THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF NORTH SHIELDS

There was a time when the Jewish communities of north-east England, in what were the counties of Northumberland and Durham, were numerous and vibrant. There have been large ones in Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, Gateshead, and South Shields and smaller ones at Whitley Bay, Darlington, and Durham; most of them have declined or disappeared. I have chosen to research the history of North Shields, one of the smaller communities, partly because its size makes research manageable, but also because a study may suggest some notions of the development and decay of such congregations. One preliminary point is the fact that the two Jewish communities of North and South Shields were intertwined for many years. This was exemplified by a report in the Jewish Chronicle (JC) in 1874, headed ‘North and South Shields’, which stated: ‘It has been settled that North Shields and South Shields shall henceforth form one united congregation’