JCR-UK: Scotland Jewish Community and Congregations (Synagogues)

A joint project of JGSGB and JewishGen

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JEWISH COMMUNITIES AND CONGREGATIONS IN SCOTLAND

There is no evidence of Jewish settlement in Scotland before the mid-17th century, when various converted Jews were to be found at Scottish Universities. The first professing Jew to settle in Scotland is believed to be a David Brown, in Edinburgh in 1691, where a small Jewish community grew up. The first synagogue and cemetery were opened in 1816. Harvey l. Kaplan

Map of Scotland showing every town that ever had a Jewish community
and congregation.

Listed below are each of the Jewish congregations, known to have existed in Scotland:

Aberdeen Synagogue & Jewish Community Centre^(1,3,4,5,7)#

Argyll and Bute Jewish Community, Dunoon^#

Ayr Hebrew Congregation^(6,7)#

Dundee Hebrew Congregation^(1,5)

Dunfermline Hebrew Congregation^(7)#

Edinburgh Jewish Community^(1,4,5,6)

Dalry Road Synagogue
Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation^#
Guthrie Street Congregation
Independent Hebrew Congregation^(7)#
Leith Central Hebrew Congregation
Roxburgh Place Beth Hamedrash
Richmond Street Synagogue^(7)#
South Clerk Street Synagogue
Sukkat Shalom, Edinburgh - Edinburgh Liberal Community Synagogue^(7)#

Falkirk Synagogue^(1,3,5,7)#

Greater Glasgow Jewish Community^(1,5)

Beth Jacob Synagogue
Beth Jacob & Poalei Zedek United Synagogue
Chevra Kadisha Synagogue
Crosshill Hebrew Congregation
Garnethill Synagogue
Giffnock & Newlands Synagogue
Glasgow Hebrew Congregation (until 1879) (includes rival congregations)
Glasgow Masorti Synagogue^#
Glasgow Reform Synagogue^(5,7)#
Great Central Synagogue
Irn-Ju^#
Langside Hebrew Congregation
Machzikei Hadas Synagogue^(7)#
Netherlee, Clarkston & Queen's Park Hebrew Congregation
Newton Mearns Synagogue
New Central Synagogue
Nusach Ari Congregation
Park Place Synagogue
Poalei Zedek Synagogue
Pollokshields Chevra Kadisha Synagogue
Queens Park Synagogue
Rutherglen Loan Congregation
Shul in the Park
South Western Hebrew Congregation
United South Side Synagogue
Yeshivah Synagogue

Greenock Hebrew Congregation ^(1,3,4,5,7)#

Inverness Hebrew Congregation^(1,3,7)#

^# Congregation pages recently fully reformatted, with expanded data.

⁽¹⁾ Community records (as listed) in All-UK Database.

⁽²⁾ Pages with their own searchable databases.

⁽³⁾ Pages with press reports on the community.

⁽⁴⁾ Pages with photographs.

⁽⁵⁾ Pages with articles and other contributed material.

⁽⁶⁾ Pages with browsable lists.

⁽⁷⁾ Pages listing of Ministers and/or Officers.

Search the All
-UK Database

The records in the database specifically associated with Scotland include:

Burials (JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Register)

Dundee - 1 Cemetery (153 records);
Edinburgh - 2 Cemeteries (159 records);
Glasgow - 4 Cemeteries (1,555 records);
Greenock - 1 Cemetery (16 records);
Inverness - 1 Cemetery (20 records)

Other Burials

Glasgow - WWII Civilian Casualties (16 records).

Schools

Glasgow - Jewish Children at the Gorbals Public School, dates of admittance 1885-1905 (1,989 records), see also Introduction & Background.

1851 Anglo Jewry Database (updated 2016)

Individuals in the 1851 Anglo Jewry Database who were living in cities or towns in Scotland during the 1790s (1 record), 1800s (1 record), 1810s (2 records); 1820s (46 records), 1830s (72 records), 1840s (120 records), 1850s (205 records), 1860s (46 records), 1870s (42 records), 1880s (36 records), 1890s (14 records), 1900s (9 records) and 1910s (4 records).

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

on JCR-UK

on third parties' websites

Jewish Encyclopaedia article on Scotland by Joseph Jacobs, c-1906.
Scotland's Jews, a Guide to the History and the Community of the Jews of Scotland, by Dr Kenneth E Collins with Ephraim Borowski and Leah Granat, 2008
Jewish Scotland on Haruth Communications website.
Scotland Virtual Jewish History Tour
Scottish Jewish Archives Centre - a community archive, based in Glasgow with wide collections covering all aspects of Scottish Jewish life.

(Note: See relevant community home page for articles relating to a specific community)

Jewish Cemeteries in Scotland There were Jewish cemeteries in each of the following cities and towns in Scotland (for details see the relevant community home page).
Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh (3 cemeteries)	Glasgow (9 cemeteries) Greenock Inverness
The Scottish Jewish Cemeteries website, created and maintained by Derek Tobias, includes a searchable database in respect of all the above cemeteries. (See also IAJGS International Jewish Cemeteries Project - Scotland and JOWBR (JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial), searching under "Scotland")

Scottish Jewish Population Data
2001	6,448*	(2001 Census results)
2011	5,587**	(2011 Census results)

* Represents those who gave their ‘current’ religion as Jewish. 7,446 stated they had a Jewish ‘upbringing.’

** Represent those who answered the voluntary question 'What is your religion?' by clicking the category 'Jewish' among the eight check-box options (another of which was 'No religion'). However, a perecentage of the population did not answer the question and the figure would not have included those who considered themselves Jews by ethnicity but not by religion, and accordingly the actual number of Jews would be higher than the figure shown.

Page created by John Berman: 2002
Communities researched and page reformatted by David Shulman: 20 April 2005
Redesigned by Louise Messik: November 2011
Reformatted by David Shulman: May 2014
Page most recently amended: 4 August 2024

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