Aubrey Newman
It is not until 1849 that there is any reliable
indication of the presence in the borough of even a
handful of Jews. The clearest evidence comes from the
various County Directories, and it is in the 1849
edition that the first names can be found, usually
identified as 'Tailor' or 'Clothier'. Among the early
names was one Joseph Levy who, in 1855, married Cordelia
Hart; in 1859 Levy was joined by Israel Hart, a cousin of
Cordelia, and brother of Henry Hart of Canterbury and
Dover. The combination made the partnership of Hart
and Levy, later to be a formidable factor in the growth
of the mass-produced clothing trade. It was this
connection too which seems to have laid the foundations
of the eventual Leicester Hebrew Congregation. It is
no accident that the fifteenth Report of the Leicester
Domestic Mission Society, for 1860, should have noted
that 'amongst the new denominations that have appeared —
may be named the Spiritualists and Jews.' There
was as yet no organised congregation, although there was
a steady increase in the number of Jews. Trade
Directories continue to give some of the extra names,
while others are mentioned in the records of the nearby
congregations of Coventry and Nottingham as having
contributed to the building of their synagogues, as
having been married in their congregations, or having been
buried in their cemeteries. The formal founding of an
orthodox congregation came in the spring of 1874. No
trace of any such congregation is to be found in various
national communal records for the year 1873, but during
1874 and 1875 there were several references.
The
Jewish Chronicle for 6 November 1874 records:
Mr, Israel Hart, the President of the
Leicester Congregation - brother of
Alderman Hart, of Canterbury, who was
twice in turn elected Mayor of that
City - has been elected Town Councillor
of Leicester by a large majority in a
ward containing nearly 4,000 electors.
And on 4 June 1875 it reported a visit to Leicester by
Dr. Hermann Adler on behalf of his father, the Chief
Rabbi.
The Leicester Congregation and school have
only recently been instituted. Dr. H.
Adler visited the Synagogue where he was
met by the leading members of the
congregation and he afterwards examined the
school children. — On the occasion of
his visit he dedicated the new residence of
his host, Mr. Israel Hart of Knighton,
President of the Congregation.
One thing more was needed to give full form to
the Leicester Hebrew Congregation: only when it had been
formally recognised by the Board of Deputies of British
Jews could the congregation have its own wedding
register This recognition was [not] asked for until the
autumn of 1875, but the delay was obviously due to the
fact that not till then was there anyone in the
congregation wishing to be married, This Marriage
Register gives valuable information about these early
years, Between 1875 and 1905 there were thirty
marriages, and in twenty-one cases the bride's father's
occupation is given: there were ten tailors, three
general dealers, two shoe-makers, two merchants, a
confectioner, a 'manufacturer', a corn-chandler, and a
clothier. Fifteen grooms were resident in Leicester,
and of these eleven were tailors, and the others
included an outfitter, a furniture-dealer, a carpenter,
and a draper. In other words, out of thirty-six
individuals resident in Leicester whose trades are known,
twenty-two were tailors.
The places of origin of these Jews are largely
unknown, although the 1891 census mentions the presence
in the borough of twelve Russians and fourteen Poles who
might well have been Jews. Most of the immigrants into
Britain in these years went to towns and cities where
there were already large centres of Jewish population,
such as London. Leeds, or Manchester, but some went out
into the provinces, actively encouraged to do so by a
Dispersal Committee set up in London by the Jewish
communities there in order to promote movements into
provincial areas. In 1903 the Chairman of the
Dispersal Committee, Sir Samuel Montagu, reported to
the Royal Commission on Alien Immigration on the working
of the scheme:
We send nobody without the consent of the congregations in these small
places; therefore, instead of being received with disfavour, they are
already sure of their welcome. At Leicester there is a large firm of
tailors which had their clothing made in London, and they desired very
much to have it made in Leicester, in order that they could supervise
the work. We have sent about ten families already.
There was certainly an abrupt increase in the
size of the community The annual reports of the Board
of Deputies record faithfully the seatholders as
notified to London. Between 1874 and 1893 the number
varied between 31 and 21; in 1893 there were 30 seatholders reported, but in 1894 there were 64, in 1895
there were 66, and although over the next twenty years
the numbers dropped there were never fewer than 43, the
average was 54, and on occasion the total reached 60.
The key figure in the congregation was Israel
Hart, a rather unusual figure even in a national
context, and certainly a most surprising one to find in
Leicester. He was not born in Leicester, but he
certainly came to dominate it, and eventually was to be
Mayor of Leicester for a total of four terms. When he
retired finally from that office the Town Council placed
on records
The unique and interesting fact that
never before in the history of Great
Britain has a member of the ancient
and noble race of Judah held for four
years, by the free election of his
fellow-citizens, the Mayoralty of a
Christian Municipality, and rejoices
that Leicester has been among the first
thus to put into practice the spirit of
universal brotherhood.
A recent history of Leicester records too that he was
the richest Mayor of Leicester during the Victorian
years, and his will was eventually proved at over
£200,000. His money came from the activities of Hart
and Levy, and obituaries both of his partner and himself emphasised the way in which they had brought a new
industry - mass-produced clothing - to the borough and
had provided work for thousands. His greatest
contributions to the borough - the elaborate square outside the Town Hall - and the first free branch library -
still remain a memorial to his activities.
The first synagogue of the congregation was a
converted warehouse, and contained seating for eighty
men and women. The growth of the congregation, however, made it necessary for a new building to be
erected, although its members were unable to meet the
total cost. A notice appeared in the Jewish Chronicle:
The Place of Worship at present rented
by the members of the Leicester Hebrew
Congregation, being for many years past
wholly inadequate for the requirements
of the community, the members have
resolved to build a synagogue and school
rooms of their own, The scheme has the
hearty approval and support of the Chief
Rabbi, the Reverend Dr, H. Adler. The
committee estimate the cost of ground
and buildings at £2,500, towards which
they have in hand £150 from the Levein
Bequest. The members, the majority of
whom are of the working class, have
generously subscribed to the fund The
committee, finding they cannot carry out
this important undertaking unaided,
earnestly appeal to friends for their
hearty support. Donations (which will
be duly acknowledged in the Jewish Press)
will be thankfully received by the
President, Treasurer, Hon. Sec, or any
member of the committee.
This was not at all uncommon; the columns of the Jewish
Chronicle included many such appeals at this time from
all parts of the county. Not all the money was
immediately forthcoming, although Israel Hart, now
knighted, donated £250 and made himself responsible for
collecting over £800 more. Indeed, it was not until
1940 that the initial mortgage was eventually repaid.
The foundation stone was laid in 1897 and Dr. Adler
consecrated the building on 5 September 1898, By this
time Sir Israel had retired from active control of the
affairs of the congregation. Each year the minutes of
the annual general meeting faithfully recorded his
protestations that he was not really suitable as
President of the Congregation but that he would undertake the office if asked, and each year his re-election
was agreed to, usually unanimously. He had served the
congregation well; he had made it possible for the
congregation to come into existence, he had made himself
responsible for its expansion into new buildings, and he
had given the small Jewish community in the borough a
dignity and place in civic life which was unequalled.
The later purchase of a cemetery crowned the community's
religious existence'and made possible the arrival in
Leicester of other Jews who would not otherwise have
dreamt of moving there.
Leicester must have been typical of many of the
small provincial communities. As they grew in size and
complexity they could not rely on laymen as spiritual
leaders and needed to look to qualified ministers for a
wide range of functions The growing 'anglicisation'
of such communities and the dwindling number of laymen
with the knowledge or even desire to act as substitutes
for the minister in the myriad duties that arose in even
the smallest community - teacher, shochet, mohel, or
cantor - meant that the burden on the minister could
become correspondingly greater, and he had to be
available for virtually twenty-four hours a day for
almost every conceivable need of the congregation.
There was a further quality which the Chief Rabbi, Dr.
Hermann Adler, urged on Leicester at one particular
vacancy: 'I fully concur with your Executive in deeming
it highly desirable that you should engage an English
Minister and Teacher.' In a community which had a high
proportion of immigrants, the minister had the task of
helping the absorbtion and cultural assimilation of his
congregants. All this was on a wage which many would
have considered derisory and which, since he was also the
collector, he had to gather for himself.
The Leicester Hebrew Congregation was not, in these
years, a large congregation. But it illustrates several
significant features of Victorian provincial Jewry. Its
lay leaders were men of very high distinction in the life
of urban community in which they lived, seeking to maintain a link between these two aspects of their careers.
At the same time the very existence of these small
communities illustrated the way in which Anglo-Jewry
maintained a provincial dimension and prevented the
concentration of its numbers into a small group of quasi,
ghettoes.
© Aubrey Newman
