JEWISH COMMUNITY OF LIVERPOOL AND DISTRICT

Liverpool, with a population of about 440,000 is major city and port lying on northeast bank of the river Mersey estuary in Northwest England.  Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was a county borough from 1888 until 1974, when it became metropolitan district within the then newly formed metropolitan county of Merseyside.  Liverpool became a unitary authority in 1986 when Merseyside lost its administrative status, becoming purely a ceremonial county.

Adjoining Liverpool are a number of other metropolitan boroughs within Merseyside, including Knowsley, formed in 1974 by the merger of the Huyton-with-Roby Urban District Council and several local authorities. Details of any Knowsley congregations are included in the list below.  For other communities in, or closely connected with, Merseyside, see under Sefton (for Bootle, Crosby and Southport), Wirral (for Birkenhead, Hoylake and Wallasey) and Widnes (for Widnes in Halton).

The earliest organized Jewish community in Liverpool was in about 1740, of Sephardi Jews, probably connected to the small Sephardi community that had been established in Dublin. This community did not survive and a new Ashkenazi was founded in about 1780, although little is known of its early history. 

The following congregations are, or were, considered to be part of the Liverpool & District Community

Allerton Hebrew Congregation*(3) Ayin Jacob Synagogue, Crown Street Central Synagogue Childwall Synagogue* Devon Street Congregation Fairfield Synagogue Fountains Road Synagogue, Kirkdale Great Synagogue, Grove Street Greenbank Drive Synagogue* Hope Place Hebrew Congregation (now      incorporated into Greenbank Drive Synagogue) Huyton-cum-Roby Hebrew Congregation Kehal Chassidim Synagogue Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation* Liverpool Reform Synagogue* New Beth Hamedrash Nusach Ari Synagogue & Beth Hamedresh, Crown Street Nusach Sfard Congregation (incorporated into      Nusach Ari Synagogue) Sefton Park Hebrew Congregation (now      incorporated into Greenbank Drive Synagogue) Shaw Street Congregation (incorporated into      Fairfield Synagogue) Ullet Road Synagogue West Derby Street Synagogue Zeirie Israel Synagogue *   Denotes active congregation (3) Congregation pages with articles, photographs and other contributed material.

 

The following are former or alternative names of the above congregations:

Arundel Avenue Synagogue - see Ullet Road Synagogue Beth Hemedresh - see Nusach Ari Synagogue & Beth Hamedresh Crown Street Beth Hemedresh - see Nusach Ari Synagogue & Beth Hamedresh Crown Street Synagogue - see Ayin Jacob Synagogue Great Grove Street Synagogue - see Great Synagogue, Grove Street Hope Place Synagogue (until 1930's) - see Hope Place Hebrew Congregation Hope Place Synagogue (1940's to 1962) - see Liverpool Reform Synagogue Kirkdale Synagogue- see Fountains Road Synagogue Liverpool Liberal Jewish Congregation - see Liverpool Reform Synagogue Liverpool Liberal Synagogue - see Liverpool Reform Synagogue Liverpool New Hebrew Congregation - see Hope Place Hebrew Congregation Liverpool Progressive Synagogue - see Liverpool Reform Synagogue Laurel Road Synagogue - see Fairfield Synagogue New Central Synagogue - see Shaw Street Congregation Nusach Ha'ari Beth Hamedresh - see Nusach Ari Synagogue & Beth Hamedresh Pride of Israel Synagogue - see Ullet Road Synagogue Prince's Road Synagogue - see Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation Rossette Avenue Synagogue - see Ullet Road Synagogue Russell Street Synagogue - see Nusach Sfard Congregation Seel Street Synagogue - see Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation Walnut Street Synagogue - see Ullet Road Synagogue

Articles on the Liverpool Community

Jewish Population Data

1750 1895 1934 1945 1965 1976 1980 1990 1992 1998 2004

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Earliest organized Jewish Community in Liverpool 5,000 (The Jewish Year Book 1896) 7,000 (The Jewish Year Book 1935) 7,500 (The Jewish Year Book 1945-6) 7,500 (The Jewish Year Book 1966) 6,500 (The Jewish Year Book 1977) 5,950 (The Jewish Year Book 1981) 5,000 (The Jewish Year Book 1991) 4,000 (The Jewish Year Book 1993) 3,000 (The Jewish Year Book 1999) 2,698 (The Jewish Year Book 2005)

Databases, Websites, Online Articles, etc.

1888 Liverpool Subscription list, a browsable list available only to members of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB), accessible through JGSGB Members' Corner. 

The Changing Years by Jeffrey Max - A series of articles published in the Liverpool Jewish Gazette between 1968 and 1970

The Rise of Provincial Jewry - Liverpool by Cecil Roth, 1950. Available on JCR-UK as part of the Susser Archive.

Lancashire BMD contains, among other things, a substantial number of marriage records of Liverpool synagogues, including:

Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation (1875-1967)
Progressive Synagogue, Church Road North (1939-1967)
Allerton Hebrew Congregation , Booker Ave/Mather Ave (1960-2003)
Central (Islington) Synagogue (1908-1940)
Fairfield Synagogue (1940-1966)
Fountains Road Synagogue (1893-1947)
Great Synagogue, Russell Street and Grove Street (1907-1959)
Greenbank Drive Synagogue, (Hebrew Congregation) (1937-1961)
Hope Place Hebrew Congregation (1844-1937)
New Beth Hamedresh Synagogue (1897-1908)
Nusach Ari Synagogue, 55a Crown Street (1920-1965)
Nusach Sfard Synagogue, Russell Street (1928-1939)
Seel Street Synagogue (1837-1875)
Sefton Park Synagogue, Smithdown Road (1935-1937)
Shaw Street Synagogue, Everton (1908-1939)
Childwall Synagogue, Dunbabin Road (1939-1961)

Other Liverpool Information

Jewish Property and Heritage & Places of Local Interest

Bibliography, Local Research Libraries and other sources

IAJGS Cemetery Site - Liverpool Cemetery Information

Merseyside Jewish Community Records at Liverpool Record Office

The Records  include:

• Project POOL (Photographs of Old Liverpool): 20,000 photographs from the City Engineers Department, 1897-1960 with 2,000 attached images. Catalogued with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

• Liverpool City Council: The Corporation archives including minute books from 1550, education records including school records and cemeteries interment registers.

• Merseyside Jewish Community Archives: Includes records of synagogues, organisations, schools, businesses and personal papers. Catalogued with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Jewish Community.

• Ecclesiastical Records: Includes full details of Roman Catholic and Non-conformist archives together with summary details of Anglican parish holdings.

• Imperial Tobacco Company, Ogden Branch: Full listing of this important business archive. Catalogued with the support of Imperial Tobacco plc.

• Merseyside Record Office: Brief details of all catalogued collections plus full listings of Non-conformist church and Coroner's records.

Search the Records

Created 2002
Re-formatted 13 December 2007
Last Updated 2 August 2009