Burton-on-Trent Jewish Community

Page created: 7 May 2006
Latest revision or update: 14 December 2016

Burton-upon-Trent

The town of Burton-upon-Trent in the English Midlands, has a population of about 60,000.  It was a county borough from 1901 until 1974, when it merged with neighbouring localities to form the local government district (later borough) of East Staffordshire, within the county of Staffordshire.

Burton-on-Trent Jewish Community

Although there was a small Jewish community in Burton-on-Trent in the latter part of the ninetenth century and early half of the twentieth centuries, there is no record of a synagogue being established. In the 1880s, it appears that services were held in private homes and in 1887, the Jewish residents of of near-by Derby and Burton decided to form a joint congregation, but the attempt failed. By 1895, Jewish residents in Burton held occasional services at the Masonic Hall. The close relationship with the Derby continued and its minister acted a visiting teacher and shochet in Burton.