Congregation Data |
Name: |
Dalston Synagogue |
Last Address: |
Poet's Road, Canonbury, London N.5
(from 1884) A 99 year lease of the plot was purchased in 1884 for £650
(with an option to purchase the freehold for £1,100) and the synagogue
(designed by architect Nathan Solomon Joseph,
FRIBA
in collaboration with Isidore Spielmann(i))
was built, together with a minister's residence, for £7,000.(ii)
In July 1885, the last stone of the building - the crowning stone of the
Aron Kodesh -was formally laid by Mr. Samuel Montague (later Lord
Swaythling) at a special
service conducted by Rev. Dr. Herman Adler, Delegate Chief Rabbi, and Rev. Marcus Hast,
Chief Chazan of the Great Synagogue, supported
by enormous choir made up of members of several synagogues.(ii)
|
Former Addresses: |
1874-1876 -Two rooms in Colveston House, Birbeck Road, London E.8 (the
second, a spacious conservatory, was used for the accommodation of ladies).(iii)
1876-1884 -
120 Mildmay Road, Kingsland, London N.1. The building, of corrugated
iron with interior walls of varnished pine, was constructed within five weeks at the cost
of
£500.(iv)
(Note: neither of these addresses were actually in Dalston.) |
Date Founded: |
The congregation was founded on 3 May 1874, when
a meeting was held to establish a congregation in Dalston.(v)
The congregation faced
opposition from the neighbouring
North London Synagogue,
which intensified when the congregation took the Mildmay
Road premises, as it feared the establishment of a congregation in the area
close to its own catchment area, would cause
a reduction in its membership and thus threaten its financial stability.(vi)
|
Status: |
Closed - amalgamated in 1967 with
Stoke Newington Synagogue
(whose predecessor congregation, the
New Dalston Synagogue, had been formed in a secession from the
Dalston Synagogue in the 1880's) |
Ritual: |
Ashkenazi Orthodox |
Affiliation: |
A constituent synagogue of
the
United Synagogue
from 1885 until its closure.(vii) |
Newsletter or Magazine: |
Synagogue Review - South Hackney & Dalston
(see below) |
Secessionist Congregation: |
In 1887, several members, who objected to a
slight modification in the order of service proposed by the Chief
Rabbi, broke away to form a new congregation, the
New Dalston Synagogue
in Sandringham Road, which developed into the
Stoke Newington Synagogue.(viii) |
Earlier Congregation: |
Clephane Road Congregation - In the early 1870s, a
small group of Jewish residents of Canonbury, lead by Marks Manus(ix),
formed a congregation worshiping in a house in Clephane Road. In the
winter of 1874, the members of this congregation joined the Dalston
Synagogue.(x) |
Incorporated Congregation: |
North London Synagogue - 1958 |
Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister
or reader
- hold the cursor over his name.) |
Rev. Michael Henry Myers - from 1874 until March 1885(xv)
Rev. Hermann Gollancz - from
1885 until 1892(xvi)
Rabbi Moses Hyamson -
from December 1892 until April 1902(xvii)
Rev. David Wasserzug -
from 1903 until 1918(xviii)
Rev.
(later Rabbi) Samuel Gross -
from 1920 until 1924(xix)
Rev.
(later Rabbi Dr.) Joseph Rabbinowitz -
from 1925 until 1958,(xx)
and thereafter emeritus
Rabbi Isaac Newman -
from 1958 until 1967(xxi) |
Chazans / Readers: |
Rev. Jacob Lesser
- from 1875 until March 1906(xxv)
Rev. Philip Fassenfeld
- from early 1907 until June 1936(xxvi)
Rev. Jacob Koussevitzky
- from about 1936 until about 1948(xxvii)
Rev.
Samuel Baruch Taub
- from about 1948 until about 1950(xxviii)
Rev. Jacob
(Jack) Sherman
- from about 1951 until 1967(xxix)
|
Lay Officers: |
The data set out below, as regards
the period until 1910, has generally been taken from The Dalston Synagogue - An Historical Sketch
by Rev. D. Wasserzug (1910).(xxxiv)
For the period since 1910, this has been extracted from
Jewish Year Books.(xxxv)
|
Presidents(xxxvi)
1874-1878 - Elias Cohen
1878-1885 - Freeman Cohen
Vice Presidents(xxxvi)
1874-1876 - Isaac Isaacson
1876-1878 - Simeon Goldman
1878-1881 - Marks Manus
1881-1885 - Moses A. Rozelaar
Wardens(xxxvii) 1885-1887 - Freeman Cohen
1885-1893 - Moses A. Rozelaar
1887-1891 - Marks Kruszinski
1891-1895 - Simon Simons
1893-1896 - Samuel Hess
1895-1900 - Wolfe Isaacs
1896-1904 - Joseph Birn
1900-1905 - Philip Josephs
1904-1915 - Abraham Lewis
1905-1908 - Bernard Loewenstein
1908-1923 - Ludwig Felsenstein
1915-1936 - Isaac Landau
1923-1924 - Ascher L. Sions
1924-1925 - D. Abrahams
1925-1928 - C. Orgel
1928-1940 - A. Lissack
1936-1937 - A.I. Bard
1937-1940 - F.S. Cohen
1928-1940 - A. Lissack
1940-1945 - war years (no data)
1945-1947 - J.W. Jackson
1945-1947 - J. Ofstein
1947-1955 - A. Lissack
1947-1950 - A. Goodman
1950-1954 - J. Ofstein
1955-1956 - Arnold Hertzberg
1955-1956 - J. Rosner
|
Treasurers / Financial Representatives(xxxviii)
1874-1876 - Jacob Vandenberg
1875-1878 - Moses A. Rozelaar
1878-1881 - Morris Van Thal
1881-1883 - Philip Lewey
1883-1887 - Marks Kruszinski
1885-1891 - Simon Simons
1891-1895 - Joseph William Berg
1895-1905 - Alfred Moss Posener
1905-1910 - M. Drukker
1910-1915 - Isaac Landau
1915-1916 - Montie P. Jacobs
1916-1917 - Montie P. Arnold
1917-1923 - Ascher L. Sions
1923-1928 - S. Spanjer
1928-1930 - D. Weitzman,BA
1930-1933 - S. Spanjer
1933-1936 - D. Abrahams
1936-1940 - J. Ofstein
1940-1945 - war year (no data)
1945-1955 - Arnold Hertzberg
1955-1956 - J.J. Weisfogel
Hon. Secretaries
1874-1876 - Morris Duparc
1876-1902 - post generally held by minister
1902-1919 - Isaac Goldston
1919-1950 - C. Littman(xxxix) 1950-1951 - L. Stern
1951-1953 - M. Sinclair
1953-1965 - D. Birnbaum
1965-1966 - G. Leigh
1966-1967 - E.D. Sugarman
|
Beth Hamedrash: |
From about 1913 until World War II, there was a
separate Beth Hamedrash operating within the congregation, with its own
officers, as set out below:(xliv) |
Wardens
1913-1931 - Ludwig Felsenstein
1913-1931 - A. Blumenthal
1931-1940 - F.S. Cohen
1931-1940 - S. Hertzberg
Treasurer 1931-1940 - M. Levinsky
|
Hon. Secretaries
1913-1919 - A.A. Felsenstein
1919-1920 - J. Cohen
1920-1921 - P. Marovitch
1921-1922 - no data
1922-1925 - J. Solomons
1925-1940 - S. Rosen, BSc
|
Membership Data: |
United Synagogue
(male seat-holders)(xlv)
1885 |
1890 |
1900 |
1910 |
1920 |
1930 |
1940 |
1950 |
1960 |
208 |
269 |
365 |
368 |
340 |
355 |
306 |
402 |
463 |
Also see below for seatholder records on All-UK
Database. |
Hebrew &
Religious Classes: |
The Hebrew and Religious Classes had been
established in the early days of the congregation by Rev. M.H. In 1895,
a Committee of Education was elected to reorganised the classes on a
self-supporting basis for the children of the district and the
reorganised classes were opened on 23 February 1896. The initial
chairman of the committee and hon. superintendent of the classes was
Waldemar Benscher and the initial treasurer was
Herman H. Oppenheimer.(xlvi) Due to the lack of
adequate space, an addition was made to the synagogue building to
provide for classrooms and this structure was completed at the cost of
£650 and consecrated by the Chief Rabbi on 11 April 1897.(xlvi)
In about 1901, Isaac Goldston, AKC was appointed
headmaster of the classes, retaining such position until at least 1918.(xlvii)
The following are details of the number of pupils enrolled in the clases
for the relevant years:(xlviii)
1896 |
1897 |
1900 |
1902 |
1903 |
1904 |
1909 |
1910 |
1911 |
1912 |
36 |
92 |
100 |
110 |
105 |
130 |
112 |
118 |
112 |
108 |
1913 |
1914 |
1915 |
1916 |
1917 |
1918 |
1919 |
1920 |
1921 |
1923 |
110 |
102 |
110 |
120 |
100 |
90 |
120 |
130 |
144 |
161 |
|
Local Government District: |
Both Poet's Road and Mildmay Road, the addresses where the Synagogue had
been situated, are actually just outside Dalston proper (and were in Canonbury and
Kingsland) and are within the London Borough of Islington
(whereas Dalston proper is in the London Borough of Hackney).
Formerly (until 1 April 1965) they were in the somewhat
smaller former Metropolitan Borough of
Islington (established in 1900, conterminous with the pre-existing
parish of Islington), within the former County of London
(established in 1899). Prior to 1899, the parish of Islington was in the
former County of Middlesex. |
Registration District (BMD): |
Islington (since formation of
congregation) -
Link to Register Office website |
Cemetery Information: |
For
United Synagogue cemeteries, see Cemeteries of the United Synagogue. |
Notes & Sources - In light of the large number of notes, these now appear towards the foot of this page,
instead of the foot of this box. However, the note can also still be viewed in a pop-up box when the cursor is held over the note number. |