How the Jewish community found a home in Southport

SOLICITOR Michael Braham has uncovered how two events back in 1892 helped shape the remarkable history of Southport’s Jewish community.
The keen local historian told LookBack how that year saw crucial steps in the formation of both Southport Hebrew Congregation and the resort’s first Synagogue.
And the figure of Naphtali Levy – a respected Rabbinical scholar and boot manufacturer – played a key role in the inception of both.
Mr Braham told of how Rabbi Levy, who was also a shochet (a pious Jew trained in the slaughter of animals for kosher meat), settled in Southport after he first visited it on doctor’s orders to escape London’s fogs.
“He was born in Kolo (now in Poland) in 1836, came to England in 1874 and was naturalised in 1885,� said Mr Braham.
“He moved to Southport where he helped to found the Synagogue and became its first treasurer.�
Rabbi Levy’s efforts led to a meeting in ‘Sorrento’, an Orthodox Jewish Boarding House at 12, Knowsley Road in 1892.
Not only did that meeting point to birth of Southport Hebrew Congregation the following year, a resolution was also carried that donations should go towards obtaining a building for use as a place of worship.
That Synagogue – Southport’s original – was on the corner of Sussex Road and Windsor Road, and today is Talbot Hall.
The building is still in use by Waddington Conservative Club and its basement housed RAFA’s Wings club until earlier this year.
“The Jews of Southport were proud of their new status and enthusiastically combined all charitable occasions and celebrations in the Synagogue and in the town,� explained Mr Braham.
Following its consecration on May 8, 1893, the first Bar Mitzvah in the new Synagogue was that of Lawrence Samuelson on December 10.
The following week the Sabbath religious classes commenced and the first wedding there was consecrated on December 24, between Ralph Hurwitz and Rachael Price.
The resort’s first Jewish burial ground was acquired from Southport Corporation by the Synagogue’s trustees in May 1894.
It had to be consecrated earlier than intended as it was required for the burial of Mr J. Hompes, a ceremony which drew not only Jews but several hundred people of other faiths.
“In the space of one year there was an established Synagogue, a full-time minister, and a cemetery,� said Mr Braham, who hopes that after his retirement his research could lead to a book.
Southport now boasts two synagogues, on Portland Road and Arnside Road.
The last known figure of Jewish people living in the town was 600, recorded in the 2001 national census.
Webshout?
Have Southport’s synagogues played a part in your life? Leave your reminiscences on this and other aspects of Southport life by clicking below.