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THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF LEEDS
City of Leeds
The present boundaries of the officially-named City of Leeds metropolitan
borough, in Northern England, date from 1974, when the county borough of
Leeds was merged with a number of other localities from West Riding of Yorkshire to
form the metropolitan district (later borough) within the then new metropolitan county of West
Yorkshire. Leeds became a unitary authority in 1986 when West Yorkshire
lost its administrative status, becoming purely a ceremonial county.
The Leeds Jewish Community
The Leeds Jewish community is the second largest provincial
community in Britain (exceeded only by Manchester), currently numbering over
8,000 (out of a total population of approximately for 430,000 for Leeds itself
and 730,000 for the whole metropolitan borough). The community only really became established in 1840, much later than many
other communities. By the 1870's, most of the community lived in, or close to, the very
poor Leylands district, which was almost a Jewish ghetto. The Jews
gradually moved to the north, partly as a result of slum clearance schemes which
started in 1907 and very few were left in Leylands by the late 1930's. They
initially settled in the Chapeltown district, and from the 1950's, moved further
north to the vicinity of Moortown and the Ring Road (Alwoodley).
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The Jewish Congregations in Leeds
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The following congregations are, or were, considered to be part of the Leeds Community.
(If you cannot trace the congregation in the list below, try searching in the list of alternative names.): |
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* An active congregation.
#
Pages recently fully reformatted, with expanded data.
(1) Congregation records (as listed) in All-UK Database.
(2) Pages with their own searchable databases.
(3) Pages with press reports on the congregation.
(4) Pages with photographs.
(5) Pages with articles and other contributed material.
(6) Pages with browsable lists.
(7) Pages listing ministers and/or officers.
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Alternative Names for Leeds Synagogues
The following are former, alternative or unofficial names for some of the congregations listed above:
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LEEDS JEWISH CEMETERIES
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JCR-UK HOSTED DATABASES
Search of Leeds Cemeteries Records,
in respect of all Leeds Jewish Cemeteries,
each with a brief article by A. Tobias describing the cemetery
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BHH Cemetery - includes records of
2,590 identified burials, from 1955 to mid-February 2025, including
photographs of 2,527 headstones, with GPS coordinates and Google
satellite image showing the location of the grave.
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Hill Top Cemeteries - includes records of 2,953
identified burials, from 1875 to 1970 but with some later additions, including photographs of 2,818 headstones.
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New Farnley Cemeteries - includes records of
9,045 identified burials, from 1896 to mid-February 2025, including photographs of 7,970 headstones,
with GPS coordinates and Google satellite image showing the location of the grave.
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Sinai (Reform) Synagogue Cemetery -
comprises records of 336 burials,
from the early 1950s to June 2014, including photographs of 324 headstones.
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UHC Cemetery - includes records of
7,105 identified burials, from 1840 to
mid-February 2025, including photographs of 5,313 headstones, with GPS coordinates and Google
satellite image showing the location of the grave.
One may now do a single search covering all five of the Leeds Jewish Cemeteries,
to do so, follow the link from any of the above cemetery webpages.
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Cemeteries Information
The following provides brief details of the five Jewish cemeteries in
Leeds, for a more extensive description, please click on the
name of the relevant cemetery below - for brief database details see above:
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BHH Cemetery, Gelderd Road, Gildersome
- Opened 1955 and still in use primarily by the Leeds
Beth Hamedrash Hagadol
(BHH), but also shared with a number of other congregations.
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Hill Top Cemeteries
- Purchased in 1873 by the New Briggate Synagogue
and shared with other congregations. It was generally in use until 1970 (but with some
later burials). The cemetery has been closed to visitorrs due to subsidence causing the ground to collapse
into disused coal-minesbelow and engineers declaring it dangerous.
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New Farnley Cemeteries,
717 Whitehall Road, Leeds LS12
- In use from 1896. This cemetery is administered by the
Etz Chaim Synagogue,
except for the Louis Street Synagogue
section, which is administered by the
United Hebrew Congregation.
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Sinai (Reform) Synagogue Cemetery
- The Leeds Sinai (Reform) Synagogue
section of the Harehills Cemetery, Leeds, in used from the early 1950s.
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UHC Cemetery,
Gelderd Road, Gildersome - The cemetery of the Leeds United Hebrew Congregation (UHC),
but also includes a number of other congregations), in use from 1840.
(For some additional information, also see
IAJGS Cemetery Project - Leeds Cemetery)
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On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Leeds Jewish Community
on JCR-UK
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"Leeds" from The Rise of Provincial Jewry
by Cecil Roth, 1950 (an early history of the Community). Available on JCR-UK as part of the
Susser Archive.
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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:
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Leeds Jewish Community - The Early Years
by Murray Freedman. Originally published in Shemot (the journal of the Jewish
Genealogical Society of Great Britain), Spring 1993, Volume 1, Number 2.
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Deciphering An Old Gravestone In Leeds
by Murray Freedman. Originally published in Shemot, October 1994, Volume 2, Number 4.
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Brief articles by Alan Tobias on the Leeds
BHH Cemetery,
Hill Top Cemeteries,
New Farnley Cemeteries,
Sinai (Reform) Synagogue Cemetery and
UHC Cemetery,
written, respectively, as prefaces to the cemeteries' databases.
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Leeds Bibliography and
Local Archives.
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Medieval Community in Knaresborough.
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Jewish
Listed Heritage
Sites in West Yorkshire.
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List of Jewish Collections held by the
West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds.
on third party websites
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Other Leeds Jewish Institutions & Organisations
(that had been formed by 1900)*
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Educational & Theological
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Other Institutions & Organisations
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Jewish Board of Guardians (founded 1878) for
the relief of resident and casual poor.
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Society for the Relief of the Sick (founded 1872)
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"Social Union" Benefit Society (founded 1854)
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Chevra Kadishs Burial Society (founded 1895)
to profer the last solemn rites to the dead, to assist the necessitous
during the week of mourning, and to keep the cemetery in order.
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Jewish Ladies' Benevolent Society
(founded 1874), presumed successor to
Ladies Lying-in Society (founded 1872) for
assisting women during confinement.
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Jewish Young Men's Association (founded by 1900).
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Hebrew Literary Society (founded by 1900)
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Bikur Cholim (founded 1876)
for the relief of the sick poor.
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Hachnasath Orechim (founded 1890) to provide
poor strangers with shelter
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Sick Charity Society (founded by 1900) for
relief of sick poor, including medical attendance, surgical appliances.
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* As listed in the Jewish Directory of 1874 and the Jewish Year Books 1896 & 1900.
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Registration District
(Births, Marriages & Deaths)
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Leeds Jewish Population Data |
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1840
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Approximate date of earliest organized Jewish Community in Leeds
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1841
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60
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(9 families and 28 male lodgers)
(1841 census, per Murray Freedman's "Leeds -
The First Hundred Years")
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1846
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Establishment of first Synagogue (see
Great Synagogue)
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1850
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100
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(Murray
Freedman's profile on Leeds Jewry)
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1877
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about 500 families
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(The
Jewish Chronicle and E. Krausz - Leeds Jewry, 1964)
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1896
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10,000
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(Jewish Year Book 1896)
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1934
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25,000*
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(Jewish Year Book
1935)
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1945
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25,000*
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(Jewish Year Book
1945-6)
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1955
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25,000*
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(Jewish Year Book
1956)
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1964
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18,000
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(Study
of Louis Saipe)
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1988
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10,500
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(Murray
Freedman's profile on Leeds Jewry)
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2001
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8,267**
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(2001 Census results)
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2008
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6,100
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(estimate
- Murray Freedman)
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2011
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6,847**
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(2011 Census results)
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2021
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6,267**
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(2021
Census results)
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* These figures are disputed in
"Leeds Jewry - A Demographical and Sociological Profile" by Murray
Freedman, in which it is claimed that the highest number Leeds Jewry
ever achieved was possibly around 22,000 in the late 1920's and early
1930's. The Jewish Year Book 1991 also gives a figure for Leeds of
12,000, substantially above Murray's figure for a couple of years
earlier.
**The 2001, 2011 and 2021 census result figures represent those who
answered the voluntary question 'What is your religion?' by clicking the category
'Jewish' among the eight check-box
options (another of which was 'No religion'). However, between 6.0% to
7.7% of the population nationally did not answer the question and the
figure would not have included those who considered themselves Jews by
ethnicity but not by religion, and accordingly the actual number of Jews
would be higher than the figures shown.
This figure for 2001 (and possibly other census results) includes approximately 1,000
students at university in Leeds.
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Other Jewish Congregations in West Yorkshire
Jewish Communities of England home page
Page created By John Berman: 2002
Congregations researched and page reformatted by David Shulman: September 2005
Page redesigned by Louise Messik: November 2011
Page reorganized by David Shulman: January 2013
Page most recently amended:
9 April 2025
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