Highams Park and Chingford Synagogue

Chingford, London E4

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Highams Park and Chingford Synagogue
(courtesy Steven Jaffe, 2023)

Congregation Data

Name:

Highams Park and Chingford Synagogue⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Former or Alternative Names:

Highams Park and Chingford Affiliated Synagogue (used from about 1962 until 2013)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Highams Park and Chingford Hebrew Congregation (used until about 1937)^(iv)

Address:

81a Marlborough Road, Chingford, London E4 9AJ.^(v)

The synagogue, a single storey building designed by architect Israel Schultz,^(vi) was built in 1937, being consecrated by the Chief Rabbi, Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, and opened by Henry B. Pole, on 22 August 1937 (15 Ellul 5697).^(viii)

In 1953, the site was further developed to include new classrooms, the foundation stone being laid in March 1953 and the building being consecrated and opened on 7 June 1953 by Dayan Dr. M. Lee and Mr. S. Romer.^(ix)

In 1968 the site was further enhanced when a hall was built to the side of the synagogue and the classrooms were moved behind the main building.^(ix)

Earlier Address:

The first services were held in the homes of the Singer and Stitcher families.^(x)
Immediately prior to the move to Marlborough Road, services were held at 29 Castle Avenue, London, E4.^(xi)

Current Status:

Active

Formation:

Initially members of the congregation were drawn from local residents who had moved out from London's East End. At its formation, in or before 1932,^(xii), the synagogue claimed to be the synagogue furthest to the north east in London.

Affiliation:

In 1932, the congregation became an affiliated synagogue of the United Synagogue.^(xii) It remained so until March 2013, when it become a constituent synagogue of the United Synagogue.^(xiii)

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Website:

https://www.hpcs.org.uk

Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor over his name.)

Rev. Nathan Levine - minister from 1937 until 1958.^(xvi)

Rev. Philip T. Greenberg - minister from 1959 until 1968.^(xvii)

Rev. Leslie Mockton - minister from 1969 until 1988.^(xviii)

Rev. M. Broder - minister from about 1988 until about 1996.^(xix)

Rabbi Menachem Lester - minister from about 1996 until about 2005.^(xx)

Rabbi Avraham Kahan & Rebbetzen Ruth Kahan - rabbinic couple from 2004 until present (October 2025).^(xxi)

Lay Officers:

Unless otherwise stated, all data on lay officers has been extracted from listings in Jewish Year Books.^(xxv)

Wardens

1938-1939 - M. Myers & D. Stitcher

1939-1940 - Henry B. Pole & I. Gordon

1940-1941 - no data

1941-1946 - Jack Goldbart & Dr A.H. Woolfson^(xxvi)

1946-1948 - Capt. Henry B. Pole & P. Stitcher

1948-1949 - L. Howard & P. Stitcher

1949-1950 - L. Howard & J.L. Singer

1950-1951 - L.M. Greenfield & S. Romer

1951-1956 - S. Romer & H. Brodie

from 1956 - no data

Treasurers

1933-1935 - J.C. Singer

1935-1936 - P. Israel

1936-1937 - A. Bloom

1937-1938 - J. Caiden

Financial Representatives

1938-1940 - A. Bloom

1940-1941 - no data

1941-1951 - V.J. Leigh^(xxvii)

1951-1956 - Dr H. Blair

from 1956 - no data

Presidents

1933-1935 - D. Stitcher

1935-1938 - J.C. Singer

Vice Presidents

1933-1935 - Jack Goldbart

1935-1936 - H.A. Epton

1936-1937 - I. Gordon

Secretaries & Hon Secretaries

1933-1935 - J. Caiden

1935-1936 - L. Hyman

1936-1939 - J. Lambert

1939-1940 - Victor M. Smith

1940-1945 - no data

1945-1949 - Victor M. Smith

1949-1960 - N. Fisher

1960-1968 - R. Pepper

1968-1970 - M. Garfield

1970-1988 - R. Cowan

Membership Data:

United Synagogue (male seat-holders)^(xxviii)

1932

1940

1950

1960

1970

124

120

279

357

340

National Reports & Surveys^(xxix)

1977 - 314 male (or household) members and 70 female members

1983 - 290 male (or household) members and 99 female members

1990 - 307 members (comprising 304 households and 3 individual male members)

1996 - 266 members (comprising 258 households, 1 individual male and 7 individual female members)

2010 and 2016 - listed as having 100 to 199 members (by household)

Charitable Status:

As a constituent of the United Synagogue, the congregation operates within that organisation's registered charity status (registered charity no. 242552).

Local Government Districts:

The northeast London suburbs of Highams Park and Chingford are in the London Borough of Waltham Forest (created on 1 April 1965),^(xxx) within the administrative area of Greater London, close to the boundary with Essex.

Previously, Chingford was in the former Municipal Borough of Chingford (incorporated as a borough in 1938, previously an urban district from 1894) and Highams Park was in the former Municipal Borough of Walthamstow (incorporated as a borough in 1929, previously an urban district from 1894), both formerly in the county of Essex.

Registration District (BMD):

Waltham Forest from 1 April 1965^(xxxi) - Link to Register Office website

Worship Registration:

The synagogue in Marlborough Road is registered as a Place of Worship - Worship Register Number 57614 - under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.^(xxxii)

Cemetery
Information:

For United Synagogue cemeteries, see Cemeteries of the United Synagogue.

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to this Congregation

on JCR-UK

Press Releases relating to the election of Officers and Committee Members, 1941-1945

Notable Local Jewish Residents
or Members of this Congregation

Sir David Beckham (b.1975), England international footballer considered one of the most accomplished footballers of his generation who became a global celebrity icon, whose maternal grandfather was Jewish. He grew up in Chingford and attended Chingford County High School.
Alexis Strum (b.1981), song writer, singer, actress and writer was born in Chingford.
Michelene Wandor, née Samuels (b.1940 in Chingford, is a playwright, critic, lecturer and musician. She has written poetry about the history of the Jews in England. In 1987 her dramatisation of The Wandering Jew was the first drama by a British woman playwright to be staged on one of the National Theatre's main stages.
Jewish Mayors of Waltham Forest:
- Councillor Jack Kaye (d.2011), an old boy of the Norwood orphanage, and a member of Highams Park and Chingford synagogue, was elected Mayor of Waltham Forest in 1981/82 and Deputy Mayor in 1988/89.
- Labour Councillor Dave Weinstein JP (c.1913-1977), a member of Highams Park and Chingford synagogue, was elected the first Jewish Mayor of Waltham Forest in 1967.

Other Organisations & Institutions
connected to this congregation

Ladies Guild - founded by 1938 and held its first social event in 1943.^(xxxvii)
Social and Literary Society - founded by 1938.^(xxxviii)
Marlborough Judeans - founded by 1938 and active until the 1960s.^(xxxix)
Other organisations, active in the 1990s, include a branch of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women (AJEX) (founded in 1947), a Jewish Association of Cultural Societies (JACS) and a Friendship Club.^(xl)

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reserved.
(ii) The official name of the congregation since it became a constituent synagogue of the United Synagogue in 2013 (as per the congregation's website), this was also the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books from 1938 through 1962. ↵
(iii) The congregation was listed under this name in Jewish Year Books from 1934 through 1937. ↵
(iv) The congregation was listed under this name in Jewish Year Books from 1963, used presumably until the congregation became a constituent synagogue of the United Synagogue. ↵
(v) The congregation's address as per its website, last accessed October 2025. Marlborough Road was also the address listed in Jewish Year Books from 1938. ↵
(vi) Sharman Kadish's Jewish Heritage in Britain and Ireland, 2015, p.41. To view additional information about Israel Schultz (later known as Ivor Shaw), hold the cursor over his name. ↵
(vii) Reserved.
(viii) Consecration plaque at the synagogue, image on the congregation's website, last accessed October 2025. ↵
(ix) History on the congregation's website, accessed October 2025. ↵
(x) Jewish Chronicle report of 19 September 1997. ↵
(xi) Listed as the congregation's address in Jewish Year Books 1936 and 1937. ↵
(xii) According to The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by Aubrey Newman (1977), pages 222, the congregation became affiliated to the United Synagogue in 1932. ↵
(xiii) History on the congregation's website, accessed October 2025. ↵
(xiv) and (xv) Reserved.
(xvi) Date of apointment - Encyclopaedia of British Jewish Cantors, Chazanim, etc by Michael Jolles, 2024. He died in office and was listed as minister and reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1939 through 1958 (except for the war years 1941-45, when publication was suspended). ↵
(xvii) Rev. Greenberg was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1960 through 1969. ↵
(xviii) Rev. Mockton was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1970 through 1988. ↵
(xix) Based upon Rev. Broder's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1989 through 1996. ↵
(xx) Based upon Rev. Lester's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1997 through 2005. ↵
(xxi) The congregation's website, last accessed October 2025 ↵
(xxii) to (xxiv) Reserved.
(xxv) Where a person is first listed in a year book as holding a particular office, it has been assumed that his term of office commenced in the year of publication of the relevant year book (which was generally towards the end of the year prior to the year appearing in the title of the year book) and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant (e.g. if he is listed in Jewish Year Books 1946 through 1949, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1945 and continued in office until 1949). However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and accordingly his actual years of office may differ slightly from those shown here. Jewish Year Books were not published during WWII subsequent to 1940. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956. ↵
(xvi) Jewish Chronicle reports of all the annual meetings of the congregation from 1941 through 1945 reported on the election of these individuals as wardens, who were also named as the congregation's wardens in the Jewish Year Book 1945/6. J. Goldbart was also named as the incumbent warden at the 1941 annual meeting and therefore presumably served from 1940. ↵
(xvii) Jewish Chronicle reports of all the annual meetings of the congregation from 1941 through 1945 reported on the election of V.J. Leigh as financial representative of the congregation, and he was also named as financial representative in the Jewish Year Book 1945/6 through 1951. ↵
(xviii) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by Aubrey Newman (1977), pages 218/9. ↵
(xxix) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports. ↵
(xxx) The London Borough of Waltham Forest, an Outer London Borough within the Greater London administrative area, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the municipal boroughs of Chingford, Leyton and Walthamstow. All three municipal boroughs had previously been within the County of Essex. ↵
(xxxi) The former Registration District for Chingford was Epping, from 1 July 1837 until 1 April 1965. The former Registration Districts for Highams Park were West Ham from 1 July 1837 until 1 October 1935, and Essex South Western, from 1 October 1935 until 1 April 1965. All registers would now be held by the current register office. ↵
(xxxii) Page 1443 of the 2010 List of Places of Worship ↵
(xxxiii) to (xxxvi) Reserved.
(xxxvii) Listed in Jewish Year Book 1939 and mentioned in Jewish Chronicle report of 29 October 1943. ↵
(xxxviii) Listed in Jewish Year Book 1939. ↵
(xxxix) Listed in Jewish Year Books 1939 and 1940 and mentioned in Jewish Chronicle reports of 1960s. ↵
(xl) Jewish Chronicle report of 19 September 1997. ↵

List of United Synagogue Congregations

Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Waltham Forest

Jewish Congregations in Greater London

Greater London home page

Page created: 16 November 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 16 October 2025
Page most recently amended: 20 October 2025

Research by David Shulman, assisted by Steven Jaffe
Formatting by David Shulman

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