FURRIERS, GLAZIERS, DOCTORS AND OTHERS: A HISTORY OF THE PRESTON JEWISH COMMUNITY
~ author John Cowell
John Cowell has mined the Jewish Chronicle online archives, local and national newspapers, local directories, birth, death and marriage records, and some of the surviving archives of the Preston Hebrew Congregation, all of them after the 1930s. Many of the early Jewish residents, and regular visitors, were dentists, one of whom was in the town for over thirty years. There were also, in the 19th century, opticians, pedlars and hawkers (some of them spectacularly boastful about their wares), clothiers, and jewellers. From 1881 onwards a larger trickle of Jewish settlers arrived, many of them in the drapery and tailoring trades, but also a bicycle dealer, a glazier, and eventually, from the late 1920s, a set of doctors who made this rather an unusual small community. Further increase in numbers came in the 1930s and Second World War with the arrival of refugees from Continental Europe and from British cities, but after the War numbers declined, and with them the range of activities that could be undertaken, not to mention opportunities for work and marriage, and the availability of kosher food. The synagogue closed, and people moved away, as improved access to universities and the professions made movement in the pursuit of good jobs easy.
There is a full bibliography, appendices give a breakdown of where people came from, and where they went on to, their occupations in Preston, and the population in the 1911 census. The set of short biographies of members of the community is an outstanding feature of the book, filling out details of members of the Goodman and Goldberg families, the Lewises and Schwalbes, as well as others less well known The author has deliberately set out to be inclusive, particularly of Jewish people who were not members of the Congregation, as well as of those who were. The book is more than 220 pages long, with illustrations and some tables.
Available in paperback at £9.99 + £1 post and packing,
or as a CD, at £5.25 + £1 post and packing
from the author John Cowell
email: jcowellnix AT yahoo.com
My great grandfather was a Higgison or Higgison. Was he Jewish?
Hello
I’m trying to research my birth father and have been told he was probably from a Jewish family in Preston.
Does the surname Attwater or Atwater appear in your research at all please, possibly around the years 1977-78?
Many thanks
Jo
John — is there any mention of a business in Preston named JACOBSON?
To Julie Voges – happy to send you the PDF of my Preston book. Sorry I can’t shed any light on the shop you mentioned, the jeweller’s in Orchard St. I don’t remember it, or whether the Winter family were Jewish. Please supply your email address and I’ll send the document to you. (No charge, with my compliments)
Best wishes,
John Cowell
I have noted that you no longer have your book. but you did mention to someone that yu could email a PDF. Could yo do that for me?
Do you have any information about the jewellery shop on Orchard shop, which went some time ago, while it was owned by Winter. Then it became Scanlon’s after that.
To Jo Higginson – hello, Jo, I no longer have any copies of the book, but if you’d like to email me direct on jcowellnixATyahoo.com I’m happy to send you a PDF to read on your computer.
Best wishes,
John Cowell
Reply to Martin Harris, above 31/8/2020 – I’m sorry, Martin, I didn’t come across Morris Harris in the work for the book, now more than eleven years ago. The congregation didn’t leave any membership lists, and I didn’t check the 1891 census, as it didn’t open until 1896. I’d suggest you join something like the local equivalent of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain to get help with searching on your ancestry.
Regards,
John Cowell
Dear John, I am the 78 year old grandson of Morris Harris who lived with his family in Preston around 1890. The family is recorded in the census around that time. I know very little about my grandparents except that they came from Russia. Could you please advise me where I could find more detailed information. I would be most grateful.
Kind regards
Martin Harris
Cape Town, South Africa.
Hello John
I am in Australia and would love to buy a copy of your book. I saw the shul – in disrepair and in danger of demolition, on a visit to Preston this time last year. My dad, Bob Higginson, lived on Cadogan Place and served as a Shabbos Goy and odd jobber at shul in the late 1940s (we have Russian Jewish ancestry but no connection to Judaism since my great grandfather disappeared during WWI). Dad had a funny story – I don’t know how true it was. One Saturday he ran into a rabbi parking his car. That week the rabbi gave him extra money. The following week my dad deliberately walked past that spot at the same time and offered to look after the car (as kids in Avenham did at that time). His services were no longer required and he lost his first job! My grandmother said it was a lesson to him – always do research on your employer! Regards Jo
Thanks, Deborah, for your comments. I did try to make contact with Theo, but it was difficult because he was so busy. The web page I mentioned in the sources for the short biography of your father was very interesting, and worth looking at, if it is still there. Vimeo also has a short video of your late father talking about the past, at http://vimeo.com/34709177 – my apologies for underestimating the number of his children. And there is an obituary of him at this page:
http://www.international-brigades.org.uk/IBMT%202007_1.pdf – sorry if you’ve already found those, but just in case…You must be very proud of him.
Best wishes,
John Cowell
I have just been forwarded a copy of the page concerning my family Singer.
My late father Conrad Singer (Huna Zingher) with my late mother Lily Singer (nee Marks from Hull) ran a chain of 15 shops in Lancashire including 4 in Preston. We were 4 children Judith, Raquel, Deborah and Theo. Diane was Theo’s wife.
Thank you
Deborah Ellis