the former

Barking and Becontree (Affiliated) Synagogue

Dagenham, Essex

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The former Becontree and Barking Synagogue, 2016

Congregation Data

Name:

Barking and Becontree Synagogue

Previous Name:

Barking and Becontree Affiliated Synagogue (from about 1961 until at least 1991)⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Barking and Becontree Hebrew Congregation (until about 1961)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Address:

200 Becontree Avenue, Becontree, Dagenham, Essex RM8 2TR^(iv)

Date Founded:

Formed in 1949 on the merger of Barking Hebrew Congregation and Becontree and District Associate Synagogue.^(v)

Current Status:

Closed July 2014 (last Sabbath service was held on 28 June 2014).^(vii)

As of January 2017, the former synagogue building and site, owned by the United Synagogue Trust, had not yet been sold, although there were plans for acquisition by the council for housing development.^(viii)

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

The Congregation was an Affiliated Synagogue of the United Synagogue, which had been the status held by the former Barking Hebrew Congregation prior to the merger, which was a higher status the Associate Synagogue status of the former Becontree and District associate Synagogue.^(ix)

Ministers & Readers:^(xii)

(To view a short profile of a minister known to have served other UK congregations - name in blue - hold the cursor over his name.)

Rev. Solomon Greenstein - Minister from about 1950 to about 1951.^(xiii)

Rev. Reuven Restan - Minister from about 1952 to about 1953.^(xiv)

Rev. Leslie Mockton - Minister from about 1956 to 1958.^(xv)

Rev. H. Leonard Sober - Reader from about 1961 to about 1969.^(xvi)

Rev. Jonathan D. Lorraine - Minister from 1969 until 1973.^(xviii)

Rabbi Dr. Simon Hermon - Minister from about 1973 until about 1975.^(xix)

Rev. Dr. Julian Geoffrey Jacobs - Minister from about 1976 to about 1979.^(xx)

R.D. Hackner - Reader from about 1994 to about 1999.^(xxi)

Lay Officers:^(xxiv)

Wardens

1949-1952 - H. Saunders and P. Rosen

1952-1956 - M. Saideman and P. Rosen

Financial Representatives

1949-1951 - M. May

1951-1954 - I.H. Specter

1954-1956 - A. Daren

Hon. Secretaries

1949-1951 - M. Saideman

1951-1952 - S. Brenner

Secretaries

1952-1966 - A.J. Shaw, BA

Membership Data:

United Synagogue (male seat-holders)^(xxv)

1950

1960

1970

209

204

208

National Reports & Surveys^(xxvi)

1977 - 174 male (or household) members and 44 female members

1983 - 167 male (or household) members and 61 female members

1990 - 192 members (comprising 121 households, 5 individual male and 66 individual female members)

1996 - 155 members (comprising 144 households, 7 individual male and 4 individual female members)^(xxvii)

2010 - listed as having 100 to 199 members (by household)^(xxvii)

Local Government Districts:

Becontree, a large housing estate in northeast London, constructed in the 1920s, is now situated entirely within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, within the Greater London administrative area.

However, part of the Becontree Estate, including the area in which the synagogue was located (see map below), was part of the London Borough of Redbridge until 1994, when it was transferred to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, and was previously (until 1965) in the former Municipal Borough of Ilford in the County of Essex.^(xxviii)

Bibliography - London

Registration Districts (BMD):

Redbridge^(xxix) - Link to Register Office website.

Barking & Dagenham - Link to Register Office website.

Cemetery Information:

For United Synagogue cemeteries, see Cemeteries of the United Synagogue.

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reseved.

(ii) This is the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books 1962 through 1991, and may have been the official name even subsequently as it the name was listed with the word Affiliated in parenthesis. ↵

(iii) This is the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books until 1961. ↵

(iv) This had been the address the address of the Becontree & Distict Associate Synagogue prior to the 1949 merger. ↵

(v) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by A. Newman, 1976, pp.222-3. ↵

(vi) Reserved.

(vii) Related by former congregant. ↵

(viii) The Barking and Dagenham Post, 11 January 2017. ↵

(ix) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by A. Newman, 1976, pp.222-3 and The London Metropolitan Archives (Ref. Code: ACC/2712/BKS) - Administrative History of Barking Hebrew Congregation. ↵

(x) and (xi) Reserved.

(xii) There were no ministers or readers listed for the merged congregation in Jewish Year Books prior to 1951 nor was the congregation ever listed as having both a minister and a reader at the same time. It would appear that notwithstanding the title of the office, the various occupants performed a similar function. ↵

(xiii) Based upon Rev. Greenstein's listing in Jewish Year Book 1951. There was no minister nor reader listed for the congregation in the 1952 edition. ↵

(xiv) Based upon Rev. Restan's listing in Jewish Year Book 1953. There were no ministers nor readers listed for the congregation in the editions 1954 through 1956. ↵

(xv) Based upon Rev. Mockton's listing in Jewish Year Books 1957 and 1958. There were no ministers nor readers listed for the congregation in the editions 1959 through 1961. ↵

(xvi) Based upon Rev. Sober's listing in Jewish Year Books 1962 to 1969. There was no ministernor reader listed for the congregation in the 1970 edition. ↵

(xvii) Reserved.

(xviii) Based upon Rev. Lorraine's listing in Jewish Year Books 1971 to 1973 and Jewish Chronicle reports. ↵

(xix) Based upon Rabbi Hermon's listing in Jewish Year Books 1974 and 1975. There was no minister nor reader listed for the congregation in the 1970 edition. ↵

(xx) Based upon Rabbi Jacobs listing in Jewish Year Books 1977 to 1979. There were no ministers nor readers listed for the congregation in the editions 1980 through 1994. ↵

(xxi) Based upon R.D. Hackner's listing in Jewish Year Books 1995 through 1999. There were no subsequent listings of ministers or readers for the congregation. ↵

(xxii) and (xxiii) Reserved.

(xxiv) The data listed here has been extracted from Jewish Year Books. Where a person is first listed in a year book as holding a particular office, it has been assumed that his term of office commenced in the year of publication of the relevent year book and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant. However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and, accordingly, his actual years of office may differ slightly from those shown here. Most of the officers listed here previously held office in Barking Hebrew Congregation or Beconsfield & District Hebrew Congregation. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956. ↵

(xxv) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by A. Newman, 1976, pp.218-219. ↵

(xxvi) 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. ↵

(xxvii) The reports for 1996 and 2010, apparently erroneously, listed the congregation as being in the London Borough of Redbridge, whereas the locality had already been transferred to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in 1994 (see map below). ↵

(xxviii) The London Borough of Redbridge, an Outer London Borough within the Greater London administrative area, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the Municipal Borough of Ilford, the Municipal Borough of Wanstead and Woodford and parts of Urban District of Chigwell (Hainault area) and the Municipal Borough of Dagenham (Hog Hill area). All areas had then been part of the County of Essex. ↵

(xxix) The former Registration Districts were Romford, from 1 July 1837 until 1 July 1939 and then Ilford until 1 April 1965. ↵

(xxx) Map appearing in Report No. 660 (London Borough of Barking and Dagenham) of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, dated June 1992. ↵

Redbridge-Barking boundary change
Map showing the location of the synagogue (highlighted in yellow)
in relation to the area transferred from the London Borough of Redbridge
to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in 1994 (Area A).^(xxx)

List of United Synagogue Congregations

Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Redbridge

Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

Jewish Congregations in Greater London (other than East End)

Greater London home page

Page created: 19 November 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 27 April 2018
Page most recently amwnded: 26 October 2023

Research and formatting by David Shulman

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