At the outbreak of the First World War, seat rentals doubled but the offerings remained approximately the same; if anything they dropped, certainly the proportion they formed of the total income dropped: [PHC A/c. 1913, Balance Sheet in the author's collection.]

The tendency for voluntary donations to form a decreasing proportion of the Plymouth Congregation's income may be explained in the following way. There was an ever decreasing number of regular worshippers, so that the same people were called to the Torah more and more often. These regular worshippers decreased their donation on each occasion so that their total for the year remained constant. These voluntary offerings fluctuated throughout the year and therefore did not form a reliable method of financing the Congregation's expenditure, so it was exceedingly difficult to budget ahead. The drawbacks of relying on voluntary donations were already manifest by the early nineteenth century when Treasurers frequently had to lay monies out of their own pockets until their accounts were finally paid. [PHC Min. Bk. I, p.76.] To ensure a ready supply of money to pay bills on hand, the South-West Congregations resorted to a tax on meat (which the observant Jew could only buy under Congregational auspices), either a farthing or halfpenny on each pound weight. This tax was collected by the butcher, remitted to the Treasurer and then credited to the member's account to contra his seat money or offerings. [PHC A/c. 1759, passim. The Exeter Congregation's Meat Tax Book survives at the Jewish Museum, London.]

One form of supplementary income which substantially helped the Plymouth Congregation, and to a lesser extent the other three Congregations in Devon and Cornwall, was that which came from legacies. These were often spent as they came in, except in Plymouth where legacies from the mid-nineteenth century were invested so that only the interest on the investments was used. According to the necrology of the Plymouth Congregation, some £2,500 was left to the Plymouth Synagogue between 1780 and 1900, and this by no means represents all legacies, as the munificent legacies of Jacob Nathan in 1868, which include £1,000 to the Synagogue, were for some unknown reason, not incorporated in the necrology. Many of the legacies were left on the express understanding that a Yizkor (Commemorative prayer) should be recited at the appropriate time on Festivals. [For example, E. A. Ezekiel of Exeter, died 1807 (a copy of the will is in the author's collection, the original was destroyed); Abraham Joseph of Plymouth, died 1794, P.C.C. Newcastle, 91; Moses Mordecai of Exeter, died 1809, P.C.C. Loveday 298; Revd Myer Stadthagen of Plymouth, died 1862 (P.C.C. 1862/414).]

At least one legator was afraid that his wishes would be neglected. He was Jacob Jacobs, Plymouth silversmith, goldsmith and Navy Agent, and the relevant portion of his will reads as follows:

I bequeath to the Jewish Synagogue of Plymouth of which I am by the blessing of God a member £100 to be invested in five per cent annuities the interest to be given to the poor Jews of Plymouth on every year in the month of Ellul. On condition that at the normal times of the commemoration of souls my late father Mordecai Jacobs and myself be commemorated for ever. In default of which my heirs are to sue the Congregation in payment of £100. £10 towards 10 poor people for making competent meeting for prayers every Saturday and £5 for Mr. Ephrim (sic) to say certain portion of the Holy Scriptures as a prayer for me on every Saturday, also £5 to my brother-in-law Rabbi Simon for saying a prayer called Kaddish for me in the Synagogue every day. [P.C.C. Crickitt, 415. He died in 1811.]

The Plymouth Congregation's far sighted decision to invest legacies and use only the interest has provided it with a substantial "unearned" income. In 1884, for example, the interest from four legacies amounted to over £60 out of an income of £320, nearly one-fifth. In 1913, seven legacies provided £62 out of a total income of £538, and in 1963 the interest from 43 legacies amounted to £424 out of £3341, or about 12 per cent. [Balance Sheets of the Plymouth Congregation in the author's collection.] If the Congregation continues to decline numerically this investment income will play an increasingly important part in its finances.

The regulations of the South-West Congregations will be discussed in detail towards the end of this chapter. At this stage it is apposite to mention one aspect of them, and that is that they, in common with other Anglo-Jewish Congregations, freely prescribed fines. To give just a few examples: those who did not accept office, [PHC Regulations, 1835, nos. 32, 119, 120.] or absented themselves on a Sabbath or Holyday after receiving notice that they would be called to the Torah, [Ibid. no. 107.] or who made a disturbance during meetings or prayers - or allowed their children to do so, [Ibid.] or who were contumacious or rebellious, [Ibid. no. 133.] and paid officials who neglected their duties, [PHC Regulations, 1835, no. 101.] were all liable to pay fines ranging from as low as a few coppers to sums as grand as five guineas.

It is clear that the fines were intended to be penal rather than fiscal, that is to say, they were designed to encourage members and officials to do their duty rather than to increase income. In Exeter, for example, fines of £12. 3s. were imposed over a six year period from 1827 to 1833, but were rarely paid. [EHC A/c. 1827-1833, pp. 5, 6, 7, 9, 19, 28, 42, 103, 110, 113, 114, 130, 150, 162, 165, 172.] Fines often proved to be a source of discord, those who felt aggrieved paying reluctantly or not at all. [PHC A/c. 1850-1853, sub H. Hyman and Mr Levy.]

Entrance fees to the Congregations of the South-West were payable only by aspiring Baalei Batim, the vestry members with superior rights and privileges. The married son or son-in-law of a vestry member could, on election, become a vestry member on payment of a half guinea, others had to pay one and a half guineas. [PHC Regulations, 1835, no. 52.] In Penzance the same privileges were acquired by an entrance fee of two guineas, [Roth MSS 205, nos. 39, 40.] and in Exeter for one guinea. [EHC Regulations, 1833, no. 15. Sons of vestry members only had to pay 10/6d.] Again, these entrance fees can hardly be regarded as an income producing institution as there were rarely more than one or two new vestry members admitted in any one year.

Reference has already been made to buildings and land which were owned by the Congregations of the South-West. At this stage it is appropriate to discuss the ways by which these Congregations funded capital projects. Invariably, the first financial step taken by any Anglo-Jewish Congregation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries towards paying for large capital expenditure was to launch an appeal to local and distant Jews. [For Canterbury's synagogue building fund, see JC, 16 October 1846; for Gt. Yarmouth's, JC, 4 February 1848; for Dover's, JC, 8 November 1861.] If the appeal did not bring in sufficient funds then a mortgage was raised, which was later generally repaid out of current income.

No records of any appeals by the South-West Congregations have survived which relate to the purchase of lands or buildings in the eighteenth century. Indeed, apart from the one instance of the Plymouth Synagogue, no financial details relating to eighteenth-century capital expenditure by the South-West Congregations seem to have survived.

Examining the records which relate to the building of the Plymouth Synagogue in 1762, it is apparent that the Congregation did not have sufficient funds in hand to complete the building. Accordingly, on 3 September 1762 the elders of the Congregation through a Gentile, Samuel Champion, to obviate possible legal complications, had to borrow £300 from a Mrs. Elizabeth Aven of Plympton 'to complete the buildings edifices and erections now building and erecting thereon and which is designed for a Jewish Synagogue or place of worship for persons professing Judaism'. [Ply. Syn. Cat. 2, 2.] The Congregation was unable to pay even the interest on this sum, as in 1770 there was £336 owing. [Ibid. 2, 3.] Mrs Aven having died, her executor called in the mortgage but not only was there insufficient to pay that, but the Treasurer was short of £34 to pay Raymundo Putt and Edward Stephens, who were probably the builders. [Ibid.] The Congregation's difficulties were temporarily solved by a loan of £370 from one Christopher Harris who advanced £220 on the security of the Synagogue and £150 on a joint bond of the elders. The debt was steadily paid off; the interest was not unreasonable being five per cent of the outstanding balance, which on 19 April 1780 was £100. [Receipts for mortgage payments kept with the Plymouth Congregation's leases.] The mortgage was finally paid off on 6 November 1783, twenty-one years after the synagogue was built. [Ply. Syn. Cat. 2, 4. A silver shield, 7 inches by 5 inches hung prominently in the synagogue, inscribed 'and all the work was finished, 4 Sivan 5544 [= May 1784]', with nine names of vestry members, probably commemorates this event. There was also a payment of £300 being part of £450 outstanding on 19 April 1786. This may have been for monies owing on the purchase of the cemetery or perhaps a Synagogue house (Ply. Syn. Cat. 3, 6).

The Plymouth Synagogue's opening brought a number of large gifts. Joseph Sherrenbeck gave £52 and then £30 on Passover and Tabernacles in 1760 in anticipation of the opening, [PHC A/c. 1759, p.1 (Heb. pagination). These sums are recorded as Matnat Yad i.e. donations at Yizkor on these festivals.] as well as £10. 10. 3d. for the Almemor (platform in front of the ark) in 1762; [Ibid.] Mordecai ben Yehiel gave £33 on Pentecost 1762, [Ibid. p. 5 (Hebrew pagination).] the cost of Ark; and at the same time the Prayer for the Royal Family, sign-written on canvas, at a cost of eight guineas. [Ibid.]

A major repair programme was carried out to the Plymouth Synagogue in 1805 for which an appeal was made on the last day of Passover and which brought in promises of £141. [A beautiful handwritten commemorative inscription with full details of donors' names and the amount they gave hangs in the Plymouth Synagogue. The information which follows is taken from this inscription.] There were 87 subscribers to the appeal, two of them - Joseph Joseph and Abraham Emanuel of Plymouth Dock - gave nearly half, £40. 6s. and £20. 4s. respectively. Friends, relatives or former members who resided elsewhere were among the contributors: 1 each from Exeter, Basingstoke and Bristol, 2 from Portsmouth and 5 from London. Seven widows and a spinster were amongst the contributors.

Yet another inscription, this time dated 1813, records the names of 26 donors who gave £160. 1s. for major repairs to the Plymouth Synagogue. The one shilling was given by the beadle, Hayyim Issachar. [This inscription also hangs in the Plymouth Synagogue. It is a copy made by Joseph Goldston in 1900 of the original destroyed by damp.] A large appeal in 1858 brought in £1,035 for the new Burial Ground at Compton Gifford. [This appeal, too, was recorded on an inscription which hangs in the Plymouth Synagogue.] There were 83 donors to this appeal, all local; more than half was given by Jacob Nathan, the Plymouth Congregation's Mycenas, who gave £555. There is nothing to suggest in any of these appeals that the members were levied according to their comparative wealth or by any arbitrary assessment. Each donor gave according to the generosity of his or her heart. Undoubtedly, similar appeals were made for similar objects in the other South-West Congregations but no record of them appears to have survived.

Where the good name of the Anglo-Jewish community was endangered the Plymouth Congregation did not hesitate to pay for legal representation, and if necessary, to apply to the rest of Anglo-Jewry for help. Some trouble seems to have befallen one Solomon ben Hayyim in 1804 when the Congregation granted his wife fourteen shillings a week, and the same amount to himself. Within a few months it was decided 'that the vestry should hire a counsellor and lawyer' for him out of Congregational funds. [PHC Min. Bk. II, pp. 31, 33.] Another occasion arose in 1817. The dry entries of debits and credits in an account book are suddenly illuminated by the following (translated) account:

Tuesday, 18 Shevat, pericope Yitro, 5577 [4 February 1817].

For our many sins Judah ben Hayyim Mannheim was forced to go in chains of iron on his feet and hands to stand his trial at March Assizes, may they come to us for good, for there is a State Prosecution against him to condemn him because they found that he forged on the Greenwich Navy Agent.

17 and 18 March 1817

The aforementioned was tried and acquitted and came out free. His attorney was Alley Isaac of London.

Through the applications to the Rav [i.e. the Chief Rabbi in London] from London and other communities £46 was made. So the surplus of money has been given to the parents of the aforesaid. [PHC A/c. 1814-1826, p.240. This account was written by Hayyim Issachar. See supra, p. 160.]

The murder of Isaac Falk Valentine in Fowey in 1811 involved the Plymouth Congregation in heavy expense which was met by a levy on the local Jews and an appeal to the Jewish community throughout England. Valentine, appointed shochet to the Plymouth Congregation in August 1811, acted as an agent for a London money changer, buying up gold for paper money. [See supra, p. 213.] One Wyatt lured Valentine to Fowey and drowned him. Subsequently, a roll of sea soaked notes amounting to £260 was found in a pile of dung in Wyatt's stables. Wyatt was hanged for this crime. [Royal Cornwall Gazette, 30 November 1811, 28 March 1812, 3 April 1812.] For some reason that is not now clear the Plymouth Congregation was saddled with an obligation to pay legal expenses on account of Valentine. A committee was set up on 2 February 1812, before Wyatt's trial, 'to remedy the state of affairs'. [PHC Min. Bk. II, p.71, foot of page.] It reported on 7 June 1812 that the 'legal expenses' were £275. [Ibid. top of page.] The committee recommended that each individual member be levied a year's seat money, payable in three instalments. [Ibid. At least one member strenuously objected to the proposal, insulted the committee and was disciplined with an 18/-d fine (PHC Min. Bk. II, p. 72).] The levy would only bring in £150 which leaves a deficiency of £125 which is too onerous for our Congregation to raise. It is therefore agreed that letters should be sent to the Congregations of England, and one also to be sent to the Rav, the Gaon, the head of the Beth Din of the holy Congregation of London, and one also to request from the Rav, may his lamp shine, a testimonial which we might send to the Congregations that they should help us. [Ibid.]

One more example of raising funds by levy, this time for a national emergency, may be given. The relevant minute vividly gives the circumstances:

This day, Sunday 10 Ellul 5539 [=September 1779].

All the vestry was gathered and it was agreed ... that the vestry should give a donation of fifty pounds to the Mayor at the Guildhall for the war. And everyone shall immediately pay what he has been debited. It is confirmed that everyone who separates himself from the community and does not pay according to the list shall be put in prison. The President and Three Men must help him [The threat to imprison on default of payments seems to have emanated from the Mayor. Apparently the vestry here resolves to aid any of its members who does not pay so that he should not be sent to prison.] for the sake of peace in the vestry. [PHC Min. Bk. I, p. 22.]

To what extent were the various methods of financing the South-West Congregations effective? From one point of view the Congregations were always financially solvent. Income nearly always exceeded expenditure, and if for one or two years it did not, then expenditure was reduced.

This may be seen from the early minute books of the Plymouth Congregation. From 1788 until 1813, only the accumulated balance each year is recorded. From 1814 until 1834, however, the actual income and expenditure each year is minuted, and Table 39 gives the relevant details.