the former

West London and Bloomsbury Hebrew Congregation

formerly Bloomsbury Synagogue

London WC1

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

Congregation Data
Name:	West London & Bloomsbury Hebrew Congregation⁽ⁱⁱ⁾
Merger and Earlier Congregation:	The congregation was formed in about 1949 on the merger of Bloomsbury Synagogue (which could alternatively be considered as the former name of the congregation) with the West London Hebrew Congregation.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾
Address:	40 Lamb's Conduit Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1^(iv) Previously at 30 Lamb's Conduit Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1 until about 1915^(v)
Formation:	Founded in 1909.^(viii)
Final Status:	The congregation became defunct in about 1959.^(ix)
Ritual:	Ashkenazi Orthodox
Affiliation:	The congregation was initially unaffiliated, becoming affiliated to the Federation of Synagogues in about 1921.^(x)
Readers: *(To view a short profile of a reader - hold the cursor over his name.)*	Rev. Hyman Cooper - reader and secretary from 1913 until about 1927.^(xiii) Rev. David Newman - reader from at least 1935 until about 1947 (although possibly not continuously).^(xiv) Rev. Eliezer Jacob Ferber - reported to have served as reader "until mid-1941", but it is unclear how this correlates to Rev. Newman's term of office.^(xv)
Lay Officers:	All data on lay officers has been extracted from listings in Jewish Year Books.^(xviii)
	Presidents 1912-1913 - M. Cohen 1914-1915 - H. Honestman 1915-1917 - S. Freedman 1917-1927 - P. Levison^(xix) 1927-1938 - L. Levy^(xix) 1938 1939 - no data 1939-1940 - L. Levy 1940 1945 - no data 1945-1949 - M. Jacobovitch^(xx) 1949-1951 - L.J. Mintz^(xx) 1951-1956 - S. Goorvitch from 1956 - no data Treasurers 1914-1915 - A. Lewis 1915-1919 - I. Laderman 1919-1938 - S. Mitzman 1938-1945 - no data 1945-1947 - M. Malin 1947-1949 - J. Andrews 1949-1951 - L. Davies & J. Andrews 1951-1956 - M. Malin from 1956 - no data	Vice President 1927-1936 - J. Ladsky 1936-1937 - J. Ladsky & N. Joseph 1937-1938 - N. Joseph 1938 1947 - no data 1947-1949 - A. Brandes Wardens 1926-1927 - M. Jacobovitch & S. Horowitz 1927-1938 - M. Jacobovitch 1938 1945 - no data 1945-1950 - M. Jacobovitch 1950 1953 - no data 1953-1956 - I. Seltzer & L. Hockstein from 1956 - no data Hon Secretaries 1930-1931 - A.S. Awrounin 1931-1933 - I. Marks 1933-1938 - W. Jacobovitch 1938-1940 - Wolfe Myers 1940 1945 - no data 1945-1947 - Wolfe Myers 1947-1951 - J. Myers^(xx) 1951-1952 - S. Seltzer 1952-1959 - I. Abrahams
Membership Data:	Jewish Year Books (seatholders) 1922 - 70 members
Local Government Districts:	Bloomsbury, in central London, is in the London Borough of Camden, an Inner London Borough, within the administrative area of Greater London, both of which entities were established on 1 April 1965.^(xxiii) Until 1965, Bloomsbury was in the former Metropolitan Borough of Holborn, (established in 1900) within the former County of London (established in 1889), both of which entities were abolished in 1965.
Registration District (BMD):	Camden from 1 October 1977^(xxiv) - Link to Register Office website
Cemetery Information:	For Federation cemeteries, see Cemeteries of the Federation of Synagogues.

Other Organisations & Institutions
connected to this congregation

Educational

Hebrew and Religious Classes - founded by 1914^(xxvii)
The following are details of the number of pupils enrolled in the classes for the relevant years^(xxviii)

1919

1921

30

40

Other Institutions

Ladies Guild - active by 1921.^(xxix)

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reserved.
(ii) This was the name adopted by the congregation following the merger in about 1949. ↵
(iii) The merged congregation was first listed in Jewish Year Book 1950, the congregation being listed by its former name until the 1949 edition. ↵
(iv) This was the address listed in Jewish Year Books 1916 through 1959. ↵
(v) This was the address listed in Jewish Year Books 1913 (the congregation's first listing) through 1915. ↵
(vi) and (vii) Reserved.
(viii) Note in Jewish Year Books from 1923. ↵
(ix) The congregation's final listing was in the Jewish Year Book 1959. ↵
(x) The congregation was first listed under the Federation of Synagogues in the Jewish Year Book 1922, previously being listed as an affiliated congregation. (Although it was listed as a constituent synagogue in the editions 1945/6 through 1948, during those years all Federation congregations were listed as constituent synagogues.) ↵
(xi) and (xii) Reserved.
(xiii) Rev. H. Cooper was listed as reader and secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1915 through 1927 and was reported elsewhere to have joined the congregation in 1913. ↵
(xiv) Based upon Rev. D. Newman's listing as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1936 through 1938 and 1945/6 and 1947 (the yearbook was not published from 1941 to 1945). It is believed he served continuously (including throughout WWII, but this may not have been the case. ↵
(xv) Jolles's Encyclopaedia of Chazanim, etc., p. 460. ↵
(xvi) and (xvii) Reserved.
(xviii) 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 1935 through 1938, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1934 and continued in office until 1938). 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. Until about 1928, Jewish Year Books did not include a separate entry for most Federation congregations, but merely listed the name of each synagogue together with its president and number of members. Furthermore, Jewish Year Books did not were not published during WWII subsequent to 1940. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956. ↵
(xix) This data reflects the separate listing of the congregation in Jewish Year Books. However, in addition to the separate entry for the congregation, the yearbooks for these years listed the name of each Federation synagogue together with its president and number of members. However, the presidents listed for this congregation did not always correspond with the presidents named in the congregation's separate listing (as listed above). The names of the presidents in the 1922/27 list were: 1922-1925 P. Levison; and 1925-1927 L. Levy. ↵
(xx) These officers also served as officers of the West London Hebrew Congregation.. ↵
(xxi) and (xxii) Reserved.
(xxiii) The London Borough of Camden, an Inner London Borough within the Greater London administrative area, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn and St. Pancras, all of which had been within the (then abolished) County of London (established in 1899). ↵
(xxiv) The former Registration Districts were: Holborn, from 1 July 1837 until 1 April 1965; and St Pancras, from 1 April 1965 until 1 October 1977. All registers would now be held by the current register office. ↵
(xxv) and (xxvi) Reserved.
(xxvii) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1915. Clearly an integral part of the congregation, which was listed Jewish Year Books 1928 through 1949 as "Bloomsbury Synagogue and Religious Classes". ↵
(xxviii) Figures extracted from the Jewish Year Book for the year following. ↵
(xxix) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1922. ↵

List of Federation of Synagogues Congregations

Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

Jewish Congregations in Greater London

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Page created: 5 November 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 3 September 2026
Page most recently amended: 4 September 2026

Research and formatting by David Shulman

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