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Bevis Marks Records
The current archivist is
Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira
The Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Congregation of
London is very fortunate in possessing in its archives a remarkable collection
of records of its many organisations dating from the mid 17th century, In
particular, it provides a valuable resource for genealogical research / much of
it unique material pre-dating official government registration.
As many of you may know, the Congregation of London
traces its origin back to the famous Petition presented to Cromwell in 1656 by
Rabbi Menassch Ben Israel, from Holland, and six of the 'secret Jews'
(Marranos) living in London. For the first time since the expulsion in 1290
Jews were permitted to live and worship openly in England. They quickly set up a synagogue in a rented house in Creechurch
Lane in the City of London and leased land in Mile End, Stepney, for a burial ground. The Congregation grew steadily and it was eventually decided to
build a large new synagogue. In 1701 the beautiful Bevis Marks Synagogue in the
City was opened. It remains in regular use.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries immigrants
joined the Congregation. They citric either direct front Portugal (Marranos) or
from Jewish communities elsewhere e.g. Holland, France, Italy and North Africa,
and in more recent times from the Middle East, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq.
Increasing migration of members of the Congregation
from the East End to the west and north west of London led to the establishment
of a branch congregation at first in Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square in 1853,
from 1861 in a purpose built synagogue in Bryanston Street, Marble Arch, and
finally from 1896 in a new larger synagogue in Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale,
which is nowadays the most populous and has a number of ancillary facilities
available at the Sephardi Centre. A small synagogue in North London at Mildmay
Park also existed between 1883 and 1936. Further demographic changes brought
about the founding of another branch of the Congregation in Wembley in 1962 and
the building of a synagogue there in 1977. The Beth Holim, founded as a
hospital in 1747, and later a Home for the Aged, was transferred to the same
site in 1977. (It now houses Ashkenazim as well as Sephardim.) Some sheltered
housing has also been built there.
The Congregation was led by a small group (Mahamad)
consisting of two Wardens (Parnassim) and a Treasurer (Gabay), chosen annually
front among the Elders. In the mid 19th century this
body became an elected Executive. The Mahamad compiled the first Laws of the
Congregation (Ascamot) ‑ owing much to Amsterdam and Venice ‑ which
were designed to maintain a pious, united and well ‑ ordered community.
With the expressed support of the Elders and. for some purposes, of the members
as well, the Mahamad levied taxes on members, chose and paid the Haham (Chief
Rabbi) and other officials, received offerings, legacies etc. authorised the
solemnisation of marriages and distributed charity both in money and in kind ‑
matzot, coal and blankets in due season. Many charitable activities, such as
education, looking after the sick poor, burials, charity to the Holy Land, the
redemption of captives, were separately organised, as in Amsterdam. Their
affairs were regulated in similar fashion, with a
Parnas / Treasurer at the head, and subscribers where appropriate. Later, some
of these institutions were combined and came to be administered by the
Congregation's Secretariat. Much of the early organisation of the Congregation
survives, with modifications, up to the present day.
The leaders of the Congregation were methodical men,
mostly merchants, and they preserved their records very carefully. Important
documents were kept in an 'Iron Chest', a safe which still existed until fairly
recently. In the 19th century, as was the custom in local churches each year's
records were deposited in a lidded wooden box with the date written on the outside. These boxes were stored in the attic
roof space at Bevis Marks Synagogue. In the 1970s they were removed to the
Congregation's offices.
For many years a small number of volunteers has
devoted much time to bringing the mass of records into order. The importance of
the genealogical records was recognised and it became the Congregation's policy
to publish them ensuring their availability to the wider community. All the
records of births, circumcisions, marriages and burials up to the end of the 19th
century are now in print. They are fully indexed and contain informative
introductory essays
And now to these records in more detail. Until 1819
they were written in Portuguese. This caused no great difficulty in
transcription, though sometimes the handwriting did, but the indexes were
another matter. Before 1850, they were compiled in a curious way, by first
names in the order in which Patriarchs, Prophets and Kings of Israel appear in
the Bible. Non‑Biblical names follow. This nightmarish arrangement was
perhaps based on a Portuguese system relating to names of Saints which was of
use in the 17th century. Fortunately surnames were always recorded in fill.
Two marriage registers have been published covering
the periods 1686 ‑ 1837 and 1837 ‑ 1901. Marriage contracts in
Hebrew (Ketubot) for all weddings performed by the Congregation's Rabbis were
always copied into special Books, as they still are. There is one book missing
for 1794 -1811. The gap has been partly filled using the Mahamad's record of
Licences given to the Haham to perform the ceremony.
The first register (Bevis Marks Records Part II),
contains the transliterated names of the parties to the marriages extracted
from the Hebrew Ketubot, some 1840 in all. The names are given in the form
groom's first name 'de'(=son of) and father's full name, then the bride's name
similarly, followed by the Jewish calendar date. A number of Ashkenazi women
married into the Congregation from about the end of the 18th century and these
entries do not usually have the fathers' surname. Further research in Minute
Books has however revealed some names and it is hoped to publish them at a
later date.
In the period 1702 ‑ 1735 there was a notable
influx of immigrants from Portugal and a number of entries at this time include
the words Vindos (= came) de Portugal, evidently indicating the couple was
already married. Arrangements were made for them to fulfil religions
requirements for marriage and then receive the Ketubah.
For the second register (Bevis Marks Records Part 111) the entries from the Ketubot have been combined with data from the official government registration, which began in mid ‑ 1837, and are presented in tabular form. They give much more information ‑ ages of the parties, their addresses, professions and those of their fathers, witnesses and other points of interest. Some later entries record only a religious marriage. i.e. evidence that a previous civil marriage had taken place, before the 1860s marriages were usually celebrated in private houses and not in synagogue, as is the common practice nowadays.
Records of children's births were not at first
maintained by the Congregation but some of the registers kept by individual
circumcisers (Mohalim) have come down to us The earliest book is that of Isaac
Carriao de Paiba and his son Abraham which covers the period 1715 – 1775, and
contains nearly 1500 entries, including a few Askenazim. It was exceedingly
difficult to transcribe and edit and completed (as Bevis Marks Records Part IV)
only after painstaking effort by Dr. Richard Barnett, the previous Honorary
Archivist. He also wrote a historical Introduction including the fascinating
story of the immigration from Portugal in the early 18th century.
Some further research which resulted in a partial
reconstruction of a list of circumcisions in 1679 ‑ 1699, and a few
marriages in 1679 ‑ 89 with some female births supplement this work.
In 1767 the Congregation decided to set up a full
record of male and female births. The register covers the period up to 1881, though
it is rather incomplete in the later years, once official registration became
compulsory. Four lists of circumcisions have been incorporated into this
publication, Bevis Marks Records Part V containing some 6000 entries, 300 of
them Ashkenazi. Mothers' first names appear in this book as well as full names
of godparents, mainly for Sephardi circumcisions.
And now to burials of which there is a complete record dating from the
founding of the Congregation. The first cemetery the Velho (= Old) in Mile End
Road, East London was in use from 1657 until 1735. The register containing some
1,100 entries, two‑thirds of them children, was published in 1962 by the
Jewish Historical Society of England (Miscellanies VI). It is hoped to publish
in the future a revision of this work and include in it some 100 epitaphs
transcribed from the gravestones.
The Novo(=new) Cemetery further along Mile End Road, adjacent
to the present Queen Mary College, was in use from 1733 until 1918, sonic years
after a third cemetery was opened in Golders Green in north west London. The
Novo cemetery was partly cleared in the 1970s in accordance with Rabbinic
requirements in face of a compulsory purchase order. Re-interments were carried
out at Brentwood, Essex where all the names are recorded on plaques.
The Novo cemetery burial register (Bevis Marks
Records Part VI ) contains about 10,000
entries (about 40% of them children) between 1733 and 1918. Much additional
material has been incorporated ‑ a few hundred epitaphs in Portuguese, English
and Hebrew, details of addresses, age. All the information is linked by a
common serial number to help the user.
These volumes taken together provide an
exceptionally useful study aid for anyone having Sephardi ancestry and for some
Askenazim as well, or for those interested in the history of this small but
important community.