On Sunday 13th May 2012 Leamington Road Synagogue held its last service.
Its congregation merged with St Annes Hebrew Congregation, further south along the coast.
The Blackpool Jewish community emerged in the later nineteenth century, when a few Jewish families began to visit and settle in the growing seaside resort and held services in private houses and rented rooms. By 1898 they formally established the Blackpool Hebrew Congregation, initially worshipping in a member’s home before moving to premises in Springfield Road, North Shore. In 1900 the Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler consecrated the Springfield Road synagogue, marking Blackpool as a recognised provincial community under his authority.jewishgen+2
Internal tensions led to the formation of a rival Blackpool New Orthodox Hebrew Congregation in 1905, which held High Holy Day services in the Masonic Hall on Adelaide Street, but communal harmony was restored by about 1907 and the groups merged to form the Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation. Continued growth and the town’s importance as a holiday centre for northern Jews prompted the building of a new, purpose‑built synagogue on Leamington Road, opened by Lord Rothschild and consecrated by the Chief Rabbi in 1916.jewishgen+2
Through the early twentieth century Blackpool developed a rich Jewish religious and social life, with regular services, education for children, and strong links to the resort’s entertainment and boarding‑house economy. Over time, however, changing holiday patterns and population shifts led to gradual decline, and by the early twenty‑first century the once‑flourishing community had largely dispersed, culminating in the final closing service of the Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation in 2012.
Leamington Road Synagogue prior to its closure
My grandfather Mr. Abe Harper, was president of the shul. The family moved from Manchester during the war, and remained there. They lived in Bispham.
hi does any one
know
of an Edith Frey she lived worked and died in blackpool in 1986
i cant find if what ha pend to her when she died
she was a distant relation to my dads mum born oldham who also died in 1986 but in Worcester
my dad mums family ancestry great uncles Rudolf and Randolph fray Olham also from Germany there farther Valentino Frey strayed in germany its a jewsh askanazi name
I am thinking about moving to the UK and am interested in the Blackpool area. Curious to know there is any minyan and/or kosher food.
Thanks
Hi, my name is Showel. I am looking for any information on a Jack Davis but nam may be spelt different or a different translation. He was said to live near Devensure Rd Blackpool. Was alos said to have a paint shop in Blackpool. He was married to olive. Jack was also a Chef Petty Officer in the Royal Navy. They had five children Elizabeth, Jack, Gary, Keith and Lynn. Jack had a brother called Cornelius who had links to Manchester and Holden If anyone has information please could you contact me on the email provided.
I knew Harry Hoffman who lived on the Promenade near Near Norbreck bBlackpool. A tall charming man.
This is partly in response to the recent query on Poland, partly to Karen Saidman. First, to Brendan Ripley: I was born Blackpool, but now live Southport. I taught in Poland for two years in the 1990s, and travelled around a great deal. I can recommend a book on the old Jewish communities that disappeared in the Holocaust, by Theo Richmond, title Konin: a Quest. Excellent, beautifully written.Happy to respond to questions but haven’t visited Auschwitz – did visit Majdanek, another death camp. Second, to Karen Saidman: when I was at Blackpool Grammar School, a boy called Saidman joined the class I was in, about 1959. I guess he was Brian L. Saidman, and I am curious because he disappeared soon after, so was perhaps there temporarily, while his family was moving. Didn’t get to know him well – there wasn’t time. I wonder if his family were related to Seidmans who were in Southport, and whether he is still in Britain, and if so I trust he is enjoying retirement!
I wish you luck, Brendon. My Jewish family left the Germanic states circa 1786 and circa 1800, so do not know of ancestors caught in the holocaust.
However, my youngest daughter visited Auschwitz and I am sure it will have a great spiritual impact. Paul Adrian Lyon
hi my name is brendon ripley and i live in blackpool i am travelling to poland in october to visit aushwitz and i was hoping to meet up with people who escaped the holocaust so i could get a personal insight to life back then as i am studying it hence the trip. i am also going to the oscar schindler museum
Hello I wonder if you could help me. I am related to Harry Hoffman who died in 1997. He was a WW2 war hero with two Purple Hearts. In an obituary it states he was the president of Blackpool Parachute Club – not sure if they still exist or whether there are still members around. He volunteered for the Sportsman’s Aid Charity. I am trying to find anyone who knew him or his family. Hope you can help. david_firth@ymail.com
Me too. My gg grandfather had been one of main 10 donors in 1898 to the building of the older Springfield Road synagogue. Including the Sam Lyon jewellers shop at Church Street Blackpool – nowadays rolled into the Leonard Dews business still there – our Lyon family remains in the Fylde today.
Relieved to have found some information about this synagogue and its history, after the shock of learning that it had closed just a short time before I planned to visit, having been born in Blackpool where both sides of the family lived and worshipped. Thank you for this site.