Leicester Jewish Community

City of Leicester

The historic city of Leicester, in the English East Midlands, lies on the river Soar. The city has a population of about 280,000, although there are over 330,000 people living in the greater Leicester urban area. It was a county borough until 1974, when it became a district of the administrative county of Leicestershire. In 1996, the city of Leicester became a unitary authority.

Leicester Jewish Community

There had been a medieval Jewish community in Leicester. The first resident in modern times that could be identified as a Jew was in 1849. The first organised modern Jewish community dates from about 20 years later.

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that exist or existed in Leicester:

Leicester Hebrew Congregation
Leicester Beit Hamedrash (closed)
Leicester Progressive Jewish Synagogue
Leicester Reform Group (closed)

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Leicester Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

The Medieval Jews of Leicester - by Oliver D. Harris.
"Leicester" from Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain (including a paper by Aubrey Newman) - From papers for a conference at University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6th July 1975.
Appeal in the Press - from The Jewish Chronicle and The Hebrew Observer, 22 June 1860.
Leicester Medieval Jewish Community
Bibliography
Leicester Jewish Heritage Sites

on third parties' websites

Jewish Encyclopaedia article on Leicester by Joseph Jacobs, c-1906.

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

Educational & Theological

Hebrew and Religious School (founded 1881).

Other Institutions & Organisations

Charity Organisation (founded 1886) to relieve of poor immigrants and emigrants.

Bikur Cholim Society (founded 1896) to relieve its members during sickness, want of employment and to give a helping hand when needed.

Orphans Aid Society (founded by 1896), in connection to Leicester Hebrew Congregation

Anglos-Jewish Association (founded by 1896), in connection to Leicester Hebrew Congregation.

Hebrew Literary, Social and Debating Society (founded by 1900).

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

Leicester Jewish Cemeteries Information
(for records on the ALL-UK Database, see above)

Leicester's only Orthodox Jewish cemetery is the Gilroes Jewish Cemetery at Groby Road, Leceister LE3 9QS, opened in 1902 and containing over 900 burials.

Jewish Gilroes, the website of the Gilroes Jewish Cemetery database (see above), a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and affiliated to JCR-UK, includes a full catalogue of all the burials in the Gilroes Jewish Cemetery of the Leicester Hebrew Congregation, genealogical search facilities, photographs of all extant headstones, maps, a history of the cemetery, fascinating stories of the lives of some of those buried in the cemetery and much more.
Leicester Progressive Jewish Synagogue uses a section of the Loughborough Municipal Cemetery

(For some additional information, see also IAJGS Cemeteries Project - Leicester)

Leicester Jewish Population Data
1935	200	(The Jewish Year Book 1935)
1939	350	(The Jewish Year Book 1940)
1945	1,500	(The Jewish Year Book 1946)
1955	1,100	(The Jewish Year Book 1956)
1965	1,100	(The Jewish Year Book 1966)
1990	670	(The Jewish Year Book 1991)
2004	417	(The Jewish Year Book 2005)

Jewish Congregations in Leicestershire

Jewish Communities of England home page