. Richmond
1927-1931
- H. Rosenshine
1931-1933
- H. Richmond
1933-1937
- I. Davies
1937-1940
- P. Rosenshine
1940-1945
- no data
1945-1956
- Dr. L. Seaton
from 1956
- no data
Vice Presidents
elected 1850
- Levi Harris(lv)
* * *
1947-1956
- D. Goodman(lvi)
1954-1956
- S. Wernick(lvi)
from 1956
- no data
Wardens
1947-1956
- S. Linds
from 1956
- no data
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Treasurers
at least 1873-1874
- Solomon Auerbach(lviii) elected 1874
- Henry Solomon(lix)
* * *
1896-1902
- M. Schwerin
1902-1903
- G. Greenstone
1903-1904
- M. Goldenberg
1904-1905
- Eli Tumpowsky
1905-1908
- M. Schwerin
1908-1909
- H. Richmond
1909-1911
- M. Cohen
1911-1914
- D. Goodman
1914-1915
- H. Richmond
1915-1920
- no data
1920-1925
- D. Goodman
1925-1933
- A. Post
1933-1940
- P. Rosenshine
1940-1945
- no data
1945-1946
- J. Mogil & M.J. Middleweek
1946-1947
- J. Mogil
1947-1956
- J. Alpren
from 1956
- no data
Secretaries &
Hon Secretaries
c.1874
- Zadoc Rudelsheim(lx) * * *
1896-1904
- S. Benjamin
1904-1909
- D. Goodman
1909-1911
- P. Klass
1911-1913
- M.J. Greenstone
1913-1916
- H. Brown
1916-1919
- D. Goodman
1919-1933
- D.E. Davies
1933-1937
- Mrs. F. Greenstone
1937-1945
- Rev. Ephraim Shine(lxi) (until at least 1940 with E. Harris
1945-1955
- M.J. Middleweek
1955-1999
- H. Kronheim
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Membership Data:
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Number of Seatholders
(or, from 1938, Members)(lxiv) - for earlier data, see
Board of Deputies Returns
1896 |
1904 |
1912 |
1938 |
1946 |
1948 |
43 |
48 |
40 |
47 |
85 |
75 |
Reports & Survey(lxv)
1977 - 26 male (or household) members and 6 female members
1983 - 28 male (or household) members and 12 female members
1990 - 34 members (comprising
24 households, 3 individual male and 7 individual female members)
1996 - 23 members (comprising
15 households, 3 individual male and 5 individual female members)
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Registration District:
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Wolverhampton, since 1 July
1837
- Register Office website
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Online Articles, Videos and Other
Material relating to the Wolverhampton Jewish Community
on JCR-UK
on Third Party Websites
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Lost Pioneers: Wolverhampton's Victorian Jewish Community - illustrated presentation (YouTube
video) by a local historian Andy Sloane.
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The Other immigrants of Carribee Island: Wolverhampton’s Jewish community
Part 1 and
Part 2 by Simon Briercliffe, February 2016 - the story of Jewish immigrants in Wolverhampton
town centre
in the mid-nineteenth century
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Former Synagogue - Fryer Street - a video of interior of Wolverhampton synagogue
narrated by Dr Deirdre Burke, filmed after its closure in 1999 but before its conversion into a church.
(See below for a video of the Old Jews Burial Ground.)
Notable Jewish Connections with Wolverhampton
(courtesy Steven Jaffe)
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Helene Hayman, Baroness Hayman, was born in Wolverhampton in 1949,
the daughter of Maurice Middleweek, who served as secretary of the Wolverhampton Hebrew
Congregation. She was Labour MP for Welwyn and Hatfield from 1974 to 1979, and became a life peer in 1996 holding a number of Government positions,
including as Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1999-2001). She was Lord Speaker of the House of Lords (2006-2011).
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Renee Short (1919-2003) was Labour MP for Wolverhampton NE, 1964-1983.
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Other Wolverhampton Jewish Institutions &
Organisations
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Educational & Theological
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Hebrew National Schools
- founded
1858(lxxi)
Known Headmasters (other than the
congregation's minister) -
Zadok Rudelsheim (early 1970s(lxxii));
Henry Philip Levy (mid 1870s(lxxiii));
M.
Morris (1890s and early 1900s(lxxiv));
Eli Tumpowsky (early 1900s(lxxv))
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Hebrew and
Religious Classes - from the
establishment of the congregation
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Other Institutions
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Hebrew Benevolent Society
- founded 1872(lxxviii)
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Orphan Aid Society
- founded in 1915,(lxxix)
although a branch existed from 1893 to 1914(lxxx)
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Hebrew Philanthropic Society and Sabbath Meal Society
- founded in 1867,(lxxxi)
although a Hebrew Philanthropic Society was already in existence by 1850(lxxxii)
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Zionist Society
- founded by 1926(lxxxiii)
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Synagogue Ladies' Guild
- founded by 1946(lxxxiv)
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Wolverhampton Jewish Cemetery Information
by Martin Rispi
Plaque to the Duke of Sutherland
at the Burial Ground in Blakenhall
There
are two Jewish cemetery in Wolverhampton:
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Wolverhampton Old Jews Burial Ground, Cockshutts Lane, Thompson Avenue, Blakenhall, WV2
3NP (no longer in use) Associated with both Synagogues was a Jews’ Burial Ground in the Blakenhall area of Wolverhampton.
The land for this was provided by the Duke of Sutherland in 1851, this fact is recorded on two dedication plaques and the site is shown on an 1845
map as ‘Slang at Blakemore’ i.e. a long and thin strip of land NB the Slang extended further back than the current Burial Ground.
The Burial Ground has high walls and an Ohel; these were added in 1884 and the entire site, with circa 140 headstones and
also possibly a number of unmarked burials, is now statutorily grade II listed but not generally open to visitors.
The first recorded burial at the site is that of Benjamin Cohen who died on 25 June 1851 in his eighth year (his headstone is partly eroded)
and it is said that his death was the reason why the site was originally provided by the Duke.
Benjamin Cohen’s Death Certificate records that he was the son of Jacob Cohen, a Pawnbroker of Bilston Street,
and that he died of dropsy hydrothorax with his death reported a week later by (Rabbi) Isaac Barnett who was also present at the death.
The Ohel has both a prayer hall, with four fine marble prayer plaques donated by the Hart family in 1906 and manufactured by local monumental mason’s Hopcraft,
as well as Bet Tahara side room with the remnants of a pump and a coal fired water heater. The Ohel currently requires restoration.
By the mid twentieth century the Burial Ground was almost full and the Ohel was beginning to deteriorate plus access to the secluded site was never easy for visitors. The Ohel and
the walls to the Burial Ground are Grade II Listed
Buildings, listed on
27 August 2008 (number 1392726). See
Historic England Listing & Description.
See also:
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Merridale Cemetery, Jewish Section, Jeffcock Road
In 1965 Dr. Leslie Seaton, a well respected Wolverhampton physician, died and left provision for a new Jewish Section at Merridale Cemetery
in Jeffcock Road complete with a modern Ohel. Dr. Seaton was the first burial on this site. The ‘new’ burial ground contains more than 60 burials, and has spaces for many more, although the 1960s Ohel was demolished in the 1980s
as it had developed major structural problems and was never replaced, hence the large open space at the centre of the Jewish Section.
We wish to express our thanks and appreciation to Mr. Rispin and the All Saints & Blakenhall Community Development
(New Deal for Communities) Heritage Project for the above
Introduction and this Cemetery Information
and providing the results of their research in connection with this
community.
(For additional information, see also
IAJGS Cemeteries Project - Wolverhampton)
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Wolverhampton Jewish Population Data
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Year
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Number |
Source |
1896
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35 families |
(The Jewish Year Book 1896/7) |
1918
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25 families |
(The Jewish Year Book 1919) |
1945
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135 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1945/6) |
1950
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230 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1951) |
1972
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31 families |
(The Jewish Year Book 1973) |
1979
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20 families |
(The Jewish Year Book 1980) |
1990
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85 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1991) |
1996
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15 families |
(The Jewish Year Book 1997) |
1999
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11 |
(The Jewish Year Book 2000) |
2002
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15 |
(The Jewish Year Book 2003) |
Notes & Sources
(↵
returns to text above)
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Jewish Congregations in West Midlands
Jewish Communities of England homepage
Page created: 7 November 2005 Data significantly expanded and notes added: 19 June 2022
Page most recently amended: 12 September 2024
Except where otherwise
stated, research by David Shulman, assisted by Steven Jaffe
Formatting by David Shulman
Explanation of Terms |
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