A-Z of St. Anne’s Jewish Heritage –

Compiled by our St Anne’s-on-Sea researcher Hilary Thomas

St Anne’s on Sea, part of England’s Fylde coast, was a popular holiday resort for Jewish families. During the Second World War it became home for many of them.

As early as 1912 several Sephardi merchants from Manchester settled in the town and established a small congregation under the Presidency of Joseph Smouha.

A       AISHEL COURT was one of the first Kosher Hotels in the town. Aishel is the Hebrew word  for inn. The proprietors from about 1928 were Lily and Walter Barnard. The hotel was the venue for many social and cultural events. During the War many families lived there permanently.

B         The BTESH family, Elias, Dorothy and their four children, left Manchester on 1^st Sept 1939. They stayed at Aishel Court for a few weeks before buying a house on Edington Rd. Elias, known as Johnny, was a textile exporter. He travelled into Manchester by train each day. The family made St Anne’s their permanent home. The parents and eldest daughter are buried at Lytham Jewish cemetery.

C       The COHEN family originally from Manchester, lived in St Anne’s from the 1920’s.

Luna, a widow died there in 1935. The four offspring lived together on Chatsworth Rd. Moses David was Synagogue president in 1938 and 39. His profession according to the 1939 Register was Astrologer and lecturer. His brother Joseph was synagogue Hon Secretary in 1938. The two sisters, Lillian and Lucy, both Syrian by birth, were retired teachers. Lucy Cohen was 48 years old when she married 63 year old Ernest Levy of London in 1928. Their reception was held at the St Anne’s Majestic Hotel. The couple settled in London. Ernest died there in 1935.

D         Benjamin DULBERG was chairman of the synagogue education committee in the 1950s. He set up a childrens’ lending library in the synagogue. He was also elected as the first Elder of the synagogue in the  early 1950s. The Dulberg family hailed from Jassy, Roumania. Ben and his  brother Emil were cotton merchants. The eldest brother Joseph was a doctor. The families lived for many years in Southport where they were highly involved in the life of the synagogue. They had all  previously lived in Manchester. Ben and Rose arrived in St Anne’s in about 1940 and lived on Riley Avenue moving later to 249a Clifton Drive. Ben died in St Anne’s in 1961 aged eighty-four.

E         EVACUEES  were part of St Anne’s Jewish life from 1939 onwards. Several groups of children from London, Manchester, Salford and other parts of the country spent the War years away from their families. Hilda Goldstone was a Billeting Officer. Hyman Weinberg headed a committee to organise the needs of the children, in conjunction with other Northern towns.

F       Hyman Ellis FREEDMAN and his wife Marie were proprietors of the Sefton Court Hotel established in the 1930s on Clifton Drive. Hyman was highly involved in the life of the synagogue serving as Hon Secretary in 1937 and 38 .During the War the hotel was commandeered by the Government  and for four years it was in temporary premises.

G         GERALDO the well- known orchestra leader started his professional life as resident leader of the orchestra at the Majestic Hotel. In 1925, aged 21 he left London and spent five  years in St Anne’s. His real name was Gerald Walcunbright. He changed  his surname to Bright. He was Hon Secretary of the small congregation in 1925 and 26.

H       Aaron HARRIS served as president of the Hebrew Congregation from 1940 until 1953. He was a jeweller in Garden Street. He and his wife donated funds for the Tahara House, a place where bodies are prepared for burial according to Jewish custom.

I        ISAAC Adlestone was one of three brothers born in Leeds who founded a string of jewellery shops which eventually became Beaverbrooks. ISAAC, his twin Harry  and  other brother  Maurice settled in St Anne’s in the 1930s. The company’s headquarters moved from Manchester to St Anne’s in 1946.

J        The JLB Provincial camp was held in St Anne’s in 1922 and 1926. The JLB (Jewish Lads Brigade), the first Jewish national youth movement, was founded in 1895.

K       Greta KLINGOVER was seven years old when she was evacuated  from North Manchester to St Anne’s in 1939 with her school, Bowker Vale Junior. Together with her two older cousins she stayed with a non-Jewish family for about one year.

L          The LITERARY and Social Society of St Anne’s Hebrew congregation was founded in 1928   by Sephardi merchant Joseph Abraham Hamwee who lived in a large house on North  Drive where the  Society  met  for  discussions on religious matters and current affairs. Joseph was President of the Congregation at this period.

M      The MAYOR of Lytham set up his Comforts Fund for the Forces during the War. A donation was sent in 1944 by the synagogue’s Jewish Womens’ Services Committee.

N       Myer Appleby from NOTTINGHAM came to St Anne’s in the late 1940s, becoming a stalwart of the synagogue. In 1954 a dinner was held in honour of his 80^th birthday and his contribution to congregational life in both Nottingham and St Anne’s.

O      ORCHARD Road is the site of the present synagogue. It has been there since 1940. The first building was a former Baptist church with a tin roof. Prior to that, the congregation’s first venue in the 1920s was a room over a butcher’s shop on Orchard Rd  and in 1930, a room over a bank in Park Rd. The present building was erected in 1961.

P     2 PARK Road was the address of the Union Bank Chambers Building, the upstairs of which was used by the Jewish community as its synagogue from 1930 to early 1940.

Q         2 QUEENS Road was the home of Jacob Percival Rose and family. He played a large part in the life of the synagogue during the 1930s and 40s.He and his brothers founded Great Universal Stores. They were well known for their philanthropy. Jacob/Jack  was  the synagogue Hon Secretary, treasurer  of the synagogue building fund and secretary of the JLB Old Boys Association.

R         REVEREND Leslie Hardman was the first of many REVERENDS who acted as Minister and teacher at the Hebrew Congregation. He was born in 1913 in South Wales, moved to Liverpool and was at St Anne’s from 1935 until early 1937. He was the first Jewish British Army Chaplain to enter Bergen-Belsen with Richard Dimbleby. Rev Hardman’s successor at St Anne’s was Rev J S Harris. Between 1935 and 1948 the congregation was served by seven different reverends. The arrival of Rev Emanuel Feldinger, a refugee from Czechoslovakia reversed the trend. He stayed with the congregation for nearly thirty years.

S       Mr SMITH was a non-Jewish butcher over whose premises on Orchard Rd the small congregation met during the 1920s. In June 1933 an announcement in the Jewish Chronicle from St Anne’s Hebrew Congregation stated that ‘The following  butcher is permitted to sell kosher meat and poultry under  the licence  of the Congregation: Mr  SMITH, Orchard Road.’

T       TENNENBAUM brothers, Isadore aged 25 and Arthur aged 20 and a distant relative, fifty -four year old Spritze Hirsh, all refugees from Vienna, were given a home in 1939 by their cousins Frank and Dora Rosenberg of 49 St Anne’s Rd East. Isadore was a medical student who eventually emigrated to the USA. Arthur went to Manchester Technical College and became an optician. He settled in Manchester. The Rosenbergs had a drapery and furrier business.

U       From 1942 to 1945,Warton Aerodrome became Base Air Depot No 2 Station 582 of the UNITED STATES 8^TH AIR FORCE. Warton is about five miles from St Anne’s. The Jewish community offered hospitality to many of the Jewish US Servicemen, especially for the Festivals and Friday night Sabbath.

V       The VICE –President of the earliest congregation was Lewis Morrison who lived in the town from 1912 to 1923. The Vice-President of the synagogue in 1932 was Aaron Finestone. He went on to become President in 1936 and remained a stalwart of the community until his death in 1944.

W       At the beginning of WORLD WAR II, the Jewish population of St Anne’s increased considerably with the arrival of families escaping from the bombings in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and London. Most of these families stayed until the war was over. A few made St Anne’s their permanent home.

X       An X RAY Department was opened in 1926 at the St Anne’s War Memorial Hospital. The hospital was opened in 1922. The building was converted from the former home of Thomas Bannister on St Anne’s Rd East. Most of the funds for its foundation were provided by Lord Ashton. The hospital was supported  entirely by public subscription until it became part of the NHS in 1948. The St Anne’s synagogue sent regular donations. David Sassoon, younger son of Joseph and Sophie, was born there in November 1939. The family left Manchester earlier that year and stayed in St Anne’s for 10 years.

Y       The local YMCA was one of the charities which was supported by the Synagogue. Philip Salter, a synagogue Treasurer in the late 1930s, raised funds for it and for the local Red Cross as well as Jewish charities. Tragically he died aged thirty six in 1941. Mention was made of his support for the YMCA in his Obituary published in the Jewish Chronicle.

Z       The Womens’ ZIONIST Society  and  the ZIONIST  Youth Society  were established in St Anne’s in 1942 and 1943 respectively. They raised money for Jewish and non-Jewish charities both at home and abroad. Reverend Ginsburg was instrumental in organising the activities of the Youth branch.