Following the Belfast Burial Ground Act (1866), the Belfast City Cemetery (BCC), Falls Road,
was officially opened on 1 August 1869 as Belfast's first municipal burial
ground – designated as a cross-denominational burial ground for the people of
Belfast, then the fastest growing urban centre in the British Isles.
In 1871 approval was granted for the allocation of a small plot for a Jewish
Cemetery, located at the back of the BCC. This followed an application by Martin
Jaffe, the son of Daniel Jaffe (d.1874) who is regarded as the founder of the
Belfast Jewish community and instrumental in building its first synagogue which
opened in 1871. Daniel is buried in the cemetery.
Daniel Jaffe’s Grave Marker with the Poor Ground behind
|
Entrance Gate to Jewish Section
|
The Jewish section is separated from the rest of the cemetery by a stone wall
with an entrance gate on the Whiterock Road. Above the entrance gate, which is
now bricked up, the Hebrew inscription can still be read - meaning 'house of the
living'.
Hebrew Inscription Above Entrance Gate
|
A small Tahara (purification) house was built for the ritual preparation of the
body for burial, and for burial services. This was destroyed by vandals in the
1970s but its outline can still be seen.
The Jewish Section of the Cemetery is divided into 3 sections – the upper and
lower proprietary graves, with the Poor Ground in between (see below).
Belfast City Cemetery - Jewish Section
|
There are two grave classifications:
- Paupers' Graves: These are situated in the Public/Poor Ground for
people who could not afford a grave. For both Jewish and non-Jewish burials, no
grave markers were permitted for Paupers’ graves, and families were not buried
together. The first burial in the Jewish Poor Ground was in February 1884, the
last in February 1912. 75% of the poor ground burials were for children aged 10
or under – reflecting the high infant mortality rate of that time.
- Proprietary Graves: These were purchased by individuals or societies
and were situated in the more approachable and attractive cemetery areas. The
first proprietary grave burial was in January 1873. In 1898, and again in 1916,
the cemetery was extended.
The City Cemetery Jewish section was superseded in 1914 by the site at
Carnmoney, just outside Belfast. There were only occasional burials after
that, and the last burial in the Jewish section was in June 1964.
After pressure from Rabbi J. Shachter, the decision to prohibit the erection
of grave markers in the Poor Grounds was reversed by the Belfast Corporation
on March 1929. In February 1931, the Belfast Chevra Kadisha (burial society)
consecrated a memorial stone on the Jewish Poor Ground (shown left). In
later years as families moved away, the Jewish section was rarely visited.
It was neglected, and became a target of vandalism, anti-social behaviour
and antisemitic attacks. A recent heritage investment in the City Cemetery
facilitated preservation of the surviving headstones, and gave references to
the Jewish section at the Visitors Centre. For the story of the Belfast City
Cemetery, click
here.
As well as providing names and dates of burial, the website includes, where
possible, additional contextual information including cause of death,
parental/spouse details and census information.
A plan of the Poor Ground layout can be viewed
here.
For further information see:
- Belfast City Cemetery: The History of
Belfast, Written In Stone, Book 1, Tom Hartley (Blackstaff Press Ltd., 2014).
- The Jewish Community of Belfast and
their Places of Burial, Pamela Linden (Ulster Historical Foundation).
(Click
here.)
- 'A Tour of the Jewish Section of the
Belfast Jewish Cemetery' by Stanley Coppel (Click
here.)
Note: The current listings are solely for the 140 interments in the Jewish Poor Ground,
133 of which are Paupers' graves and seven are Proprietary graves. Proprietary
Ground listings will be added as a later phase.
Information for any individual burial may be displayed by first selecting the
appropriate surname letter from the list below and then selecting the required
name from its corresponding drop-down list. Navigation to the next or previous
burial in the listing is achieved by clicking the appropriate link on the
individual burial page.
Acknowledgements:
We would like to express our thanks to:
- Bernard Enlander and Steven Jaffe from Belfast Jewish Heritage.
- Tom Hartley, former Lord Mayor of Belfast, for kind permission to use tables
and text from his book Belfast City Cemetery: The History of Belfast, Written in Stone, Book 1 (Blackstaff Press Ltd, 2014)
which includes a chapter on the Jewish section of the cemetery.
Tom has been instrumental in the documentation, preservation and safeguarding of the Jewish section at the Belfast City Cemetery.
- Donald Bell (previously Engagement Officer with Belfast City Council) and his volunteer team, Angela McQuade and Tatiana Panova,
for their work on the initial data collection.
- Alan Tobias, for creating this website from a Belfast Jewish Heritage Project
database.
- David Shulman, JCR-UK Webmaster.
Please contact Belfast Jewish Heritage
belfastjewishheritage@yahoo.com
for any further information.
An interactive map showing Jewish Heritage in Northern Ireland can be found
here.
JCR-UK Hosted Databases
Belfast Jewish Community (JCR-UK) home page
Explanation of Terms |
About JCR-UK |
JCR-UK home page
Contact JCR-UK Webmaster:
jcr-ukwebmaster@jgsgb.org.uk
Terms and Conditions, Licenses and Restrictions for the use of this website:
This website is
owned by JewishGen and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. All
material found herein is owned by or licensed to us. You may view, download, and
print material from this site only for your own personal use. You may not post
material from this site on another website without our consent. You may not
transmit or distribute material from this website to others. You may not use
this website or information found at this site for any commercial purpose.
Copyright © 2002 - 2025 JCR-UK. All Rights Reserved