Hambro' Synagogue

Name:

The Hambro' Synagogue⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

The name "Hambro", a corruption of the word Hamburg, was presumably chosen as the congregation became the centre of the Hamburg Jewish colony in London, who naturally drifted to it.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ The congregation initially conformed to the Hamburg minhag (customs).

It was also known, at various times as "Mordecai Hamburger's Synagogue" (an alternative name for the founder, who was generally known as Marcus Moses), "Wolf Prager's Synagogue" (who laid the foundation stone for the second synagogue) and "Henry Isaac's Synagogue" (a prominent early patron of the congregation).⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Formation and Addresses:

The Hambro' Synagogue was the second of the three historic Ashkenazi synagogues of the City of London, moving to London's East End in 1899.

It was a schismatic offshoot of the Great Synagogue, and was founded by a wealthy gem dealer, Marcus (or Mordecai) Moses, also widely known as Marcus Hamburger. Moses, together with Abraham Nathan, and Sampson Mears, wished to establish a small house of study and prayer (a beth hamedrash) at St. Mary Axe, in the City. The move was bitterly opposed by the Great Synagogue, who with the support of the Sephardi Bevis Marks Synagogue, had obtained an injunction from the Court of the Alderman of the City of London against the erection of such alternative place of worship.  A dispute subsequently developed regarding a divorce, in which Moses had publicly and scathingly criticised the ecclesiastical authorities, which lead to his being excommunicated by the then Chief Rabbi of the Great Synagogue (the decree subsequently being dissolved by the Hambro's first rabbi).^(iv)

1707 to 1725 (or 1721)

In 1706/7, Marcus Moses, with some friends from Hamburg, nevertheless  established a congregation meeting in his home in Magpie Alley^(v) (also called Church Row or Church Passage), a narrow passage, close to the present Fenchurch Street railway station, that ran south towards Crutched Friars (just to the east of present-day Fenchurch Place), London EC3. At the same time, a separate burial ground was acquired by the congregation in Hoxton.
However, the excommunication ruined Moses financially and he was forced to travel abroad for several years to recoup his losses. Religious services continued from his house in his absence.^(viii) Although there are conflicting accounts as to where and when he went and when he returned,^(ix) it appears that in about 1712 he went to Fort St. George (Madras) in India and was involved in the purchase for the governor of Madras, Thomas Pitt, of the famous Pitt diamond - reputedly "the largest diamond ever seen in Europe", later sold to the regent of France. In 1721 he returned to England with a large fortune, which he was able to utilize to built a new synagogue for his congregation.^(x)

1725 (or 1721) to 1893

In 1725 (or 1721)^(xv), in defiance of the injunction and against the objection of the Great Synagogue and Bevis Marks Synagogue, Marcus Moses built a regular synagogue in the garden adjacent to his house in Magpie Alley, Fenchurch Street,^(xvi) having himself previously purchased the freehold to the plot.^(xvii) The foundation stone for this structure, discovered in 1893, gives the Hebrew date of foundation as 3 Sivan 5485 (which corresponds to 15 May 1725), and states that it was laid by R. Zeeb Wolf, son of Isaac Bimas, of Bomsal, Prague (who became known as the Wolf Prager), Moses's son-in-law.^(xviii) The synagogue had seating for 218 men and 55 women.^(xix)

In 1805, the freehold of the site and building in Magpie Alley (by then known as Church Passage) was bequeathed to the congregation in 1803/5 by Eleazar Philip Salamons.^(xxii)

In 1892/3, the synagogue closed and was demolished, as part of City of London improvements.^(xxiii)

1893 to 1899

Services were held during this period in the vestry room (or hall) of the Great Synagogue, Dukes Street (now Dukes Place), London EC3.^(xxiv) The congregation's books and property were stored in the basement of the Central Synagogue in Great Portland Street, but many of the valuable items were missing when later reclaimed.^(xxv)

1899 to 1936

From well before the establishment of the United Synagogue, the Hambro' had serious financial problems and there had been numerous abortive schemes for either its closure or its amalgamation with the Great Synagogue, the most notable being in 1863. As part of the 1870 scheme on the establishment of the United Synagogue, the Council of the United Synagogue had resolved that in the event of the closure of the synagogue, its name would be transferred to first synagogue founded after such close.^(xxvi)  This relocation policy was explicitly designed to handle the shifting Jewish demographics out of the City of London and into the East End.

Accordingly, a new Hambro' Synagogue was opened in 1899 in Union Street (renamed Adler Street in 1913 after the former Chief Rabbi, Dr. Hermann Adler, who had recently died), London E1, which runs south, some 700 feet from Whitechapel High Road to Commercial Road, about 1,000 east of Gardiners Corner, in the heart of London's East End. The building, designed by architect Lewis Solomons,^(xxvii) with seating capacity for 400 congregants,^(xxx) was consecrated by Chief Rabbi Dr. H. Adler on 27 August 1899.^(xxxi)

Final Status:

After nearly 230 years of existance, the synagogue closed on 30 April 1936^(xxxii) and amalgamated with the Great Synagogue, although the congregation initially retained a distinct administrative identity within the United Synagogue, to the extent of electing honorary officers and a board of management.^(xxxiii)

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

One of the original five synagogues that formed the United Synagogue in 1870, of which it remained a constituent member until 1936.^(xxxiv)

Related Institution:

The Hambro' Synagogue was one of the synagogues instrumental in setting up The Beth Hamedrash, sometime prior to 1782.^(xxxv)

Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister or cantor - hold the cursor over his name.)

Rev. Jochanan Höllischau - Hambro's first rabbi, from 1707 until unknown date^(xxxix) 

Rabbi Hart Lyon (Rabbi Hirsvh Lewin) - rabbi of both Hambro' and Great synagogues, from 1758 until 1764^(xl) 

Rabbi Meshullam Solomon (Rabbi Israel Meshullam Zalman Emden) - rabbi from 1764 until 1780^(xli)

Rev. Samuel Marcus Gollancz - minister and reader from 1854 until 1899^(xlii)

Rev. Woolf Esterson - minister from 1899 until 1936^(xliii)

Cantors (Chazanim) / Readers and Others:

Rev. Solomon Jacobs - reader during early 1840s (c.1843)^(xlvi)

Rev. Herman Hoelzel - reader from 1845 until 1852^(xlvii)

Rev. Philip Hyman Forlezer - temporary assistant reader, appointed 1876^(xlviii)

Rev. Emanuel Spero - reader from 1880 until about 1883^(xlix)

Rev. Israel Greenberg - reader by 1885^(lii)

Rev. Joseph Hiller - reader from 1901 until 1928^(liii)

Rev. Sidney Israel Lubin (temp) reader from 1925 until 1936^(liv)

Principal Office Holders (1874):^(lvii)

Wardens - Joseph M. Isaacs & Hyman Levy

Financial Representative - Henry A. Israel

Secretary - Jacob Salomons, CT

Shamas - Michael Hyams

Beadle - Nathaniel Solomons

Lay Officers from 1896:^(lviii)

Wardens

1896-1900 - Joseph Jacobs & Emmanuel Salomon

1900-1903 - Joseph Jacobs & Louis Lubinski

1903-1905 - Louis Lubinski & Harris Wolf

1905-1909 - Harris Wolf & L. Joseph

1909-1910 - L. Joseph

1910-1912 - L. Joseph & S. Lesser

1912-1917 - L. Joseph & Dr. J. Klein

1917-1918 - I. Passoff & Dr. J. Klein

1918-1931 - I. Passoff & M. Newman

1931-1932 - S. Griller & M. Newman

1932-1936 - M. Newman & S. Moss

1936-1937 - M. Newman & A. Isaacs

Financial Representatives

1896-1898 - J.A.J. De Villiers

1898-1903 - I. Weinberg

1903-1912 - Dr. J. Klein

1912-1927 - Walter B. Styer, LLB

1927-1929 - Joseph Koski

1929-1931 - A. Wix

1931-1935 - B. Harris

1935-1936 - A. Isaacs

1936-1937 - N. Temple

Secretaries

1896-1899 - L.J. Salomons

1899-1936 - Rev. Woolf Esterson

Membership Data:

In 1845 there were 70 ba'alai batim and 150 seatholders (Chief Rabbi's Questionnaire).

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

1870	1880	1890	1900	1910	1920	1930
161	162	102	199	212	211	207

Also see below for seatholder records on All-UK Database.

Local Government Districts:

City of London synagogue

The locality of Magpie Alley and Dukes Place are both in the Aldgate Ward of the City of London (within the administrative area of Greater London since 1 April 1965).
Until the abolition in 1908 of civil parishes in the City, Magpie Alley was in the parish of St. Katherine Coleman and Dukes Street was in the parish of St. James Dukes Place.

Adler (Union) Street

Adler Street is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, created on 1 April 1965, within the administrative area of Greater London.^(lx)
Previously, Adler Street (formerly Union Street) was in the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney (established 1900) within the County of London (established 1889), both of which entities were abolished in 1965.
The southern 500 feet of Union (Adler) Street, which included the Hambro' Synagogue, was in the civil parish of Mile End Old Town, the northern 200 feet being in the civil parish of Whitechapel. Both civil parishes were abolished in 1927 by absorption into Stepney Borough parish (until that parish's abolition in 1965).

Cemetery
Information:

JewishGen’s Cemetery Discovery Project:

Hoxton Cemetery (exclusively for members of Hambro' Synagogue) purchased by Marcus Moses on 25 March 1707 on a 150 year lease at 10 shillings per annum.^(lxiii)

Hackney Cemetery (exclusively for members of Hambro' Synagogue), Luriston Road, disused in 1872.^(lxiv)

Burial Registers

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