JCR-UK

Grimsby Hebrew Congregation

& Jewish Community

Grimsby, Lincolnshire

 

 

   
 


Page created: 2002
Latest revision or update: 4 October 2021

Town of Grimsby

Grimsby, also known as Great Grimsby, is a seaport of about 90,000 inhabitants located on the southern bank of the Humber estuary in eastern England. Until 1974, Grimsby was a county borough in the administrative county of Lindsey, one of the three Parts into which Lincolnshire was divided.  From 1974, it formed the greater part of the Borough of Great Grimsby, a district of the now defunct administrative county of Humberside. On the abolition of Humberside in 1996, Great Grimsby was merged with the adjoining borough of Cleethorpes to form North East Lincolnshire, a unitary authority, treated for ceremonial purposes as part of the county of Lincolnshire.

Grimsby Jewish Community

Although there had been a Medieval Jewish presence in Grimsby, the Jews were not to return until the 1860's, when the situation in Eastern Europe coupled with the deep water port facilities and railway connections made Grimsby an attractive place to travel through. The Great Central Railway Company offered cheap package deals from Riga, Libau, Hamburg and Rotterdam to America via Grimsby (railway to Liverpool and Steamer to USA). At the height of the Exodus from Eastern Europe Grimsby saw some 5,000 immigrants a year (approximately 100,000 in total). The Grimsby population swelled from 8,860 in 1851 to 40,000 in 1880, a handful of these immigrants who put down roots were Jewish. The Jewish population is recorded as being 87 in 1871, rising to 450 in the early twentieth century and then gradually declining to 120 in 1982 and dwindling still further thereafter. (John Berman)

 

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that exist or existed in Grimsby in modern times:

  • Grimsby Hebrew Congregation (also known as the Sir Moses Montefiore Memorial Synagogue) - the principal Jewish congregation in the town. (As it is impossible to differentiate between the purely congregational information and general communal information, this page incorporates both.)

  • Grimsby Beth Hamedrash, which was in existence from the 1890's and closed during the first half of the twentieth century.

Grimsby Hebrew Congregation Data


The Sir Moses Montefiore Memorial Synagogue, Grimsby

Grimsby Hebrew Congregation Data

Official Name:

Sir Moses Montefiore Memorial Synagogue
also known as Grimsby Hebrew Congregation
(previously known as Great Grimsby Hebrew Congregation)

Address:

Holme Hill, Heneage Road, Grimsby DN32 9DZ, Lincolnshire
(Foundation stone laid July 1885; Synagogue consecrated 11 December 1889)

The Synagogue is a Grade II Listed Building (number 1379853), designated on 30 June 1999. (View description on Historic England website.) The congregation's mikvah is also a Grade II Listed Building (number 1379854), designated on 30 June 1999. (View description on Historic England website.)

Former Address:

A cottage in Strand Street, Grimsby, Lincolnshire

Date Founded:

Congregation founded 1865.

Current Status:

Active

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Marriage Certification:

Group for Certification: Board of Deputies
Appears in 1998 General Registrar Official List
Worship Number: 31166
Registration District: Lincolnshire

Congregation Numbers:

1874 - 18 seatholders  (Board of Deputies Return)

1880 - 20 seatholders  (Board of Deputies Return)

1890 - 35 seatholders  (Board of Deputies Return)

1895/8 - 60 seatholders (The Jewish Year Books 1896/99)

1900 - 80 seatholders (The Jewish Year Book 1900/01 and Board of Deputies Return)

1909 - 95 seatholders (The Jewish Year Book 1935)

1999 - 29 (as reported by Board of Deputies)

 


GRIMSBY JEWISH CEMETERIES

 

 JCR-UK HOSTED DATABASE

Search the Grimsby Jewish Cemetery Database,
including burial records and photographs of the headstones,
as well as a description of the cemetery

Basic Cemetery Information

  • Grimsby Jewish Cemetery, First Avenue, Nunsthorpe, Grimsby, consecrated in March 1896, and subsequently extended. See above database. The site was bombed by the Germans in World War II.

  • Grimsby Old Jewish Cemetery, Doughty Road, Grimsby, opened in 1854 and closed following World War I. In 1959, it was converted to a recreational park, the remaining headstones being lifted and buried under turf.

(For some additional information, also see IAJGS Cemetery Project - Grimsby)

 


Search the All-UK Database

The records in the database associated with Grimsby include:

Marriages

1875 - 1948 (136 records).

Military

Grimsby Jews who Served in the Army in World War I, 1914 - 1918 (43 records).

1851 Anglo Jewry Database - includes also Lough (12 miles to the south) (updated 2016).

Individuals in the 1851 Anglo Jewry Database who were living in:
Grimsby during the 1840s (4 records), 1850s (1 record), 1870s (1 record) and 1880s (6 records); and
Louth during the 1800s (1 record); 1810s (2 records); 1820s (6 records), 1830s (5 records), 1840s (7 records), 1850s (7 records), 1860s (5 records), 1870s (4 records), 1880s (2 records), 1890s (3 records) and 1910s (1 record).


View Congregation Records

Marriage Records - Records of Grimsby Hebrew Congregation marriages from 1875 to 1921 (109 records).
 

 

On-line Communal Documents, Articles and Other Material
relating to the Grimsby Jewish Community

Communal Documents on JCR-UK

Articles and Other Material on JCR-UK

 

Other Grimsby Jewish Institutions & Organisations
(that had been formed by 1900*)

Educational & Theological

  • Religion and Hebrew School (founded by 1865).

Other Institutions & Organisations

  • Grimsby Jewsh Philanthropic Society (founded 1900) for grant loans of money to necessitous resident Jewish poor.

  • Jewish Literary Society (founded by 1900) for the study of Jewish Literature and Ancient Classics.

* As listed in the Jewish Year Books 1896 & 1900 (none mentioned in Jewish Directory of 1874).

 

Grimsby Jewish Population Data

1871

87

 

1896

149

(The Jewish Year Book 1896/7)

1898

320

(The Jewish Year Book 1998/9)

1900

450

(The Jewish Year Book 1900/1)

1909

450

(The Jewish Year Book 1910)

1934

400

(The Jewish Year Book 1935)

1944

400

(The Jewish Year Book 1945)

1955

400

(The Jewish Year Book 1956)

1965

210

(The Jewish Year Book 1966)

1982

120

 

1990

90

(The Jewish Year Book 1991)

2004

35

(The Jewish Year Book 2005)

 

Records

Synagogue Records in Local Archives:

  • 1889-1989 records in NE Lincolnshire Archives

  • 1941-1994 papers in East Riding of Yorkshire Archives

 
Jewish Congregations in Lincolnshire

Jewish Communities of England home page

 


Explanation of Terms   |   About JCR-UK  |   JCR-UK home page

Contact JCR-UK Webmaster:
jcr-ukwebmaster@jgsgb.org.uk
(Note: This is to contact JCR-UK, not the above Community or Congregation)

JGSGB  JewishGen


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 - 2023 JCR-UK. All Rights Reserved