Bancroft Road Jewish Cemetery - Restoration Update!

The good news keeps coming!

Today we received confirmation from Leonard Shear that the restoration work is definitely being undertaken by the United Synagogue Burial Society.

They will be levelling the ground, clearing all the rubbish, turfing the areas that need it, planting bushes and pruning the trees. All of this is ongoing and seasonal.

Then, once all this has been completed, the U.S. will collate the burials and photograph the tombstones.

As Leonard so aptly says "all of this work will take time but most importantly a start has been made".

We will continue to keep our readers informed of the restoration work and its progress. While the photo here shows the current state of the cemetery we are so looking forward to being able to bring you the 'before' and 'after' shots!

Bancroft Road (Maiden Lane) Jewish Cemetery - Restoration Project

**** The list has been updated and a further 40 names added, see here :
http://cemeteryscribes.com/blog/?p=499
****
In Sept 2008 we received this email:

"I am delighted to see this website. About 30 minutes ago I was walking the streets of Bethnal Green, and to my horror I came across a Jewish cemetery which was in a bad state of disrepair. I took photos and as soon as I got home I emailed the Jewish Chronicle, now after a bit of research I realise it Bancroft Cemetery and I know it was bombed during the war and so was not necessarily vandalised. I am greatly encouraged by this project to see our heritage is preserved. Thanks for giving me a bit of hope. Susie Clapham"

We replied, drawing Susie’s attention to JEECS (Jewish East End Celebration Society) who have been interested in trying to provide assistance in restoring the grounds for some time.
Since then Susie has instigated an article in the JC (Oct 2008) highlighting the state of Bancroft Cemetery, joined JEECS and become a committee member along with helping to drive forward the restoration of Bancroft Cemetery.

There have been numerous articles and please for something to be done over the years so you can imagine our delight at hearing this week that plans are in motion, talks have taken place, and some agreement reached!
The first task will be to tidy the area, turn fallen stones, and turf the grounds. Following this, pieces of shattered tombstone will be collected and incorporated into a permanent memorial to commemorate every individual buried at Bancroft and whose tombstones have long since gone or been destroyed. Of course creating such a worthwhile memorial will require additional funding. We understand that an appeal is being set up and will bring you more details of this when we can.

With this in mind, Susie contacted us for help in finding the names of all those who were buried there, or at least as many as possible, an especially difficult task as the records were destroyed years ago.
Below is a list of those we have found so far, but do you know more? Were your ancestors buried there? Do you have any old photos showing the cemetery? 

Please leave a reply below with details of anyone you know was buried at Bancroft (Maiden Lane) Jewish Cemetery or the 'contact us'.


Abraham SOLOMON died 1^st Sep 1811?
Abigail MOSES wife of Philip Moses of Swallow St, died 1814
Leah daughter of Phineas wife of Moses b Hayim died 1814
Michael LEVY of Borough Road, died 1815
Isaac ISAAC (Isaac b Hayim) of East St Marylebone died 1817
Samuel LAZARUS aged 68 died 1817
Moses HYAMS aged 54 died 1818
Emanuel ABRAHAM died 1823
Michael SIMONS died 1824
Maria HARRIS wife of Ephraim died 1824
Moses b Abraham Mordecai died 1824
Michael SIMONS 1824
Mirlah wife of Simon EMANUEL aged 64, died 1829
Jacob died 1830/1
Wolf PISER (Benjamin Zeib) son of Rabbi Nathan of Copenhagen died 1837
Ephraim HARRIS late of Marylebone lane, 1840
Simon EMANUEL of Marylebone Lane Simon b Menahem aged 82 died 1840
Isaac LEVY of Flemings Row aged 45 died 1844
Joseph LEVY of the Poultry died 1846
Samuel ISAACS died 1846?
Emanuel JACOBS died 1854
Alkia? wife of Mr [Mor...] Reuben .... died Sun 24 Sivan buried [Wed] 27 5619 (died 26/6/1859).
Abraham COLLIS died 1860
Hannah LEVY (wife of Aaron) died 1/11/1865
Hannah (Anna) BRAHAM (Mrs) died 28/10/1867
Kenandel b Jacob died 10/12/1866
Israel b Nathan died 4/9/1869
Louis KYEZOR buried 14/10/1869 [added 13/12/09 - H. Pollins, see source list below *]
Rev’d David JOSEPH died 11/8/1871
Dinah ANSELL (Mrs) stone setting 27/12/1874
Juliet ABRAHAMS of Holloway Road, 1875
Lewis HARRIS died 9/4/1877
Lewis SOLOMON stone setting 18/8/1878
Hyman Jonas MORELL died 20/8/1879
Caroline EMANUEL (wife of Simeon) died 15/12/1879
Hannah HART (wife of Aaron) died 4/3/1880
Juliet & Fanny MARKS, stone setting 27/2/1881
Joseph MURRAY died 5/5/1881
James JACOBS died 18/9/1881
Elizabeth MARKS (wife of Charles) died 2/11/1881
Hyam (or Hyman) AARONSON of 188 Kings Road, Chelsea died 17/3/1882 [added - H. Pollins] stone setting 18/2/1883
Alexander JACOBS died 1/3/1883
David DAVIES of 10 Green St, Leicester Square, stone setting 8/4/1883 [added 13/12/09 - H.Pollins]
Joseph COLLISS died 17/11/1883
Israel ABRAHAMS age 61, died 15/8/1885 15/8/1884 (fire) [corrected 13/12/09 - H. Pollins]
Julia MARKS (Mrs) 86yrs (Israel ABRAHAMS’ wife’s mother), died 15/8/1885 15/8/1884 (fire) [corrected 13/12/09 - H. Pollins]
Mark ABRAHAMS age 32yrs died 15/8/1885 15/8/1884 (fire) [corrected 13/12/09 - H. Pollins]
Lily ABRAHAMS age 19 yrs died 15/8/1885 15/8/1884 (fire) [corrected 13/12/09 - H. Pollins]
Simeon EMANUEL of 22 Store Street, died 27/11/1885
John JACOBS died 30/12/1885
Ann (Nancy) COLLINS of 44 Lower Marsh, Lamberth stone setting 11/7/1886
Leah LEVY (wife of Morris) of 81 Drury Lane, stone setting 15/8/1886
Mark COLLINS of 28 Broad Street, Bloomsbury stone setting 29/8/1886, died 7/5/1886 [14/12/09 date of death added - H. Pollins]
Lydia COLLINS (wife of Mark) died Jul 1887
Caroline SIMONS (wife of Moses)  died 1/9/1888
Philip JACOBS died 14/3/1889
Charles SOLOMON, musical composer, stone setting 27/7/1890, died 16/5/1890 [14/12/09 date of death added - H. Pollins]
Bernard WINKEL, Shamas of Maiden Lane Synagogue, stone setting 27/7/1890
Ernest LAZARECK, died 22/9/1890, stone setting 27/9/1891 [added H. Pollins]
Phoebe EMANUEL died 1892
Maximilian GONZAWA died 28/5/1892
Michael GABRIEL died 1894
Charlotte MORELL (nee MOSSEL) died 26/1/1894
Samuel (Unknown) died 23 Jan 1895
Julia ABRAHAMS (wife of Moss) died 1895
Hannah JACOBS died 21/2/1895
(unknown) JOSEPH died 1898
James S. LYON, theatrical upholsterer of High Holborn died 7/1/1898 31/12/1897 [amended - H. Pollins], Buried 2/1/1898 [added - H. Pollins] in a reserved grave next to his wife. Stone setting 11/9/1898 [added - H. Pollins].
Keila widow of ... bar Moshe .. Fri 26 Adar 5655. (22/3/1895)
Robert LYON (brother of James S. Lyon) died 11/9/1898
Moise MOCH of 18 Southampton Row aged 70, stone setting 14/2/1902
Philip PHILLIPS died 18th January 1918 in 91st yr as Minister Maiden Lane /Western Synagogues [added 14/12/09  - E. Samuel]
Abraham ben Isaac … [died] Sun [7] .. Elul? [buried] Mon 9 560[6]
Beila bat ... died [Wed / Thur] 6 Tishri 563[?] ...
Martha ABRAHAM?
Rosetta (Unknown)
Levi b Jacob HaLevi aged 67
David LEVY
Dinah LYON
Daughter of Rev Jacob MOSES late of Birmingham

Sources:
CemeteryScribes
Jewish Chronicle
The Western Synagogue through two centuries 1761 - 1961 Arthur Barnett
* Pollins, Harold; Rosewarne, Vic. Louis Kyezor : 'the King of Whitton', c.1796-1869 (Borough of Twickenham Local History Society paper, 82). Twickenham: Borough of Twickenham Local History Society, 2002. 44 p. ISBN 0903341751.
See here for our previous blog on Bancroft Cemetery.

Research outside UK & GenAmi

As our ancestors travelled and moved from one country to another before arriving in the UK we often need to obtain information from records held in other countries and sometimes we receive photos from cemeteries outside of the UK. Regular visitors to CemeteryScribes will have noticed that we recently added headstone photos from the small Jewish Cemetery in Landstuhl, Germany. We also have photos from Hong Kong Jewish Cemetery and will be adding, in the near future, headstone photos and plaques from Singapore Jewish Cemetery.

One website we always visit when needing help outside the UK is GenAmi, the Association of Jewish Genealogy. With their Head Office in Paris, France, associate members across Europe and beyond, they generally come up trumps.

Micheline Gutmann, GenAmi's president, explains their sole objective as being to help members know their ancestors and understand their history.

Their website is overflowing with information, articles, details of what's new, recent research trips, family trees, records, quarterly reviews and in addition to all this, their Forum where members can ask for help and help each other. There are over 9,000 posts, which gives an idea of how well used it is.



To keep on track with our Cemetery theme, GenAmi have also researched several parts of the Montparnasse Cemetery (Jewish Section) with details of burials in Divisions 5, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29 available to members. A fascinating resource, where I have been lucky enough to find several of my own families' burial details. These records include the date of death, birth, place of birth, spouse, plot details and when the plot was purchased.

While GenAmi do require a very small annual membership fee (30e) they also provide information to non-members see here and the site is available in English or French.

If looking for a nice Hanukah present for the genealogist in your family, membership of this fabulous resource may well be the answer!

Note:
GenAmi have provided information for the following family entries on CemeteryScribes:
TUCK family : ID:19908
LION family ID: I9918
BRUNSWICK family ID: I2957
BING-JACOB Rosine ID: I9919
MEYER Fanny (Jeanetta) (Feigla) ID: I2958
SAMUEL / WEIL family (F1940) ID: I8605
COHEN Abigail
COHEN Adelaide [Lydia b Chaim HaCohen]
COHEN Andrew Asher
COHEN Caroline
COHEN David Hyman
COHEN Elizabeth
COHEN Frances
COHEN Judah Hyman