JCR-UK

Swindon Jewish Community

& Congregations

Swindon, Wiltshire

 

 

 

 
JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the official website of this community or any of its congregations.
The website of the present congregation can be reached by clicking on the congregation's logo below.

Town of Swindon

Swindon is a large town in the west of England. In 1974, the then municipal borough of Swindon was merged with adjoining areas to form the local government district of Thamesdown, still within the county of Wiltshire. It subsequently changed its name to the borough of Swindon and  became a unitary authority in 1998..

Swindon Jewish Community

The Jewish community was originally formed by evacuees during the Second World War. The original congregation, the Swindon Hebrew Congregation, was disbanded in the 1960s. A new congregation, the Swindon Jewish Community, was formed in the 1980s, which was initially Orthodox, but subsequently affiliated to the Reform Movement.

The Jewish Congregations in Swindon

Original Congregation

Congregation Data

Name:

Swindon Hebrew Congregation

Address:

30 Havelock Street, Swindon (from about 1948 until about 1980), previously 25 Croft Road, Swindon(ii)

Date Founded:

1941, initially by World War II evacuees.(iii)

Current Status:

In 1983, the congregation was re-formed, emerging as the current congregation (see below), as the original congregation had been dispersed.(iv)

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox.

Affiliation:

None.

Ministers:

None listed.

Lay Officers:(v)

President

c.1946-c.1947 - S. Mostyn

c.1947-c.1949 - J. Lewis

c.1949-c.1956 - S. Mostyn

Hon. Secretary

c.1946-c.1979- Len Jacobs

Treasurer

c.1946-c.1947 - P.T. Rister

c.1947-c.1948 - N. Dean

c.1948-c.1949 - B. Goldberg

c.1949-c.1956 - S.  Solomon

Membership Data:

National Reports and Surveys(vi)

1977 - 16 male (or household) members and 5 female members

Notes & Sources ( returns to text above)

  • (i) Reserved.

  • (ii) 30 Havelock Street, was the address listed for the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1949 through 1979.It was also the home address of the congregation's Hon. Secretary, L. Jacobs. 25 Croft Road was the address given for the congregation solely on in its first listing Jewish Year Book 1947.

  • (iii) History on website of current congregation, Swindon Jewish Community (see below) and Jewish Year Books.

  • (iv) Jewish Year Book 1987.

  • (v) This data here has been extracted from Jewish Year Books from 1947 and the period of service given here runs from the year prior to first listing of the officer and ends with the year in which the officer was last listed. However, there was "no information furnished" by the congregation for the years 1951 through 1953 and there were no listings of officers (other than hon. secretary) after 1956.

  • (vi) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports.

  • (vii) to (ix) Reserved.

Present Congregation


Congregation Data

Name:

Swindon Jewish Community(x)

Former or Alternative Names:

Swindon Reform Jewish Community

Mid-Wiltshire Jewish Community(xi)

Address:

No communal building, services are run in a variety of venues including members’ homes, with a regular Saturday morning service held in a local community hall.(xii)
For a short time, in 1989, the Congregation had its own synagogue premises, consisting of a large room over shops in Victoria Road, Swindon, which was rented from a member of the congregation who owned one of the shops.(xiii)

Current Status:

Active.

Date Founded:

In 1983, when the congregation was re-formed, as the original congregation of evacuees had been dispersed(xv)

Ritual:

Reform (formerly Ashkanazi Orthodox until about 1986)(xvi)

Affiliation:

A developing community (later an associated community) of the Movement for Reform Judaism (formerly known as the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain) since about 1986, the congregation being initially affiliated to Maidenhead Synagogue (Reform).(xvi)

Website:

http://swindonjewishcommunity.org.uk

Ministers:

Rabbi Sybil Sheridan - visiting part-time minister from about 1986 until about 1992. (The only person to be appointed as minister of the Congregation.)(xvii)

Membership Data

National Reports and Surveys(xviii)

1983 - 30 male (or household) members and an estimated 30 female members

1990 - 29 members (comprising 20 households, 5 individual male and 4 individual female members)

1996 - 21 members (comprising 11 households, 5 individual male and 5 individual female members)

2001 - 25 members (comprising 15 households, 5 individual male and 5 individual female members)

2010 & 2016 - listed as having under 50 members (by household)

Charitable Status:

The congregation was a registered charity (no. 296761), registered on 16 July 1987and was removed from the register on 9 January 2002, being a "Voluntary removal".(xix)

Notes & Sources ( returns to text above)

  • (x) This is the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1987.

  • (xi) This is the name under which the congregation was listed in the reports of the Board of Deputies from 1983 through 1996 - see note (xviii) below.

  • (xii) Congregation's website, last accessed 24 September 2019.

  • (xiii) Information communicated to JCR-UK by an officer of the congregation in July 2017.

  • (xiv) Reserved.

  • (xv) Jewish Year Book 1987.

  • (xvi) History on the congregation's website, last accessed 24 September 2019.

  • (xvii) Based upon Rabbi Sheridan's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from about 1987 and information communicated to JCR-UK by an officer of the congregation in July 2017.

  • (xviii) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports.

  • (xix) Charity Commission website, in beta development, accessed 24 September 2019.

 

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Swindon Jewish Community

on Congregation's Website

 

Community Records

Registration District (BMD):

  • Swindon (since 1 May 1899)

    • Previous Registration District:
         Highworth (originally Swindon & Highworth) - from 1 July 1837 to 1 May 1899

  • Register Office website

  • Group for Certification of present congregation: West London Synagogue

 

Swindon Jewish Cemetery Information

There is now a consecrated Jewish section within the municipal Whitworth Road Cemetery, Whitworth Road, Moredon, Swindon.

Previously, the closest Jewish cemeteries were in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Bristol.

For further information, see IAJGS Cemetery Project - Swindon.

 

Swindon Jewish Population

1948

70

(The Jewish Year Book 1947)

1949

40

(The Jewish Year Book 1950)

1951

30

(The Jewish Year Book 1952)

1953

24

(The Jewish Year Book 1954)

1961

22

(The Jewish Year Book 1962)

1964

45

(The Jewish Year Book 1965)

1961

22

(The Jewish Year Book 1962)

1964

47

(The Jewish Year Book 1965)

1966

30

(The Jewish Year Book 1967)

1983

20

(The Jewish Year Book 1984)

1984

26

(The Jewish Year Book 1985)

1985

35

(The Jewish Year Book 1986)

1986

80

(The Jewish Year Book 1987)

1993

72

(The Jewish Year Book 1994)

2003

125

(The Jewish Year Book 2004)

 

List of Reform Judaism Congregations

Jewish Congregations in Wiltshire

Jewish Communities of England home page


Page created: 18 April 2003
Consolidation of Swindon community and congregation pages: 9 July 2017
Latest revision or update: 10 August 2020


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