Warrington’s Synagogue
This is a guest blog by volunteer Eloise Smith: Volunteering with Manchester Jewish Museum as well as Warrington Museum inspired me to look into Warrington’s Jewish history, and I was intrigued by the mention of a synagogue in the early 20th century. Here are my findings from looking through the archives.
In the early 20th century, Jewish communities in the North-West were largely centred around Liverpool and Manchester, particularly Cheetham Hill Road, where Manchester Jewish Museum is now located. However, several Jewish families did live in Warrington at that time, and at one point Warrington even boasted its own synagogue.
In 1902, the Jewish Year Book, an almanac cataloguing organisations in Britain’s Jewish community, listed an Ashkenazi–Orthodox synagogue existing in Warrington, with the president being Zachariah Zaremskie. While the synagogue existed for three short years, it was a point of contention in the community.
Zaremskie Family
Zaremskie, alternately listed as Zarenski or Zarensky on various records, likely came to England from Warsaw with his family in the 1890s. There was a significant Jewish population in Warsaw at the time – the Russian Empire census of 1897 found the population of Warsaw to be 27.1% Jewish. These Jewish communities were facing persecution from the Russian Empire, and many sought refuge in England.
Zaremskie lived with his wife Eva, father-in-law Myer Goldstone, son Maurice, and young daughter Esther who was born in Warrington. Both children moved to Liverpool later in life, where Esther married Simon Lakin, and Maurice had three children with his wife Cecilia. Maurice also served in the labour corps from April 1918 to September 1919, when he was discharged for being no longer physically fit for service, on account of being anaemic. His service was clearly appreciated, because he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
Zachariah was a furniture dealer – a business which his son and daughter-in-law also went into, although he did run into some trouble with his business. In 1900, Zachariah and his business partner, William Isaac Goldstein, were examined for bankruptcy.
An extract from the Warrington Examiner, 5th May 1900, regarding Zaremskie and Goldstein’s bankruptcy.
Unfortunately, Zachariah’s luck did not improve. In 1918, at the age of 51, he was charged with stealing crockery in collaboration with a young auctioneer’s assistant and sentenced to 18 months hard labour. He died at some point between then and 1921, survived by his wife who took over his business and lived to the age of 91.
The Synagogue
The exact location of the synagogue is not known, though it seems to have been at Zaremskie’s house. In 1901, the family lived at 189 Knutsford Road, but by 1908 had moved to Mersey Street, where DFS now stands. The synagogue could have been located at either of these places, or an intermediate address which was not recorded.
A map of Knutsford Road in 1910. The synagogue may have been located at the top of Bradshaw Lane.
However, there was a debate about the validity of the synagogue. In 1903 Isaiah Goldstone, another Jewish resident of Warrington, wrote in to the Jewish World alleging that the synagogue Zaremskie claimed to run did not exist. Goldstone, a cloth cap manufacturer who lived in Mersey Street, stated that “a small amount of correspondence with the Rabbinate cannot make a person President and his house a congregation.”
After 1905, the Jewish Year Book stopped listing the synagogue, and no further records of it have been found.
A 1903 extract from the Jewish World, a Jewish newspaper, where Isaiah Goldstone claims there was no synagogue in Warrington.