the former

Derby Hebrew Congregation

& Jewish Community

Derby, Derbyshire

JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.

City of Derby

The city of Derby, in the English East Midlands, lies on the river Derwent. It has a population of about 275,000. It was a county borough until 1974, when it became a district of the administrative county of Derbyshire. In 1996, the city of Derby became a unitary authority.

Derby Jewish Community

Although there were Jews in Derby as early as the 1830s, there was no organised Jewish congregation until the end of the nineteenth century (although unsuccessful attempts were made in the 1880s to establish a congregation jointly with neighbouring Burton-on-Trent). A congregation was founded in 1899, shortly followed by a Jewish cemetery. Numbers began to decline rapidly after World War II and the congregation closed in the 1980s. (For the early history of Jews in Derby, see paper by Samuel Simpson.)

In the 2020s, a new Jewish communal group was established covering Derby and the rest of the county, the Derbyshire Jewish Community (see separately).

Congregation Data
Name:	Derby Hebrew Congregation also simply known as Derby Synagogue
Address:	270 Burton Road, Derby, from about 1924⁽ⁱⁱ⁾
Previous Address:	24 Harriett Street, Derby, from about 1899 to 1924⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾
Date Formed:	The congregation was formed and formally organised in 1899.^(iv) However, there had been an earlier attempt to establish a congregation in Derby. On 4 March 1887 the Jewish residents of Derby and near-by Burton-on-Trent held a meeting to form the Derby & Burton-on-Trent Hebrew Congregation, a joint congregation for the two towns, but the attempt failed and by 1895 the two groups had definitively separated, services being held in Derby in the Corn Exchange and in Burton in the Masonic Hall.^(v) However, such services were not been held on a regular basis.^(vi)
Status:	Closed in 1986,^(vii) the remaining members of the congregation became linked with Nottingham Hebrew Congregation.^(viii)
Ritual:	Ashkenazi Orthodox
Affiliation:	The congregation was unaffiliated but was under the aegis of the Chief Rabbi.
Ministers: (To view a short profile of a minister - hold the cursor over his name.)	Rev. Asher Littenberg - from about 1899 until about 1902^(ix) Rev. Harris Cohen - visiting minister in at least 1902^(x) Rev. Arnold Mishcon - from October 1902 until December 1906^(xi) Rev. Michael Dinerstein - from January 1907 until about 1912^(xii) Rev. S. Olive (formerly Olwenstein) - from about 1912 until about 1914^(xiii) Rev. Samuel Wolfe - from about 1914 until about 1918^(xiv) Rev. Maurice David Hershman - from about 1914 until about 1918^(xv) Rev. Selig Bressloff - from about 1922 until about 1934^(xviii) Rev. L. Korn - from 1934 until no later than 1935^(xix) Rev. Bernard Kersh - from 1935 until 1937^(xx) Rev. Reuben Restan - from 1937 until 1946^(xxi) Rev. Maurice (Avraham Moshe) Rose - from 1948 until 1952^(xxii) Rev. H. L. Levy - from c.1952 until 1959^(xxiii)
Lay Officers:	The data on the lay officers of the congregation has been extracted Jewish Year Book listings.^(xxviii)
	Presidents 1900-1914 - Henry Davis 1914-1917 - B. Serabski 1917-1919 - Jacob Ettinger^(xxix) 1919-1923 - M. Fineberg 1923-1925 - H. Levy 1925-1929 - M. Fineberg 1929-1930 - J. Cemmell 1930-1932 - M. Myron 1932-1933 - H. Friesner 1933-1956 - Hyman Levy Treasurers 1900-1901 - L. Cowen^(xxx) 1901-1902 - Jacob Epstein 1902-1906 - L. Cowen^(xxx) 1906-1907 - Jacob Epstein 1907-1908 - N. Lux 1908-1910 - Harris Lux 1910-1911 - M. Middlevick 1911-1912 - H. Levy 1912-1914 - S. Berman 1914-1915 - T. King 1915-1917 - R. Myron 1917-1918 - S. Simons 1918-1919 - H. Levy 1919-1921 - M. Levy 1921-1928 - L. Calvert 1928-1930 - H. Friesner 1930-1931 - N. Lux 1931-1934 - S. Lux 1934-1937 - H. Friesner 1937-1940 - J. Selby 1940-1945 - no data 1945-1946 - Dr. S.A. Miller 1946-1956 - J. Morris	Vice Presidents 1900-1901 - P. Epstein 1901-1904 - Isaac Morris 1904-1906 - Jacob Epstein 1906-1907 - B. Serabski 1907-1908 - Harris Lux 1908-1909 - B. Serabski 1909-1910 - Harris Lux 1910-1911 - B. Serabski 1911-1912 - S. Berman Wardens 1946-1950 - H. Van Cleef & S. Levi^(xxxi) 1950-1951 - H. Van Cleef & J. Rose 1951-1955 - J. Rose & I. Davies 1955-1956 - J. Rose & S. Simpson Secretaries^(xxxii) 1900-1902 - Joseph Mann c.1902 - Rev. A. Littenberg 1902-1906 - Rev. A. Mishcon 1907-1912 - Rev. M. Dinerstein 1912-1914 - Rev. S. Olive & A. Levy 1914-1915 - Rev. S. Wolfe & J. Bernstein 1915-1917 - Rev. S. Wolfe 1917-1918 - M. Berman 1918-1921 - D.V. Vidovski 1921-1930 - M. Vidovski 1930-1931 - L.S. Levy, BA 1931-1932 - H. Amsell 1932-1933 - A. Levy 1933-1935 - T. Ockman 1935-1937 - H. Friesner 1937-1940 - S. Levy 1940-1945 - no data 1945-1946 - Rev. R. Restan 1946-1949 - A. Carr 1949-1974 - L.W. Fraser 1974-1975 - W. Petrook 1975-1986 - Miss M. Berman
Membership Data:	National Reports and Surveys^(xxxv) 1977 - 27 male (or household) members and 13 female members 1983 - 22 male (or household) members and 12 female members
Registration District	Derby, since 1 July 1837 - Register Office website

Bibliography, Online Articles and Other Material
relating to the Derby Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

Derby and Burton-on-Trent from "Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain" - Paper edited from material prepared by Samuel Simpson for a conference at University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6 July 1975.
Press Report on the Closure of the Synagogue, 8 August 1986.
Bibliography:
- Momentous Years - The Rise and Fall of the Derby Hebrew Congregation, 1899-1986 by David Beeston [2018, Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of York]

Other Derby Jewish Institutions & Organisations

Educational & Theological

Hebrew and Religious School (founded by 1901)

Other Institutions & Organisations*

Jewish Society (founded by 1917).
Maccabaean Institute (founded by 1924)

Derby Jewish Cemeteries Information

The Jewish cemetery in Derby:

Nottingham Road Cemetery, Jewish Section, Chaddesden DE21, opened 1901/2, first burial 1906.

(For additional information, see IAJGS Cemeteries Project - Derby)

Derby Jewish Population Data
Year	Number	Source

1896	24	The Jewish Year Book 1896/7
1904	68	The Jewish Year Book 1904/5
1905	84	The Jewish Year Book 1904
1909	111	The Jewish Year Book 1910
1910	122	The Jewish Year Book 1911
1919	140	The Jewish Year Book 1920
1945	138	The Jewish Year Book 1945/6
1946	150	The Jewish Year Book 1945
1948	200	The Jewish Year Book 1949
1951	204	The Jewish Year Book 1952
1958	200	The Jewish Year Book 1959
1959	150	The Jewish Year Book 1960
1966	125	The Jewish Year Book 1967
1971	100	The Jewish Year Book 1972
1974	75	The Jewish Year Book 1975
1985	35	The Jewish Year Book 1986
2001	141	Census 2001 for England and Wales
2011	110	Census 2011 for England and Wales
2021	155	Census 2021 for England and Wales

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reserved.
(ii) This was the address under which the congregation listed in Jewish Year Books from 1925. ↵
(iii) This was the address under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books 1900/1 through 1924 It is also probably the "loft over a butcher's yard" which, according to the paper by Samuel Simpson, was in use from 1899. ↵
(iv) Paper by Samuel Simpson and Jewish Year Book 1900/01. ↵
(v) Paper by Samuel Simpson and The Jewish Chronicle report of 5 May 1889. However, the Jewish Year Book 1896/7 stated that a Day of Atonement service was held in the Masonic Hall, Burton, at which residents of Derby and Ashby-de-la-Zouch also joined in. Mr. S. Brown, shochet officiated and Isaac Brown is secretary. ↵
(vi) Jewish Year Books 1898/99 and 1899/1900. ↵
(vii) Jewish Chronicle press report of 8 August 1986. ↵
(viii) Jewish Year Book 1987. ↵
(ix) Based upon The Jewish Chronicle reports and Rev. Littenberg's listing as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1901/2 and 1902/3. ↵
(x) The Jewish Chronicle report. Rev. Cohen was minister in near-by Nottingham. ↵
(xi) The Jewish Chronicle of 11 January 1907 reported that Rev. Mishcon was presented by the Derby congregation with a clock which these dates of service inscribed. Rev. (later Rabbi) Mishcon is listed as reader in The Jewish Year Books 1903/4 through 1906/7. ↵
(xii) Based upon The Jewish Chronicle report of 11 January 1907 of Rev. Dinerstein's appointment and his listing (as Dinnerstein) as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1907/8 through 1912. ↵
(xiii) Based upon The Jewish Chronicle reports and his listing as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1913 (as Olwenstein) and 1914 (as Olive). ↵
(xiv) Based upon The Jewish Chronicle reports and Rev. Wolfe listing (as Woolf) as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books from 1915 until 1919 (latter year believed to be an error). ↵
(xv) Based upon Rev. Hershman's listing as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1920 and 1921. ↵
(xvi) and (xvii) Reserved.
(xviii) Based upon The Jewish Chronicle reports and Rev. Bressloff's listing as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1922 and 1935. ↵
(xix) Based upon The Jewish Chronicle reports, including a report of 28 September 1934. Rev. Korn is not listed in any Jewish Year Book as minister of this congregation. ↵
(xx) Based upon The Jewish Chronicle reports of 20 September 1935 and 6 August 1937 and Rev. Kersh's listing as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1936 and 1937. ↵
(xxi) Based upon contemporary The Jewish Chronicle reports and Rev. Restan's listing as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1938 through 1940 and 1945/6 (there being no publication in the intervening war years). ↵
(xxii) Based upon his Jewish Chronicle obituary of 25 May 2009. Rev. (later Rabbi) Rose was listed as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1951 and 1952. ↵
(xxiii) Based upon Jewish Chronicle reports and Rev. (later Rabbi) Levy's listing as minister of the congregation in The Jewish Year Books 1953 and 1960. ↵
(xxiv) to (xxvii) Reserved.
(xxviii) 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 relevant year book and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant. Initially year books corresponded to the Hebrew year, and thus ran roughly from autumn of one year - the year of publication - until autumn of the next year. From 1909, year books were published according to the Gregorian year, being published generally towards the end of the year prior to the year appearing the title of the year book. For example, if an officer is listed in Jewish Year Books 1935 through 1938, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1934 and continued in office until 1938. However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and, accordingly, his actual years of office may differ somewhat from those shown here. Jewish Year Books were not published during WWII subsequent to 1940. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of lay officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956. ↵
(xxix) Initially spelled Attinger - Jewish Year Book 1918. ↵
(xxx) Name possibly Cohen, as listed in Jewish Year Books 1900/1 and 1902/3. ↵
(xxxi) Listed S. Levy in Jewish Year Book 1947. ↵
(xxxii) When a minister of the congregation also served as the congregation's secretary, the period of service indicated here as secretary has been adjusted so as not to go beyond the period of service as minister. ↵
(xxxiii) and (xxxiv) Reserved.
(xxxv) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by 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. ↵

Jewish Congregations in Derbyshire

Jewish Communities of England homepage

Page created: 11 February 2004
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 31 January 2021
Page most recently amended: 27 June 2025

Formatting and research by David Shulman

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