Sheffield Jewish Community

Sheffield, South Yorkshire

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
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City of Sheffield

The city of Sheffield, which has a population of over half a million, forms the core of the Metropolitan Borough of Sheffield, in Northern England. The present boundaries date from 1974, when the metropolitan district of Sheffield was formed within the then new metropolitan county of South Yorkshire. Sheffield became a unitary authority in 1986 when South Yorkshire lost its administrative status, becoming purely a ceremonial county. Until 1974, Sheffield was a county borough and part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The Sheffield Jewish Community

Jews are known to have settled in Sheffield from at least the 1790s. Although the date generally given for the establishment of a congregation is 1838, it is clear that organised religious services were held from at least the 1820s and a plot for the use of a burial grand was acquired in 1831. (For a discussion on the date of establishment of the Community see Article by K. Lunn).

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that exist or existed in and around Sheffield:

Sheffield & District Reform Jewish Congregation*

Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation

Sheffield Hebrew Congregation

United Synagogue - Sheffield*

Yanashker Synagogue

* An active congregation.

The following are former or alternative names of the above congregations:

Brunswick Street Synagogue - see Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation

Campo Lane Synagogue - see Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation

Central Synagogue - see Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation

The Chevra - see Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation

Figtree Lane Synagogue - see Sheffield Hebrew Congregation

Great Synagogue - see Sheffield Hebrew Congregation

Holly Street Synagogue - see Sheffield Hebrew Congregation

Kingfield Synagogue - see United Synagogue - Sheffield

North Church Street Synagogue - see Sheffield Hebrew Congregation

Sheffield Jewish Congregation and Centre - see United Synagogue - Sheffield

Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation - see Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation

United Sheffield Hebrew Congregation - see United Synagogue - Sheffield

West Bar Green Synagogue - see Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation

Wilson Road Synagogue (until 1953) - see Sheffield Hebrew Congregation

Wilson Road Synagogue (from 1953) - see United Synagogue - Sheffield

Search the All-UK Database

The records in the database associated with Sheffield include:

Marriage Records 1842 - 1952 (379 records), including:
- North Church Street Synagogue (93 records);
- Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation (124 records)
- Sheffield Hebrew Congregation (9 records);
- Miscellaneous and unspecified congregations (152 records).
Burials
- Bowden Street Jewish Cemetery (closed), 1833 - 1874 (8 records);
- Central Hebrew Congregation Cemetery, Colley Road, Ecclesfield, 1932 - 1953 (170 records);
- Jewish Community Cemetery (formerly Sheffield UHC), Colley Road, Ecclesfield, 1874 - 1997 (1,390 records);
- Walkley Jewish Cemetery, 1880 - 1945 (125 records).
1851 Anglo Jewry Database (updated 2016)
- Individuals in the 1851 Anglo Jewry Database who were living in Sheffield during the 1790s (2 records); 1800s (2 records), 1810s (7 records); 1820s (17 records), 1830s (41 records), 1840s (70 records), 1850s (131 records), 1860s (45 records), 1870s (25 records), 1880s (26 records), 1890s (9 records), 1900s (5 records) and 1910s (1 record).

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

on JCR-UK

The Rise of Provincial Jewry - Sheffield by Cecil Roth, 1950. (Part of the Susser Archive.)
Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain - papers for a conference at University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6th July 1975:
- Paper on Sheffield, including a paper by Kenneth Lunn;
- Chief Rabbi's Questionnaire of 1845 - Sheffield Congregational & Charitable Data and Sheffield Educational Data; and
- Jewish Alien Paupers in Sheffield - Digest of Reports from Jewish Boards of Guardians.
Sheffield Bibliography.
Sheffield Jewish Heritage Sites.

on Third Part websites

The Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library - a local authority archive that holds records and reports concerning the city’s historic Jewish population dating from the mid-nineteenth century onwards.

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

Educational & Theological

School, adjoining Synagogue (founded by 1874)
Sheffield Jews' School (founded 1892)
Sheffield Hebrew Education Board (founded 1902)

Other Institutions & Organisations
Formed by 1900*

Sheffield Hebrew Benevolent Society (in operation from 1873 until 1887)
Sheffied Jewish Board of Guardians (founded 1887) to relieve resident and casual poor.
Jewish Sisters Benevolent Association (founded by 1874, but not mentioned in JRBs).
Chevra Sholem (founded 1892, appears in JYB 1896 but not JYB 1900) for aid to members, loans, etc.
Sheffield Jewish Literary and Phiharmonic Society (founded 1887).
Jewish Tailors' Sabbath Observance and Benefit Society (founded by 1900)
Sheffield Zionist Association (founded 1899)
Jewish Ladies Benevolent Society (founded 1900)
Sheffield Dorcas, or Sewing Guild (founded 1900)
Jewish Working Men's Club (founded 1901).

* As listed in the Jewish Directory of 1874 and the Jewish Year Books 1896/97 & 1900/01 or mentined in Article by K. Lunn.

Community Records

Registration District (for BMD): Sheffield (since 1 July 1837).
- Register Office website

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

Sheffield had several Jewish burial grounds (one Reform and the remainder Orthodox), as listed below:

The Bright Family Burial Plot, Rodmoor. Acquired by the Bright Family in 1831 for use as a family cemetery.
Bowden Street Jewish Burial Ground. In use 1831 to 1874. The burial ground was the subject of a compulsory purchase order in 1975 and the remaining 35 graves from this cemetery were re-interred in the Ecclesfield Jewish Cemetery. The site is now a car park.
Ecclesfield Jewish Cemetery, 85 Colley Rd. Acquired by Sheffield Hebrew Congregation in 1872 and still in use by the United Synagogue - Sheffield.
Walkley Street Cemetery, Waller Road. Acquired in about in 1880 for members of the then Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation, but no longer in use.
Sheffield City Cemetery, Reform Jewish Section. Sheffield & District Reform Jewish Congregation administers its own Cemetery in a Section of a City Council cemetery.

(For additional information, see IAJGS Cemetery Project - Sheffield)

Sheffield Jewish Population Data
1896	400	(The Jewish Year Book 1896/97)
1900	500	(The Jewish Year Book 1900/01)
1934	2,462	(The Jewish Year Book 1935
1945	2,175	(The Jewish Year Book 1945/46)
1946	1,855	(The Jewish Year Book 1947)
1955	1,850	(The Jewish Year Book 1956)
1965	1,600	(The Jewish Year Book 1966)
1990	920	(The Jewish Year Book 1991)
1999	650	(The Jewish Year Book 2000)
2004	763	(The Jewish Year Book 2005)

Jewish Congregations in South Yorkshire

Jewish Communities of England home page

Page created: 21 August 2005
Latest revision or update: 26 October 2020

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