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London Metropolitan Archives

HAMMERSMITH AND WEST KENSINGTON SYNAGOGUE


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 DD/1097

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: HAMMERSMITH AND WEST KENSINGTON SYNAGOGUE

Date(s): 1890-2001

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 3.5 linear metres

Name of creator(s): Hammersmith and West Kensington Synagogue x United Synagogue | Hammersmith and West Kensington Synagogue

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

By 1889 there was a need for a synagogue to serve the growing congregation of Jews in the western area of London. The project was initiated by prominent local business and professional men and, on 2 February 1890, the foundation stone was laid at a site in Brook Green. The Hammersmith and West Kensington Synagogue, which was affiliated to the United Synagogue, was consecrated on 7 September 1890.

The building was enlarged in 1896 and again in the 1920s. The purchase of 69 and 70 Brook Green enabled the building of a communal hall, opened in 1927. Thirty years later, in 1957, new flats and a classroom block were erected on the site.

The original members came from a wide area, including Acton, Barnes, Bedford Park, Chiswick, Ealing, Hammersmith, South Kensington, West Kensington, Putney and Shepherds Bush. In the early years the synagogue flourished with various religious and social groups. However, by the late 1990s the membership had declined to such an extent that the synagogue was closed in 2001.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Hammersmith and West Kensington Synagogue including minutes, attendance books, annual reports, financial records, membership records, registers of authorisations of marriages, correpondence, plans, inventories, magazines, photographs and papers.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in sections as follows:
DD/1097/01-02: Minutes and attendance books
DD/1097/03: Jewish Board of Guardians Aid Society
DD/1097/04: Functions Committee
DD/1097/05: Annual reports and accounts
DD/1097/06-07: Finance
DD/1097/08-09: Membership
DD/1097/10-12: Correspondence, plans and inventories
DD/1097/13: Newsletters
DD/1097/14-15: Orders of service and invitations
DD/1097/16: United Synagogue
DD/1097/17-18: Photographs and papers relating to laying of foundation stone
DD/1097/19-20: Miscellaneous and publications

Conditions governing access:

Access is by written permission of the United Synagogue only.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright is held by the Depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited at Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local Studies by the London Beth Din on closure of synagogue in 2001, with additional deposits in 2006, 2009 and 2010.

Transferred from Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local History Centre in 2015.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

For records relating to the United Synagogue see ACC/2712.

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Added July 2015.


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Judaism | Ancient religions | Religions
Synagogues | Religious buildings | Buildings | Architecture
Religion

Personal names

Corporate names
United Synagogue

Places
Hammersmith | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
West Kensington | Hammersmith and Fulham | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe