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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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*
Denotes active congregation
(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.
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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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SPECIAL JCR-UK DATABASES
Search of Leeds Cemeteries Records,
in respect of all Leeds
Jewish Cemeteries,
each with a brief article by A. Tobias describing the cemetery
BHH
Cemetery - Records of more approximately 2,400 burials from 1955 to 28 February 2019, including photographs of
over 2,350 headstones.
Hill Top
Cemeteries - Records of almost 3,200 burials,
generally in use from 1875 to 1970 (but with some later burials),
including photographs of over 3,050 headstones.
New Farnley
Cemeteries - Records of more than 8,800 burials from
1896 to 28 February 2019, including photographs of over
7,750 headstones.
Sinai (Reform)
Synagogue Cemetery - Records of approximately 360 burials
from the early 1950s to June 2014, including photographs of
350 headstones.
UHC
Cemetery - Records of almost 7,000 burials from 1840 to
28 February 2019, including photographs of almost 5,200 headstones.
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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Bibliography and other sources.
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Medieval Community in Knaresborough.
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Jewish
Property and Heritage & Places of Local Interest.
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List of Jewish Collections
held by the
West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds.
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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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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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2004
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8,267**
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(Jewish Year Book
2005)
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2008
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6,100
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(estimate
- Murray Freedman)
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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
** This figure is from the 2001 census, but 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
Latest revision or update: 22 March 2019
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