the former

Taunton Jewish Community

Taunton, Somerset

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.

Town of Taunton

Taunton, a market town with a population of some 65,000 situated on the river Tone, is the county town of Somerset in South East England. It was a municipal borough until 1974, when it merged with neighbouring districts to form the local government district of Taunton Deane, remaining within the county of Somerset and being granted borough status in 1975. In 2019, Taunton Deane merged with the adjoining local government district of West Somerset to form the local government district of Somerset West and Taunton, still within the county of Somerset. In 2023, there was yet another merger, when Somerset West and Taunton merged with the three other local government districts in central and southern Somerset to form the unitary authority of the Somerset Council (only the two northern distrcts of Somerset remaining outside the new authority).

Taunton Jewish Community

A small Jewish community developed in Taunton early in World War II, comprised largely of evacuees from heavily populated areas, but it appears to have become defunct sometime prior to the end of the War.

Congregation Data
Name:	Taunton Jewish Community
Formation and Final Status:	Founded by at least 1940 and existing until at least 1941, but closed prior to the end of World War II⁽ⁱⁱ⁾
Ritual:	Orthodox - Ashkenazi
Minister:	Rev. L. Dimpson, BA - minister from 1940 until 1941⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾
Registration District (BMDs):	Somerset (since 1 January 2008)^(iv) - Link to Register Office Website.
Cemetery:	There is no Jewish cemetery in Taunton.

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reserved.

(ii) Jewish Chronicle report. ↵

(iii) Rev. Dimpson left Taunton in 1941. ↵

(iv) Previous Registration Districts: Taunton - from 1 July 1837 to 1 April 1974; Taunton Deane - from 1 April 1974 to 1 April 1996; Taunton - from 1 April 1996 to 1 January 2008 Any registers would now be held by the current register office. ↵

World War II Evacuee Communities

Jewish Congregations in Somerset

Jewish Communities of England home page

Page created: 18 April 2024
Page most recently amended: 18 April 2024

Research and formatting by David Shulman

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