A Survey of Anglo-Jewry in 1851

<plain_text><page sequence="1">A Survey of Anglo-Jewry in 18511 By V. D. Lipman, M.A., D.Phil. STATISTICAL study of the Jewish populations of countries other than Britain is generally based on material to be found in official census publications. Since the official censuses in Britain have never classified its population according to religious belief, figures of the numbers of Anglo-Jewry, both in the past and at the present day, are estimates alone. A reasonably reliable estimate of the Jewish population, with details of its distribution, is a desirable concomitant of a survey of Anglo-Jewry at any period but it is probably not possible to find adequate material to do this for any period earlier than about 1859.2 Estimates for earlier dates there, of course, are, but about a century ago there was for the first time a convergence of several independent con? temporary sources of information. First, in 1848 the Board of Deputies started to collect from all congregations in the British Isles, figures of births (male and female), marriages, interments (male and female) and the number of "seatholders or members of synagogues." It took a few years before any measure of success was attained "because of insufficient records and general indifference."3 The first lists which are available in any completeness are for the year January 1852 to January 1853. Even then only the figures for burials can be regarded as really reliable. Contemporary evidence points to some imperfections in the totals of marriages, and the unreliability of the figures for births, especially of females. The "seatholders and members" figures raise the issue which almost always arises with figures of this kind at this period. Male members of a congregation comprised two classes?"Bcile Batim" ("free" or "privileged") members and "seatholders"; in addition, seats might be let, or appropriated, to persons not members, such as wives or other female relatives of members. Even where, as rarely occurs, the meaning of seatholders is made precise, it is difficult to know what proportion of the total Jewish population of the area they represent. The second source is the Census of Worship of 1851. As part of that census, special enquiries were made as to the provision for religious worship and for education, and the normal census machinery was employed, though it was discovered at the last moment that there was no legal power to enforce replies to these enquiries. The religious enquiry included the date of erection of the place of worship, the number of seats, free and appropriated, the amount of standing room, the attendances on morning, afternoon and evening of Sunday 30th March, 1851, with averages for the previous six months, and particulars of Sunday scholars attending Divine service. This material is tabulated in the Printed Report on Religious Worship, published as part of the census reports in 1853. The printed totals are, however, a little misleading, at least so far as the Jewish entries are concerned, because they give, as Jewish, congregations of non-Jewish "Israelites" at Bury, Lutterworth and Haslingden; besides the Jewish congregation, an "Israelite" congregation at Leeds is returned as Jewish, and similarly there is no 1 Paper read before the Jewish Historical Society of England on 5th July, 1950. 2 The preparation of this paper owes much to the guidance and the previously published work of Mr. Cecil Roth; in particular, his "Rise of Provincial Jewry" has been drawn upon for much of the background of the provincial communities. The Rev. S. Levy has also been most helpful in drawing attention to many sources of statistical information. 3 Jewish Chronicle 5 April, 1850. Q 171</page><page sequence="2">172 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 Jewish congregation returned for Sheffield but an "Israelite" one is substituted in its stead. The original returns for all the Jewish congregations (except Bristol, which seems to have been mislaid) are in the Public Record Office (H.O. 122) and these give much information, especially in the "remarks" columns. The Registrar-General had requested the co-operation of the Board of Deputies and Sir Moses Montefiore, as President of the Board, issued a circular letter on 4 March, 1851, with two copies of the returns, which were to be "made under the hands of the Wardens or Warden of the Synagogue and countersigned by the Secretary." It was made clear in this letter, and a subsequent letter of 20th March, 1851, that the figures for attendances were to be "an estimate formed according to your judgment of the attendance in Synagogue on the evening of the coming in of the Sabbath, the 28th March, and on the Sabbath morning and afternoon of 29th March, and an estimate of the average number of Sabbath attendances during the six preceding months."1 It should be added that the dates of "erection of the building" are of no great value, except in one or two cases, since sometimes the foundation of the congregation is given, sometimes the dare of erection of the synagogue in use in 1851, and occasionally the date of its last repair or reconstruction. The figures of appropriated seats must also be read in conjunction with other evidence since sometimes they represent seatholders or male members (including the free members) and sometimes seem to represent both these male seatholding members and ladies to whom seats had been allocated. The third main source of information is a table, appearing in the Jewish Chronicle for 23 July, 1847, and giving for each congregation outside London the number of Bdale Batim, "seatholders" and "individuals" (the last occasionally given as none). There is no indication whatsoever of the provenance of these figures in the periodical itself. It seems however, a reasonable assumption to identify these figures with the answers to the questions about the numbers of Be?ale Batim, seatholders and individuals included in the very elaborate questionnaire which the Chief Rabbi, Nathan Adler, issued on the 13th August, 1845, some weeks after his induction, to all the congregations in Britain and her colonies, asking for detailed information and statistics of all synagogue, charitable and educational activities.2 These three main sources of information can be supplemented by references to the numbers of Jews in London and elsewhere in the early issues of the Jewish Chronicle, notably the articles of A. A. Levy in the January to April issues of 1842 ("A Statistical Account of the Principal Jewish Communities throughout England") covering com? munities in the southern and midland counties; by references in two books, one pub? lished in 1851, the Rev. Moses Margoliouth's "History of the Jews in Great Britain," the other in 1853, the Rev. John Mills' "The British Jews," as well as in works such as Henry Mayhew's "London Labour and the London Poor," which also first appeared in 1851. In trying to form estimates of the number of souls in any Jewish community from the lists of 1847, 1851 and 1852, one may perhaps use the following yardstick : (a) the number of "free members" given in the Jewish Chronicle list of 1847, might comprise ten per cent, of the total, possibly one for every other family; (b) The "members or seatholders" of the Board of Deputies 1852 list or the "free members" and "seatholders" of the 1847 list added together might be about a fifth of the total?the heads of families; 1 Board of Deputies Report, March 1851, pp. 10-11. 2 Jewish Chronicle, 22 August, 1845.</page><page sequence="3">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 173 (c) The "appropriated seats" in the 1851 census, if not roughly the same as (b) above, might represent, in addition to the male seatholding heads of families, the wives and other adult relatives of members, perhaps from three-tenths to three or four-fifths of the total. Such standards are, of course, merely general hypotheses and their application must be modified in the light of the details of each individual community. From these sources it is possible to form some idea of the numbers and distribution of Anglo-Jewry in 1851, a year during the period of transition between the Jewry of the days before 1840 and the coming of the railways?a Jewry concentrated in London, the seaports and a few inland centres?and the Jewry of the epoch of mass immigration which began in 1881. In the religious sphere, 1851 was a decade after the formation of the first Reform congregation?the West London Synagogue. Nathan Marcus Adler, called to the Chief Rabbinate in 1845, had already begun his policy of consolidating traditional Judaism; the "Laws and Regulations" were issued in 1847 and the foundation of Jews' College was under consideration. The stage of development of emancipation in 1851 was the struggle for the right to sit in Parliament; in the previous year Baron Lionel de Rothschild had been elected and failed to take his seat for the second time, and later, in June of this year, Sir David Salomons was to be elected for Greenwich and enact his defiant scene in the Commons. From most points of view, 1840 or 1841 would have been a more significant date for a statistical survey, as marking the end of an epoch, but its postponement till 1851, necessitated by the absence of sufficient earlier sources, still makes possible a picture of the older Anglo-Jewry, whose submergence progressed between 1840 and 1880, and was completed between 1880 and 1914. A rough idea of these immense numerical changes in Anglo-Jewry can be gained from a resume of the estimates of the Jewish population of Britain at different dates during the nineteenth century, and this will serve also to put in its chronological setting the present discussion of the numbers of Anglo-Jewry in 1851. In 1795 Patrick Colquhoun estimated that there were some 20,000 to 25,000 Jews, of whom 15,000 to 20,000 were in London. Sir Francis Goldsmid, writing in 1830, ascertained that the annual average number of burials from London Synagogues in the three previous years was 343 2/3, and applied to this ratio of deaths to the general popu? lation (1 : 52 1/3), arriving at a Jewish population for London of just under 18,000. He assumed that provincial Jewry was half London Jewry or about 9,000.* These figures were quoted by Blunt, also writing in 1830, but he adds that, on the information he had, he would have placed the number of Jews in London at 20,000 with 17,000 to 18,000 in the rest of England.2 About 40,000 for Great Britain was the number of Jews generally estimated about 1849, according to Egan,3 and Mayhew, writing in 1851, gives 35,000 (18,000 in London) as the figure arrived at by the Chief Rabbi from his statistical enquiries a few years before. Mills, writing in 1853, states that the number "generally calculated," is 30,000 (25,000 in London) though he himself estimates 25,000 (20,000 in London) by calculation from the death rate, given in the Board of Deputies' returns for 1852, of about 560. Margoliouth, however, writing in 1851 thinks the most correct estimate to be the 60,000 given by D. M. Isaacs and Moses Samuel in 1846 in the prospectus to Kos Yeshuoth; but this seems prima facie too high, as many of 1 F. H. Goldsmid, "Remarks on the Civil Disabilities of British Jews, London 1830, pp. 69-71. 2 J. E. Blunt, "A History of the Establishment and Residence of the Jews in England," London, 1830, p. 75. 3 Charles Egan, "The Status of the Jews in England " (1849) p. 36.</page><page sequence="4">174 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 Margoliouth's figures will be shown to be by exarnination of the evidence relating to individual communities. The figures available for the next few decades are for London alone, but since London Jewry accounted for at least half, if not two-thirds, of Anglo Jewry, they will serve to give an idea of the tempo of expansion. In 1858 The Jewish Chronicle estimated the number of Jews in London at 27,000?which would give 40,000 to 50,000 to Britain. In 1871 the Statistical Committee of the London Jewish Board of Guardians gave a figure of the London death-rate of 800, from which was calculated a Jewish population for London of 35,000 (perhaps 50,000 for Britain). For 1882 there is Joseph Jacobs' detailed and careful estimate of 46,000 Jews in London; another thoroughly based estimate is that for 1888 made by Mr. (later Sir) H. Llewellyn Smith, of 60,000-70,000 Jews in London; the immigration of 1882 and 1888 having been at least 20,000 and perhaps as much as 30,00g.1 From then on the rate of increase was very great and the number of Jews in London at the beginning of the twentieth century, was over 100,000; 105,000 to 115,000 in 1898 was given in "The Jews in London,"2 and Joseph Jacobs put the Jewish population of London in 1903 at 150,000.3 Thus in 1851 the general estimates point to a Jewish population of about 35,000, of whom perhaps some 20,000 were in London, and such figures would be in phase with the estimates of population in previous and subsequent years. This figure?20,000 for London Jewry?is given by Mills (18,000 is the figure attributed by Mayhew to the Chief Rabbi's estimate), and it is supported by a statement in the Report of the General Board of Health, published in 1851, on the cholera epidemic of 1848 and 1849. Mr. Liddle, one of the medical inspectors of the Board, who dervied his information from the Secretaries of the Spanish and Portuguese, Great and New Synagogues also gives 20,000 as the number of London Jewry, and uses this figure as the basis of a calculation that the Jews suffered considerably fewer deaths from the cholera than did the rest of the population.4 How were these 18,000 or 20,000 Jews of London distributed ? Both Mayhew and the work "London and its Vicinity Exhibited in 1851," from which Mayhew probably took his information, give at least 12,000?or some two-thirds?of the Jewish population of London as living in the City or the Whitechapel streets immediately to the east. The total population of the City at the 1851 census was 55,932, and of Whitechapel 79,559, so that Jews would have been nearly 10% of the combined population of the two areas and a considerably higher proportion of the population of the eastern portions of the City and western parts of Whitechapel. Of the remaining third of the London Jewish population some 6,000 or 7,000 souls, the majority lived in the then "West End,"? Westminster and Marylebone?and there was also a colony in the "Borough"?South wark. This suggested distribution is borne out by the synagogal statistics available for 1851 and 1852, although it must be remembered that a considerable number of the members of the City synagogues, especially of the Great Synagogue and of Bevis Marks, lived in the West End. The 1851 Census of Worship includes returns of four City Synagogues?the Spanish and Portuguese in Bevis Marks, and the three Ashkenazi Synagogues in the City?the Great, the New and the Hambro'. To take Bevis Marks first, of its 850 1 "Labour and Life of the People," edited by Charles Booth, Volume I, East London, pp. 546-552 (2nd edition 1889). 2 C. Russell and H. S. Lewis, "The Jews in London" (1903). 8 Jewish Encyclopedia (s.v.) London. 4 Op. cit. Appendix B. p. 82.</page><page sequence="5">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 175 seats, 300 were appropriated and there were 260 attendants at morning service on Sabbath, 29th March, 1851; there were in addition eighty-four "scholars" present, presumably the ten boys from the orphans' school and some of those from the Gates of Hope Charity School or from the National and Infant Schools?there were eighty-eight boys at the former and eighty-three at the latter in 1852, according to the Board of Deputies return for that year. There is no reference to the Spanish and Portuguese congregation in The Jewish Chronicle return of 1847, or the Board of Deputies' Return of 1852, but a figure of 183 "assessed members" is given in a Board of Deputies' Return in 1853. As to the total number of the Sephardim in London in 1851, this was put at 3,000 by the General Board of Health Inspector, Mr. Liddle, on the information supplied to him by the Secretary of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, Solomon Almosnino. 3,000, which would make the Sephardim about a sixth of London Jewry in 1851, seems high, since a side-note to the original return of the 1851 Census of Worship puts the attendance at Bevis Marks at High Festivals at from 500 to 800, which seems low for a population of 3,000. There were 266 children in the various Sephardi schools in 1852 and since in 1851 about one-eighth of the general population (one tenth of the population of Middlesex) was at day schools1, this would suggest a population of about 2,100 or 2,600 ; it is difficult to say whether this figure should be reduced to take account of the number of places in the Sephardi schools which must have been generous in contrast with the general provision in the country, or increased, in view of the number of well-to-do families making their own arrangements for the education of their children. The Great Synagogue had all its 790 seats let, and had an attendance on the morning of the census Sabbath of 520, by far the highest in the country, being twice that of the synagogue with the next highest attendance (excluding scholars)?Bevis Marks. The 1847 table gives the Great Synagogue as having 250 privileged members and 480 seat holders, with 800 "individuals"; in all, the congregation of the Great Synagogue may have represented in 1851 some 2,000 souls. The New Synagogue had all its 527 seats let, but a Sabbath morning attendance of 170, which was the third highest in the country for that day. The Jewish Chronicle, in a retrospect of the year 5610 published in the October before the 1851 census, commented on the relative lack of attendance at the New Synagogue, attributing it to "the dullness of the service and the members of the congregation not joining in the prayers and responses with the Reader, or the infrequency of religious discourses."2 The 1847 table gives the New Synagogue 185 privileged members and 266 seatholders with 900 to 1,000 "individuals" ; in all one may perhaps credit the congregation with representing some 1,500 souls in 1851. The Hambro Synagogue had all its 260 seats let, but a Sabbath morning attendance of only seventy; the 1847 table gives it seventy privileged members and 150 seatholders. These probably represented not more than about 1,000 souls in 1851. To complete the synagogal picture of the City and east London, mention must be made of two institutions, which were not ordinary congregations, of which there are returns in the 1851 Census and three congregations not covered by that Census. There is a return signed by the Rev. Aaron Levy, the "resident dayan" for the "Beth Hamedrish" (sic) at 1 Smith's Buildings, Leadenhall Street?"Hebrew College : Every 1 2,144,378 out of 17,927,609 in England and Wales. See Census 1851?Education Report pp. XXVIII, XXXVIII. 2 Jewish Chronicle, 11 Oct., 1850.</page><page sequence="6">176 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 Day worship"1 and another return filled in by Israel Cohen, Reader, for the Synagogue attached to Joel EmanuePs almshouse in Wellclose Square, founded two years before in 1849 for thirty families; it was the most recent but the largest of the London Jewish Almshouses.2 The return bears a note "Mr. Cohen believes attendance on 29th March same as usual, say about 40." There are no returns in the 1851 Census for (a) the Rosemary Lane Synagogue (Mahzike Tor ah, established 1748), which had about a hundred seats, according to Asher Myers' Jewish Directory of 1873; (b) the Gun Square (or Yard, off Houndsditch) Synagogue, founded 1792, a dependency of the New Synagogue; (c) the "Polish Synagogue" or "Polish Minyan" founded about 1790 in Carter (now Clothier) Street (off Cutler Street, Houndsditch), a dependency of the Great Synagogue.3 Finally the Sandys Row Synagogue (Hebraih Menahem Abelim Hesed Ve'Emeth?"Society of Kindness and Truth") was founded in 1851, but after the date of the Census. In London west of Temple Bar there were according to the Census on 29th March 1851, three places of worship?the Western Synagogue in St. Alban's Place; the Maiden Lane Synagogue, successor to the Brewer St. Congregation which had seceded from the Western Synagogue forty years before; and the Reform Congregation known as the West London Synagogue of British Jews, at that time in Margaret Street. It is particularly difficult to form an estimate of the Jewish population in the West End from the synagogal statistics. The 1847 list gives the Western Synagogue forty-eight priv? ileged members, 210 seatholders and 270 "individuals"; the 1852 Board of Deputies' return gives 209 seatholders or members but the 1851 Census gives all its 462 seats as appropriated, a figure which must have included seats allotted to ladies or to males not heads of families, and may have been an error for all the seats in the Synagogue, since the Western Synagogue protested in December 1851 against the proposal to form a West End branch of the Great Synagogue, because they had 120 vacant seats. The attendance figures are not very helpful because the census sabbath occurred while the Synagogue was undergoing repairs and the service was held in a small room adjoining, and attended by only about 50?"not a fair criterion," though the average attendance was said to be 100. In all, the Western Synagogue may have represented up to a thousand souls. The Maiden Lane Synagogue had also undergone repairs, which were however completed in February, a month before the census, which gave an attendance of thirty for the Census sabbath, again unusually low, since the average was given as eighty. 140 out of the 160 seats were appropriated, but the 1847 figures give fifty free members and 150 seatholders; in this case, the seatholders' figures seem to include more than heads of families (an 1853 Board of Deputies' return gives seventy "members or seat holders") and, in view of the general circumstances of the congregation, it probably 1 Founded in the eighteenth century, the Beth Hamedrash acquired the Leadenhall St. premises in 1841; it was reorganized and a Chevra Shass founded in 1847. See Philip Ornstein, "Historical Sketch of the Beth Hamedrash" (London, 1905). 2 Barrow's almshouses were founded in 1816 for ten Sephardi families and A. L. Moses' in 1838 for twelve Ashkenazi families. 3 Two of these three synagogues subsequently moved south of Whitechapel High Road, the Rosemary Lane congregation went to 76 Prescott Street, and subsequently merged with the Castle St. Synagogue about 1892; the Gun Yard congregation moved to Mansell Street in 1870, thence to Scarborough St., Goodman's Fields in 1873 and finally merged with the Kalisher Shool or Great Alie St. Synagogue. For these synagogues, see C. Roth, "The Lesser London Synagogues of the XVIII Century" (Misc. Jew. Hist. Soc. of Eng. Ill, 1937) from which this information is taken. In addition, there is evidence that Moses Moore's Synagogue at 66 Mansell St., dated from about 1840-1845 but, at this period at least, seems only to have been a private minyan (See Jewish World, 4 xii, 1899 ; Jewish Chronicle, 23, ix, 1870),</page><page sequence="7">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 177 could not have represented more than 500 souls. The West London Synagogue had only one class of seatholding members, of whom there were 130 in 1847, but apparently only 100 in 1851. The average attendance on sabbaths was, however, stated in 1851 to be 140; from these facts, one might infer a congregation of rather more than 500 souls. It may be mentioned that Rev. David Woolf Marks, then in the early years of his long ministry at the West London Synagogue, stated on the 1851 census form, which he filled in, that his synagogue was the only one "where an English sermon is preached on every Sabbath and festival"?the demand at the time for regular sermons in the ordinary synagogues being heavily pressed by the Jewish Chronicle and the attractiveness of the Reform Congregation being substantially attributed to its enjoyment of a regular weekly sermon. While, therefore, the three synagogues in London west of the City could not have represented more than about 1,500 to 2,000 souls, the number of Jews in the area, including many of the middle and upper classes, was far higher, because of the members of the City congregations who resided there. The first step in the sequence of events which led to the opening in 1855, of the "West End Branch Synagogue"?now the Central Synagogue, had been taken by a resolution of the Committee of the Great Synagogue in November, 1848. The census in March, 1851, came during the stage of negotiations between the vestry of the Great Synagogue and the Chief Rabbi over modifications in the form of service to be used in the projected synagogue. As mentioned, the Ashkenazi Synagogue was not opened in the West End until 1855, but the Sephardim in the West End who (because of the differences in rite) declined the invitation to join in the West End congregation proposed by members of the Great Synagogue, and opened a branch synagogue of their own in Wigmore Street in 1853.1 It might be not unreason? able to allow another two or three thousand Jewish inhabitants for West London, making four to five thousand in all. The third area in London in which a distinct group of Jews can be identified is South London, particularly Southwark?"the Borough." The 1851 census included returns for two synagogues : Nathan Henry's synagogue behind his house at 2 Market Street, Southwark, and the Borough Synagogue between 91 and 92 Prospect Place, St. George's Road. The return for the first, which was signed by Nathan Henry himself, then in about his 86th year, gives the starting date of the congregation as 1760, which would indicate continuity with a congregation existing before Nathan Henry allowed a room in his house to be used for services in 1799. This date of 1760 is thus almost 40 years earlier than that attributed previously to the formation of the first regular Borough Synagogue. The 1851 returns give seventy seats (or seatholders), but no number of attendants, but it is said in the years before Nathan Henry's death in 1853 only his own family with two or three other residents attended regularly.2 The Prospect Place Congregation, founded in 1823 by secession from Nathan Henry's synagogue in Market Street, had in 1851 80 of its 130 seats appropriated, with an attendance of fifty on Sabbath morning, 29th March; its Warden was M. Moss, of 90 London Road. In all, these figures suggest a Jewish population of some 300 or 400 souls in the Borough. A total for the Jewish population of London may be arrived at in another way. The Census of 1851 gives a total of 2,739 appropriated seats in the London Synagogues (total seating accommodation 4,920); a few hundred seatholders must be added for 1 See M. Adler, "The History of the Central Synagogue 1855-1905," London, 1905. 2 For these two congregations see M. Rosenbaum, "History of the Borough Synagogue," London, 1917,</page><page sequence="8">178 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 the synagogues not in the census, say 3,000 in all. Then a proportion, say one-sixth, must be deducted for those seatholders not heads of families; the result, taking five in a family, which is the common measurement for the period, is a total of 12,500 souls. The number of London Jews not counted by such a calculation is difficult to estimate. There are first those genuinely "unsynagogued"?to use Dr. Grinstein's phrase, and one might also take his calculation, made for New York for the same period, that there were about one-eighth of those associated with a synagogue.1 Apart from this non religious class, allowance must be made for those too poor for synagogue membership. The number of such families cannot be gauged from figures of relief given, since until the formation of the Board of Guardians in 1859, the administration of relief by the three City synagogues was unsystematic, and the same person might appear successfully as an applicant to more than one congregation. In the first twenty-one months of the Board's operations?up to the 31st December, 1860?it was estimated that 3,341 persons (men, women and children) had benefited by the Board's charity2 and perhaps an extimate of 2,000 to 2,500 "native" and "foreign" poor might represent the position in 1851. Allowance must also be made for other types of London Jews not likely to be included in any calculation based on synagogue statistics?for instance, the street traders, and Mayhew in 1851 reckons 600 to 750 adult "street-Jews" selling different commodities.3 One might allow, therefore 5,000 to 7,500 Jews in London who would, for various reasons, not be included in a figure calculated by reference to seats let in synagogues. The resultant total of 18-20,000 may be very roughly checked by reference to the number of 1880 children (1872 in 1852 according to the Board of Deputies' List) on the rolls of the London Jewish day schools at 31st March, 1851, according to the schools enquiry of the census. At the 31st March, 1851, about one twelfth of the total population of the City (4,647 out of 55,932) and about one-eleventh of the total population of White chapel (7,612 out of 79,759) were at day schools4 and these figures for the areas in which the majority of London's Jews lived suggest?but no more than suggest, since there must have been differences in age distribution, school provision and school attendance ?that the 1,800 odd Jewish children at the voluntary Jewish schools represented a total population of about 18-20,000. A similar result is arrived at by taking the birth, death and marriage totals in 1852 for the City and Whitechapel?1937, 3911 and 1236 respec? tively for a population of 135,691. In 1852 (the figures for 1851 are incomplete) the Board of Deptuies totals for Jewish births, deaths and marriages are 423, 544, and 183. Applying the same ratios as for the general population of the City and Whitechapel, the Jewish population would be 18,612, 19,968 or 20,069, according to whether the birth, the death or the marriage rate is taken. In reviewing the provinical congregations, perhaps the most convenient method is to group them geographically by the regions used for the census of the period. First come the south-eastern counties, with five communities (Dover, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Sheerness and Chatham), all with congregations founded in the eighteenth century, except Ramsgate?a special case?and there individuals were resident before 1800. Chatham was probably the largest, having in 1847 sixteen free members and forty seatholders?fifty-four appropriated seats in 1851; the community may have 1 Hyman B. Grinstein, "The Rise of the Jewish Community of New York 1654-1860" (Phila? delphia, 1947), p. 471. 2 Laurie Magnus, "The Jewish Board of Guardians" (London, 1909), p. 48. 3 Mayhew, op. ciu 4 Census 1851?Education, pp. 57, 58.</page><page sequence="9">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 179 numbered up to two hundred souls in 1851 (189 "individuals" are noted in 1847)?of these thirty attended service on eve of sabbath and twenty-five on sabbath morning, 29th March, 1851, and the average attendance on sabbath morning for the previous six months was twenty.1 Canterbury2 had a better attendance record?thirty on the Census Sabbath morning and thirty-five as the average?although the congregation in all probability was much smaller than Chatham's?perhaps not much above a hundred, since there were only thirteen appropriated seats in 1851 and even less in 1852. A. A. Levy noted thirty "highly respectable" families there in 1842, but the population was probably in decline. (In 1847 there were eight free members, four other seatholders and thirty-five "individuals"). Sheerness was also a congregation with probably less than a hundred souls; with only five families in 1842, according to A. A. Levy, it had two free members, ten other seatholders and thirteen "individuals" in 1847, but had apparently thirty-five seats let in 1851, although there seems to have been no service on the Census Sabbath. Figures of the other two congregations are obscured by the fact that the Ramsgate synagogue was erected at the cost of Sir Moses Montefiore and had no members or seatholders?it had forty-five attendants (fifteen above average) on the Census Sabbath; A. A. Levy mentions nine families there in 1842. The sixty attendants on the Census Sabbath at Dover included the pupils of Mr. Raphael Isaac Cohen's school (Sussex House); apart from the school, the Dover Community may have numbered about fifty souls, since it had four "free members" in 1847, and A. A. Levy recorded eight families "principally shopkeepers" in 1842. In all, there were probably not more than five hundred souls comprised in organized congregations in the south-eastern counties. In the southern centres there were three communities?one, Portsmouth dating from before 1750, the second, Brighton with a synagogue from about 1800, and the third, Southampton with a synagogue from 1833. Portsmouth may have numbered as many as 300 souls?it had twenty-two free members and twenty other seatholders in 1847, 62 members and seatholders in 1852 and 160 seats appropriated in 1851, some of the latter presumably being let to the wives and families of members. But attendance was not relatively high?only 35 on Sabbath morning?although the census return mentions that about fifty persons attended the "religious discourse" delivered in the vestry room; these sabbath discourses, under the auspices of the Portsmouth Hebrew Literary Society (which had been founded in the year before with a subscription of 6d. a month) began at 12 noon, lasted for two hours, including questions and discussion, the subjects being explanations of the Scriptures and, once a month, a lecture on modern Jewish history or literature, and were followed by mincha? It was in this year that the Portsmouth community appealed for help in raising the ?1,200 needed for a new entrance to the Synagogue by purchasing property which had been "converted into places of immoral character," where "scenes of the worst description" were constantly occurring, and to which "revolting scenes" the "respectable females and youth of the community" were exposed. The unpleasantness in the neighbouring community of Southampton was of a more internal character?the differences which had to be settled by a visit from the Chief Rabbi on the 1st August, 1851. When the Census was taken four months before, it showed an attendance of seventeen on Friday evening and twenty-one 1 Reuben Alexander, Warden-President; J. Sloman, Hon. Secretary. 2 The President in 1851 was Mayer Lyons of 66 Northgate St., and Phineas Solomon, the Secretary. 3 Jewish Chronicle, 11 Oct. 1850. John Edwards, of 20 The Hard, Southsea, was Warden-President and Hon. Secretary in 1851.</page><page sequence="10">180 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1951 on sabbath morning?the averages for the previous six months being twenty and thirteen respectively. The community was considerably smaller than Portsmouth's with ten free members and seven other seatholders in 1847, and fifteen seatholders and members in 1852?the 57 appropriated seats in 1851 including presumably a number let to the families of male members?and the congregation may have numbered between 50 and 100 souls.1 Brighton, on the other hand, had a good attendance of fifty on the Census Sabbath of 1851, and an average of seventy; many of these were probably visitors since the resident community may not have numbered more than 150 souls ; it had 32 members and seatholders in 1852, sixteen free members and 32 seatholders (these perhaps for once including the sixteen free members) in 1851, and only twenty seats apparently appropriated in 1851. In all, the three communities in Hants, and Sussex may have numbered some 500 or 550 souls. Moving to the south-western counties, four communities?Exeter, Plymouth, Falmouth and Penzance?appear. These, like so many of the congregations in southern England, were of some age, three having been organized in the eighteenth century, while the synagogue of the fourth (Falmouth) was opened in 1808. Exeter probably numbered just under 200 souls in 1851?the 1847 list gives about 175 "individuals," which links up with a number of about thirty families?principally engaged in commerce" given by A. A. Levy in 1842 ; there were fourteen free members and eighteen seatholders in 1847, twenty-one members or seatholders in 1852 and fifty-two appropriated seats (including presumably some let to wives and other non-members) in 1851.2 The atten? dance was 48 on the Census Sabbath (55 being the average), this comparing not unfavour? ably with the fifty Census Sabbath attendants (45 being the average) at Plymouth, a congregation probably larger than Exeter, though not so large as Portsmouth. Plymouth may have numbered between 200 and 250 souls, for it had nineteen free seats and 33 other seatholders in 1847, 52 members and seatholders in 1852; the figure of 150 appropriated seats (the entire synagogue) given in 1851 must, as noticed in other cases, have included seats let to those not members or male seatholders. The two Cornish communities were considerably smaller; Margoliouth credits Falmouth with twenty families but this seems excessive for 1851, or if correct, cannot have represented a hundred souls. The 1851 census return itself notes that "since the breaking up of the foreign packet estabHshment here, the congregation has decreased with the inhabitants generally." On the Census Sabbath, the Jews of Falmouth failed to get a minyan, only eight attending though ten is given as the average attendance. An 1847 list gives nine privileged members and three seatholders, the 1851 census six appropriated seats and the 1852 list gives only three members or seatholders, all of which suggests a declining community with not above fifty souls in 1851. Penzance was rather larger?at any rate it secured an attendance of sixteen on the Census Sabbath morning (16 to 35 being given as the average Sabbath morning attendance); a congregation numbering between 50 and 100 souls is suggested by the number of eleven members in 1847, six members in 1852 and thirty appropriated seats in 1851. In all, the south-western communities may have numbered some 500 souls.3 1 S. H. Emanuel was Presiding Warden and Joseph Abraham Goldman, Secretary. 2 The Census Form mentions that the vestry room of the Exeter Synagogue was used as a school room (presumably for a Hebrew and religion class). The President was Moses Lazarus, 85 Lansdowne Terrace. 3 The census forms for these communities were signed by H. Hyman, President, and Myer Nachthagen, Secretary, 21 Queen St. (Plymouth); M. L. Jacobs, Secretary, 21 Market St. (Falmouth); Barnett A, Simmons, Minister, Leskinnick Terrance (Penzance).</page><page sequence="11">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 181 The "West of England" (Somerset and Gloucestershire) shows three communities &gt; Bristol, Bath and Cheltenham, with possibly a fourth?Gloucester. Bristol, a com? munity already a century old in 1851, numbered 200 souls, according to Margoliouth, and the 1847 list gives 150 adults. These figures seem, if anything, an under-estimate for a community having 36 free members and 100 seatholders in 1847, 64 members and seatholders in 1852, and no fewer than 100 appropriated seats in 1851; perhaps the number of souls would have been nearer 300. Bath's congregation was much smaller, certainly less than a hundred, perhaps not more than fifty, for it had only four free members and five seatholders in 1847, ten members and seatholders in 1852 and thirty appropriated seats in 1851; the attendance on the Census Sabbath morning was fifteen.1 The figures for Cheltenham are conflicting; in 1842 A. A. Levy gives eighteen families "inferior to none in the country for religious zeal and devotion" ;2 there were fifteen members in 1852, but in 1847, fourteen free members and eighteen seatholders are given (possibly eighteen included the fourteen); the number of seats let in 1851 is given as seventy, which seems unduly high, but may possibly have included persons living in Gloucester; no list of the 1851 period mentions Gloucester. There the congregation was in decline and the members did ultimately affiliate themselves to Cheltenham, whose residents had originally been affiliated to Gloucester. In all a figure of about 75 for the Jewish population of Cheltenham may be reasonable, and the number of "individuals" (generally an apparently unreliable figure) in the 1847 list is 71. In the western counties, therefore, the Jewish population was perhaps 450. The West Midlands had, in 1851, one large congregation, Birmingham, of eighteenth century foundation, and two small congregations, Dudley and Wolverhampton, which were of much more recent foundation. Birmingham Jewry is stated by Margoliouth to have comprised 140 families, and the 1847 list gives "679 individuals" ; a figure of between 750 and 1,000 souls in 1851 seems reasonable since there were 83 free members and 99 seatholders in 1847, 116 members and seatholders in 1852 and 300 appropriated seats in 1851. The congregation was an increasing one, and A. A. Levy had noted only 110 families in 1842. Attendance was considerable?160 and 25 scholars on the morning of the Census Sabbath?though this was less than the average?200 and 35 scholars?and the remarks on the 1851 census form attribute this to the wet weather. It is also stated on the census form that the holyday attendance was at least fifty per cent, higher. The Wolverhampton community acquired its synagogue in St. James' Square in 1850 and in 1851 had twenty seats appropriated with an actual attendance on the Census Sabbath of fifteen?average attendance twenty;3 the Dudley congregation, which acquired its synagogue in 1848 according to the census return (which is the only source of statistical information) had ten seats let and an attendance of ten. Neither of these communities can have exceeded a hundred souls, if they indeed reached as much as fifty; nor could Coventry, which had had some form of organized Jewish worship since about 1800, though its synagogue was not dedicated till 1870 and it does not appear in any of the statistical sources or in the contemporary lists of congregations authorized to appoint marriage secretaries. In all, therefore, the Jews of the Midland Counties are unlikely to have exceeded about 1,200 souls. 1 David Nyman, of 12 Kingston Buildings, was President, and Solomon Wolfe, Secretary. 2 The form was signed by H. Karo and Samuel Sternberg, Wardens, and Montague Alex, Secretary, 21 Rodney Terrace. 8 The return is signed "J. Barnett, Rabbi,"</page><page sequence="12">182 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 The East Midland counties had communities at Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge and Bedford. The Nottingham congregation, according to the census return, used "a small room in the house of Joel Davis, Park Street,"1 the treasurer of the congregation, and there were twenty-seven attendants on the morning of the Census Sabbath. The census returns mention twenty seats let; the 1847 list gives three free members and one seatholder?the 1852 list, sixteen members and seatholders?figures difficult to reconcile; but in any case the circumstances of the congregation suggest that it did not exceed fifty souls. This was probably also about the size of the Oxford congregation, which had acquired two years before its synagogue in Paradise Square, where ten persons assembled on the Census Sabbath morning. The 1847 list gives Oxford four free members and twenty individuals and there were only six appropriated seats in 1851, so fifty souls would be a generous estimate.2 Bedford was even smaller. The Census return, which confirms the date of 1803 for the opening of the synagogue, gives a detailed account. "The former synagogue was erected about the year 1803 and existed 24 years until 1827 when it was demolished and then for a period of about 9 or ten years we had no further worship at all, until 1837, when the present congregation again formed themselves for public worship by purchasing a Holy Ms. of the Law; we now only congregate in a room and only being 5 members (and of them 4 resident and 1 non? resident) therefore being dependent on strangers or those we engage for the purpose, we are only able to congregate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Suchas for public worship." This makes it possible to give twenty or twenty-five souls as the maximum for Bedford. The Cambridge congregation, according to the Registrar, who filled in the form, had been discontinued for twelve months before March, 1851?the average attendance having been about fifteen persons ; this indicates what was presumably only an interlude in the history of the congregation, between its re-establishment in 1847 at 7 Hobson Street, and its subsequent transfer to Petty Cury. In all, these four small communities are unlikely to have numbered, at the outside, more than a hundred and fifty souls. East Anglia shows the pattern familiar in the southern counties of congregations, dating their corporate life from the begimiing of the century, if not earlier, in the seaports and in the market towns of the hinterland. Of the three cornmunities (Ispwich, Yar? mouth and Norwich), Ipswich was probably the smallest. It had eight members in 1847 (three free members, five seatholders), the same number in 1852 and seven seats let in 1851?this time the number of seats let seems to equate with the number of members rather than include seats let to non-members ; there were ten at divine service on the Census Sabbath morning. In all, fifty seems a reasonable figure for the Jewish population.3 Yarmouth and Norwich seem to have been of similar size; both had thirty seats let in 1851, but the figures of members for 1847 and 1852 are available for Norwich alone, which had seven free members and three seatholders in the former year and is credited with thirty members or seatholders" in the latter?this figure looks like a confusion with the seats let. Attendances were similar; Yarmouth had twenty-two on Friday evening and fourteen on Sabbath morning, Norwich twenty-four on Friday evening and twenty-six on Sabbath morning, but these attendances were well above the average 1 The Census Return mentions 50 seats and "standing room for 20" in this "small room." Woolf Jonas of 49 York Street, was Hon. Secretary and Warden. 2 The President was Nathan Jacobs of Little Clarendon St, 3 A, A. Levy mentioned five families in 1842.</page><page sequence="13">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 183 attendance for the previous six months of fifteen to twenty.1 Mention should be made also of the King's Lynn congregation, whose articles of foundation are dated 1747 and which numbered seven families in 1842. The last entry in the extant congregational records, however, is for 1846 and King's Lynn is not mentioned in any of the statistical sources or the contemporary lists of marriage secretaries. Possibly 75 souls each would be a reasonable approximation for the three main congregations, with 250 as the total for the Jews of East Anglia. The congregations of the North can be grouped into Lancashire, Yorkshire and the North-east Coast. Lancashire's two communities, Liverpool and Manchester, were obviously the largest outside the metropolis. Liverpool was rather older as an organized community, dating from about 1750 as compared with 1780 for Manchester. While Manchester was soon to outstrip Liverpool in numbers the evidence for 1851 seems to show that at that time Liverpool was still the larger community. Both communities had two separate congregations at the time of the 1851 census. Liverpool had the Seel Street congregation and the congregations at Hardman and Pilgrim Streets (subse? quently Hope Place), and Manchester had the Halliwell Street Congregation and the congregation then at Ainsworth Court, Long Millgate (the second congregation on this site); the two Manchester congregations however, united a few years after the census, on Friday, April 11th, 1851.2 Credit for this Manchester synoecesis was attributed to Dr. Schiller-Szinessy whose German addresses had already led the Jewish Chronicle to comment editorially on how the "dulness" at Manchester had been "relieved by the appearance of an eloquent preacher,"3 but his ministrations subsequently result in a schism in 1858. Margoliouth quotes a statement made at the annual dinner in 1845 of the Liverpool Hebrew Philanthropic Society that there were then 2,300 Jews in Liverpool; he adds that the number had since (by 1851) increased to not less than 3,000.4 The 1847 list attributes about 1,900 to 2,000 "individuals" to the two Liverpool congregations and Margoliouth's figure of 3,000 seems an exaggeration, like some of his other figures, in the light of the other evidence. The two congregations together had 106 free members and 43 seatholders in 1847, 191 members and seatholders in 1852, and 410 seats let in 1851?together these figures might have suggested a total population of 1,000 rather than 2,000; attendance on the Census Sabbath morning was 181, but this was below the average, which was about 250. Allowance must presumably be made in Liverpool for a large number of persons not covered by the normal calculations based on synagogue membership?in the same way as was done in London. If, having regard to the estimates quoted above, Liverpool is credited with 2,500 souls, Manchester might perhaps be put at about 2,000. Virtually all the figures for members and seatholders are below those for Liverpool?seventy free members (as against 106) and fifty-two seatholders (as against forty-three) in 1847, 189 members or seatholders in 1852 (as against 181), 330 seats let in 1851 (as against 410) and 210 average attendants on Sabbath morning (as against 250). Unfortunately the figures for births, marriages and deaths are so unreliable that even in congregations of a size, where they might have been significant, it is dangerous to use them. On the whole, however, an estimate of 4,500 Jews in Lancashire (2,500 in Liverpool, 2,000 in Manchester) may be near the truth. 1 The Census Returns were signed by Moses Levy, President, Woolf Samuel, Secretary, Broke St. (Ipswich); Michael Mitchcl, Warden, 52 Key St. (Yarmouth); Simon Caro, Secretary, and Myer Levine, President, Westgate St. (Norwich). 2 Jewish Chronicle, 16 April, 1851. 3 Jewish Chronicle, 11 October, 1850. 4 op. cit. Vol. Ill, p. 118.</page><page sequence="14">184 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 Yorkshire had at this period three congregations, Leeds, Hull and Sheffield. While the Manchester and Liverpool cornmunities, notable for their size today, were similarly prominent in 1851, Leeds?now the city with what is reckoned the largest Jewish com? munity in proportion to its general population?was then a community of perhaps only about a hundred souls. While individual Jews had lived in Leeds from about 1750 and two families in the 1820's, a burial ground was not acquired till 1840 and the synagogue in Back Rockingham St., was brought into use in 1845 ; in 1851, there were thirty-five Sabbath worshippers there and fifty of its seventy seats were let. It had six "Baale Batim" in 1847 and eighteen members and seatholders in 1852?these figures, together with the number of ten pupils in the Leeds Jewish school (at which the only subject, according to the Board of Deputies' return, was "Hebrew") suggest the estimate of about a hundred for Leeds Jewry.1 The Hull community was of an expectional nature, for according to a letter to the Jewish Chronicle of 28th March, 1851 (the day before the Census Sabbath) appealing for help in the repair of the Hull Synagogue, nearly all the Jewish exiles from Russia, Poland, and Germany, 300 to 400 yearly, landed there, needing on arrival a place of worship and pecuniary assistance (before presumably they moved on to other centres). The letter also mentions that this burden was borne by only nine members, though there were seventy seatholders?figures which tally almost exactly with those in the 1847, 1851 and 1852 statistical sources.2 With a congregation of this kind, an estimate of its size in 1851 is very difficult; Margoliouth's contemporary statement that it constituted "upwards of 200 souls" may give a rough indication, showing Hull at this time to be considerably larger than Leeds, the attendance on the Census Sabbath (74) being twice that of Leeds. Sheffield is not mentioned in any of the statistical sources, not even the 1851 census of worship. But the Jacobs family settled in Sheffield in the 1820's, had a synagogue in their house and their own shohet and by 1838 a permanent congregation was organized. This had ten families in 1842 and the position in 1851 is shown by a letter from a "Yorkshireman" to the Jewish Chronicle of the 13th June, 1851. "This congregation (Sheffield) has for many years past struggled hard for mere existence. During the last few years, however, a favourable change has come over our congregational position, so much so that last week we were enabled to purchase the whole of the freehold property containing the present and, up to now, hired synagogue with residence for the Reader of the congregation for ?350, towards which our own little community, not numbering above 12 families, has actually raised close to ?200 ! It will be necessary, however, to incur an additional expense of at least ?100 for indispensable alterations, a difficulty which, please God, we hope to overcome and thus, Mr. Editor, you see what a small but determined and zealous community may effect." In the next week's edition Mr. J. Levy, of 26 High St., Sheffield, the President, advertised a house and "usual perquisites" with a salary of ?52 p.a. for a competent person to act as Shohet, Hazan and Teacher.3 From this letter one can put the Sheffield community at fifty or sixty, making about 400 souls for the three Yorkshire congregations. Of the three communities of the North-east coast (Sunderland, Newcastle and Tynemouth), Sunderland was the oldest and in 1851 boasted two separate congregations. The senior congregation was the "Polish Synagogue" in Vine Street and the 1851 census return shows the foundation of the congregation put at "in or about 1781" by the signatory 1 M. Ansell, President, 17 Copenhagen St. 2 Bethel Jacobs, Hon. Secretary, 7 Whitefriargate; George Alexander, President. 3 Margoliouth, with characteristic exaggeration, gives twenty families for Sheffield in 1851.</page><page sequence="15">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 185 of the form?Myer Marks "Secretary and Minister, 154 High Street; No President being solely official myself." But this synagogue which had thirty-four of its seventy-six seats let could muster only twelve attendants on the Census Sabbath morning as com? pared with forty to sixty in the rival congregation of "Israelites," according to its Reader, Mr. David Joseph of 11 Wear St. This congregation had no let seats, being "free for any one to attend divine service" in "a private room in the house of Mr. Jacob Joseph," the local patriarch, who, born in 1769, settled in Sunderland in 1790 and died there in 1861; his nephew, Judah Leib ben Nissan, was authorised as shohet in Sunderland in 1839. The other statistical sources do not help towards forming an idea of the general size of the community except that in 1852 there were ten births and four deaths. As has been mentioned, the births and deaths figures are unreliable in themselves, and even if not, would be dangerous to use with such a restricted basis. But those for Sunderland are not dissimilar from those for communities like Portsmouth or Plymouth and, taken together with the number of sabbath attendants, suggest a community of more than a hundred souls, though not exceeding 150 or 200. The Newcastle com? munity was of comparatively recent origin in 1851, as was Tynemouth and both were appreciably smaller than Sunderland. The Newcastle congregation, in existence by 1831, began to use its synagogue in Temple St., from September 1838 (according to the 1851 census return); in 1847 it had nine free members, in 1852 fifteen members and seatholders, and in 1851, thirty seats of the 124 in the synagogue were let; the attendance ?twenty-five on Friday evening, forty-four on Sabbath morning, average attendance fifty?seems creditably high for a community which even Margoliouth puts no higher than twenty families and which the statistical evidence above also shows to have been about a hundred strong.1 The Tynemouth or North Shields congregation, which had used the synagogue since 1846, had fifteen members or seatholders in 1852, and twenty four out of thirty seats let in 1851; there were twenty attending on sabbath morning (the average attendance being eighteen males) and these attendances also seem good for a congregation presumably numbering between fifty and a hundred souls in 1851.2 In all, the North East coast communities probably numbered about 300 to 400 in all, and about 250 of those were in synagogue on the Census Sabbath. In Wales, the statistical sources refer to Swansea and Merthyr. The settlement of Jews in Swansea was well over a century old in 1851, and the synagogue in use in 1851 in Waterloo St. had been leased in 1818. Twenty-five of its fifty-five seats were let, and the census Sabbath attendance numbered thirty-six, the average attendance being forty-four. In 1847 there had been nine free members and thirteen seatholders, the number of members and seatholders remaining almost the same at twenty-one in 1852; the size of the Community was thus probably between 100 and 150 and this is supported by the number of 133 individuals given in the 1847 list. Merthyr had thirty seats let in 1851, with twenty members and seatholders in 1852, with an average attendance of twenty-five and, on the Census Sabbath morning, of 34; it was thus probably a little smaller than Swansea, to which it was junior, its synagogue in Victoria St., being in use from 1848 only.3 Cardiff does not appear in the 1851 returns, though the traditional date for the foundation of the congregation is 1840, Jews having been settled there since the end of the eighteenth century. The Jewish Chronicle reported 1 The President was I. A. Jacques, 19 Carlisle St.; the Secretary was Joseph Caro. 2 The President was S. M. Lotinga of No. 6 Toll Square, North Shields. 3 The President of the Swansea congregation was Isaac Jacob of Castle St.; of the Merthyr Tydfil congregation, Joseph Barnett was President and Moses Lewis Isaac was Secretary.</page><page sequence="16">186 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 on the 7th March, 1851 (three weeks before the census) that "in consequence of the increase in the number of Jewish families, a synagogue is intended to be built in this town:" in 1852, the congregation had thirteen members and seatholders, and seems at this period to have been decidedly smaller than the communities in Swansea and Merthyr, having perhaps fifty to a hundred souls, bringing the total for the Jews of Wales, or rather of South Wales, to about 350. Although this paper is directed mainly to the Jews of England and Wales, a brief mention may be made of the statistical information relating to the communities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dublin. Edinbugrh had thirty-one of the sixty-seven seats in its synagogue appropriated with twenty-eight at morning service on the Census Sabbath. These figures, together with those in the 1847 list, suggest a community of between 100 and 150 souls in 1851.1 Glasgow, does not feature in the 1851 census but the 1847 list gives figures for two congregations, totalling forty-three members and seatholders and 128 individuals. Other indications are that the Community was not very large, certainly not above 200, perhaps not much above 100 souls.2 Dublin features in both the 1847 and 1852 lists, both pointing to a population of about 150 to 200 souls.3 The estimates thus given for specified provincial communities in England, and communities in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, show a total of about 10,000 souls. To these must be added a few thousand to account for those living in isolated groups, those supported by charity, the "unsynagogued" and so on, as was done for London Jewry. In all, a figure of about 15,000 for the Jews of Britain outside London in 1851 seems reasonable. This appears a closer estimate than the 5,000 of Mills, since the 1851 Census gives 2,500 seatholders in provincial congregations and the figure agrees with those given by Egan and Mayhew. Totals based on the number of deaths, marriages and schoolchildren outside London suggest a Jewish provincial population of about 6,000. But only a few of the provincial communities had Jewish schools and in many of them the vital statistics would be less complete than in the London congregations; for instance, persons normally resident in the provinces would be married or buried in London. While therefore a figure of 10-15,000 Jews for Britain outside London in 1851 is much less firm than the estimate of 18-20,000 for London Jewry, it is not unreasonable. At any event, 35,000 as the total Jewish population for Britain is much nearer the mark than the estimates of 40,000, 50,000 or 60,000 quoted by some writers of the time (such as Margoliouth). Anglo-Jewry would therefore have numbered about 35,000 souls in 1851 of whom over half lived in London. Making allowance for congregations not mentioned, or defectively mentioned in the 1851 Census, there were about 8,000 synagogue seats and nearly 6,000 seatholders. The attendance on the morning of the Census Sabbath was over 3,000 (2,990 is the total actually given in the returns) or rather less than ten per cent of the Jewish population. In contrast with what are believed to be the present numbers and distribution of Anglo-Jewry, one notices the fairly even distribution, the 1 In 1847 there were seven free members, sixteen seatholders and 107 individuals. 2 For instance, the "New Statistical Account of Scotland," published in 1845, records only a "trifling" increase since 1831, when James Cleland's "Enumeration of the Inhabitants of the City of Glasgow and the County of Lanark for the Government Census of 1831" gave only 47 Jews in Glasgow. 3 In 1847, 19 free members, 21 seatholders and 150 individuals; and in 1852 35 members and seatholders. The five births and four deaths are also similar in number to those of Exeter or Plymouth.</page><page sequence="17">A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRV IN 1851 187 prominence of the South of England, the continued importance of communities in the seaports and county towns, and the beginning of the rise of communities in the northern and midland manufacturing centres. The predominance of London has remained unchanged, but Anglo-Jewry a century ago was probably only a tenth in numbers of what it is today (1950). It was from 1851 to develop with slow acceleration, with small annual increments?at first of perhaps about a thousand, half by immigration? until thirty years later it had doubled itself. From 1881 onwards comes the period of mass immigration which was speedily to give a new face and contour to Anglo-Jewry. APPENDIX Attendances at Sabbath Services on 28th-29th March, 1851, and average attendances on Sabbath for the previous six months. (Taken from the original returns of the 1851 Census of Worship?Public Record Office, H.O. 122). 28-29 March, 1851 Congregation LONDON Great New Bevis Marks ... (Scholars) Hambro' Western West London Borough (Prospect Place) PROVINCES Bath Bedford Birmingham (Scholars) Brighton Bristol Canterbury ... Chatham Cheltenham ... Dover Dudley Exeter Falmouth Hull Ipswich Leeds Liverpool (Seel St.) Liverpool (New) Manchester (HaUiwell St.) Friday Evening 320 150 168 45 30 not 30 12 not 72 20 50 126 26 30 16 60 10 28 8 21 47 25 80 Saturday Morning 520 170 260 84 70 50 stated 50 15 stated 160 25 50 95 30 24 60 10 48 8 74 10 35 131 50 150 Saturday Afternoon 100 45 216 88 20 30 10 16 17 20 10 12 17 16 23 80 Average Friday Evening not not not not not 15 (High Fe| 90 30 60 original 28 not not 35 10 25 not 50 not 80 Saturday Morning stated stated stated stated 100 140 stated 25 15 stivals and 200 25 70 [return not 35 20 stated stated 10 55 10 40 stated 35 200 stated 150 Saturday Afternoon 15 Succoth) 35 15 30 (available 20 15 15 25 80</page><page sequence="18">188 A SURVEY OF ANGLO-JEWRY IN 1851 continued?Attendances Congregation Friday Evening Manchester (Ainsworth Court) Newcastle Norwich Nottingham Oxford Penzance Plymouth Portsmouth Ramsgate Southampton Sunderland (Polish) Sunderland (Israelites) Tynemouth ... Wolverhampton Yarmouth 25 24 14 40 20 30 17 13 15 15-20 14 WALES Merthyr Tydfil Swansea 23 29 Saturday I Afternoon 15 5 24 25 20 15-18 12 31 15 Friday Evening not not 5-12 30 not 30 10 not 20 32 Saturday Morning Saturday Afternoon stated 50 15- 20 25 stated 16- 25 45 stated 30 17 stated 100 18 20 13 25 44 5-12 20 20 20 16</page></plain_text>