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The Jewish Community of the South Manchester Suburb of Didsbury 1891-1914: a socio-economic comparison with the Northern sector of the city's Jewry
Introduction
This paper stems from a local history paper I wrote in 1996 for a degree module on the formation of the Didsbury Jewry between 1891 and 1914. Situated five miles south of Manchester, Didsbury has long been known for its thriving Jewish community, colloquially called "Yidsbury" and "Palestine Road" for Palatine Road.
The project arose not from personal faith – I am not Jewish – but from a long-standing interest in Didsbury’s local history, where I have lived for much of my adult life. I was struck by the lack of published research on Didsbury’s Jewish community, despite its significant presence and cultural contribution. An appreciation of Didsbury’s period architecture, many examples of which once housed prominent Jewish families, also drew me to the subject, alongside a broader interest in genealogy and social history.
For the purpose of this research, I have included the neighbouring suburb of Withington, as many members of its Jewish community resided along major thoroughfares like Palatine Road and Wilmslow Road, which traverse both areas. Determining precise boundary lines on these roads proved challenging, and excluding certain historically significant individuals simply because they lived just beyond the Didsbury border would have been frustrating.
1. Aims and Strategy
Following primarily the hypotheses testing strategy, the aim of this study is to identify socio-economic divisions between the Manchester Jewish communities. By focusing on the Didsbury Jewish community during the period 1891-1914, divisions were expected to be found between the community and the northern sector of the city’s Jewry of which Williams (1976) focused his research.
The hypotheses tested is taken from Englander (1994, p.184), that ‘separation of classes affected the Manchester Jewish minority as much as the general population’ in that:
Due to time factors and word limitations for this study, no attempt was made to distinguish between orthodox and non-orthodox Jews.
2. Relation to the
work of other researchers
Reference to Williams’ book The Making of Manchester Jewry: 1740-1875 (1976) provided valuable statistical data for making quantitative socio-economic comparisons, which will be discussed in Section 3. It was also an excellent source base for information on the origins of the Manchester Jewish community. It shows that the greatest suburbia movement (beginning around 1815) was northward towards Broughton with a small southward movement to areas such as Chorlton-on-Medlock and Rusholme. This is significant to my research since trade directory and census data show that numerous Didsbury Jewish residents began their southward step-migration through these areas. Gustav Behrens (a wealthy Jewish merchant), for example, lived on Plymouth Grove, Chorlton-on-Medlock in 1881-86 before moving to Didsbury. Novelist Elizabeth Gaskell also lived on Plymouth Grove until her death in 1865 and assimilation into mainstream middle-class society is evident amongst her Jewish neighbours who socialised at her house - it was a ‘social centre’ for ‘Jewish as well as non-Jewish’ (Williams, 1976, p 169).
Waterman and Englander’s research demonstrates similar patterns of Jewish suburbia movement from the central areas of other cities. Waterman’s research of Jewish settlement in Dublin found that this began with clustered segregation and gradually ‘prosperous families filtered out into the surrounding suburbs ... which themselves then became the focus of Jewish institutions and began to attract later immigrants’ (Pryce, 1994, p.166). As my findings will show, this mirrors the development of the Didsbury Jewish community which began around 1871 with only four Jewish households.
Englander’s study of East London Jews illustrates similar class divisions which he identified from the location of synagogal provision. Three new synagogues were established in the West End as a result of ‘the westward march of the wealthy’ (1994, p. 184). Similarly, new synagogues were founded in South Manchester from 1872 to cater for the growing south-suburbia Jewish middle-classes. By illustration of Mrs Brewer’s article (1892), Englander also points to the predominance of certain working-class ‘immigrant’ trades such as tailoring and cap making within the East End Jewry. Such trades also dominated the Manchester’s Jewry and contrasts with the Didsbury Jewish workers who were predominantly wealthy shipping merchants.
A major question raised in my research was what brought Jews to Didsbury? Although there were numerous influential factors, such as cleaner
air and improved transport facilities, educational opportunities were
particularly likely to have drawn them to the area considering it was distinctly
academic.
Williams’ research shows that the Jewish community placed stress
on education as ‘an instrument of social change’ (1976, p.89),
particularly for social mobility into the professions. ‘The movement of
Jews into the professions had begun when Jacob Nathan sent his son, Lewis
Henry to Manchester Grammar School ... and on to London to train as a
surgeon’ (Williams, 1976, p.123). This project reveals similar aspirations
of numerous Didsbury Jewish parents for their offspring. Elias Canetti,
Jewish author of
The Tongue Set Free
(1988), for instance, lived in Didsbury as a child and recalls his father’s
response to his wish to become a doctor, ‘You don’t have to become a
businessman like me and the uncles. You will go to the university and you
will be what you want most’ (Canetti, 1988, p.42). A less explicit factor that may have drawn the Jews to Didsbury relates to the anxious leaders of Anglo-Jewry who perceived the degraded condition and lifestyles of the Jewish populace as embarrassing obstacles to their integration into British life (Englander, 1994, p. 185). Williams supports this view, suggesting that early Jewish settlers in South Manchester moved southward to distance themselves from their social inferiors (1976, p. 313). However, establishing the role of snobbery is challenging within this primarily quantitative study.
Looking at documentary evidence related to the socio-economic divisions within the Didsbury Jewish community itself, my findings support Price (1984), that such divisions were evident between the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews in that the Sephardim clustered in the prestigious Palatine Road. (1984, p.44)
To compare the socio-economic divisions between the North and South
Manchester Jewish communities, Armstrong (Drake and Finnegan, 1994) and
Rau’s (1984) class indicators have been used which will be discussed under
Section 3.
Numerous field studies of the area were also
undertaken, with the aid of ordinance survey maps and lists of relevant
addresses taken from
censuses. These included
examination of surviving houses for class identification, and examination
of the local Jewish burial ground (situated in Southern Cemetery) for any
relevant evidence. Table 1 - Sample database of Didsbury Jewish residents in 1905
* Area key: AP - Albert Park; WD - West Didsbury; W - Withington; D - Didsbury Sources: Manchester Trade Directories
Observation of Jewish family residences reveals a stark contrast between those in the northern sector of the city's Jewry and those in Didsbury, where many Jews had relocated. The 1891 census reveals that most Didsbury Jewish residents lived in large villas or palatial mansions set in their own grounds, typically employing an average of three servants. In sharp contrast, the northern sector of the city's Jewry was dominated by rows of terraced houses in densely populated areas. In 1871, over one-third of its inhabitants lived in the notorious ghetto of Red Bank in Cheetham Hill.
The directories show a marked
improvement in transport facilities in Didsbury with the opening in the
early 1880s of railway lines and horse-bus services (with electric trams
from 1902) running from
Didsbury to the city centre. This was likely to have influenced Jewish
settlement in the area as most Jewish residents worked in or near the city
centre. As the map in Appendix 4 shows, a large proportion of Jewish
settlement was in the Albert Park area which was a short walking distance
to the Withington & Albert Park Train Station on Lapwing Lane and the horse-bus terminus on Palatine Road, West Didsbury.
Educational opportunities in
particular appear to have drawn Jewish families to Didsbury. The
directories list a wealth of educational establishments in the area and
surrounding areas, and
Mr and Mrs 'A' stated (1996) that many
local Jewish children attended preparatory schools for entrance into the
local grammar schools. Mr
'A',
himself, attended the highly academic and prestigious Manchester Grammar School and his wife attended the
equivalent Withington Girls’ School.
A Biographical register of Old
Mancunians 1888-1951 confirms that numerous Jewish boys from Didsbury
gained entry into the
Manchester Grammar
School. Ephraim Ascoli, a Sephardi shipping merchant of
Wilmslow Road, for example, sent his four sons to the
school during the years 1894-1906. His second eldest son, Francis, became
the managing director of Dunlop Plantations Ltd. (MGS, 1965). Some
Manchester Grammar School pupils, such as Leonard Behrens (son of Gustav)
and Louis Rosenberg moved on to Manchester University (or Owens College as
it was known up to 1903) which was a short tram-ride from Didsbury.
This class indicator contrasts sharply with the education of the northern sector of the city. By the turn of the century The Jews School in Derby Street had a child population of 2,000 (Williams, 1988, p.63). Unlike the non-Jewish preparatory schools in Didsbury that placed emphasis on academic attainment, The Jews School ‘reflected working-class needs’ (Williams, 1976, p. 330). Girls were encouraged to develop domestic skills and the boys were prepared for apprenticeship schemes.
In contrast to the occupations found in Williams’ research, of which 75% were working-class (Class 111 or IV) ‘immigrant’ trades (33% being tailors), the occupations and lifestyles of the Didsbury Jews indicate that 36% belonged to Class 1, 56% to Class 11 and only 8% to Class 111 of Armstrong’s classification. Only 5% of the Jews in William’s study belonged to Class 1 and 8% to Class 11; as little as 4% kept servants and 33% lived in Cheetham Hill’s ghetto area.
Table 3 - Occupations of the Didsbury Jews -1891-1914
Sources: 1891 census and Manchester Trade Directories 1891-1914
There is also a marked difference between the occupations of the Didsbury Jewish groups. The vast majority of Sephardim were cotton shipping merchants whereas a diversity of occupations, including professions, is evident amongst the Ashkenazim (see Table 3). Although I found no professional status amongst the Didsbury Jews from the directory and census data in 1891, by 1914 there were two physicians, one surgeon, one solicitor, one barrister and two engineers, all of whom were Ashkenazi Jews. Kirsten Beach has confirmed that the one solicitor cited, Frederick Oppenheim, practiced at the law firm Vaudrey, Oppenheim and Mellor on Oxford Street (Slater’s Directories 1903 and 1911) and it seems his father, Siegmund, was also connected to the firm as Justice of the Peace. For many Ashkenazim in Didsbury, professional status appears to have been valued as a form of long-term security - something that could not be easily taken away through antisemitic policies or upheaval, unlike a business. While Sephardim also faced persecution in various parts of the world, the Ashkenazi experience in Eastern Europe may have made this emphasis on secure professions especially meaningful. For those unable to afford the educational qualifications leading to a professional career, various businesses were established besides merchants. Mr 'A’s' father, for instance, built a successful retailing chain of men’s-wear retailers from 1905 which grew to nearly thirty branches nationwide.
Divisions between the Didsbury Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews are most evident in the separate synagogal provisions in South Manchester. The Withington Congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews (est. 1904) on Mauldeth Road catered to the Sephardi community, while the South Manchester Synagogue (est. 1872), which moved from All Saints to Wilbraham Road in 1913, served the Ashkenazim. This segregation extends to the Jewish cemetery, where each congregation has its own plots. The Manchester Reform congregation plots are located closest to the entrance gates and the prayer chapel, followed by the South Manchester (Ashkenazi) section, with the Maurice Mesrie (Sephardic) graves situated at the back.
Data on residential patterns supports Price’s finding (1984) that the Sephardim clustered in the prestigious Palatine Road. This was particularly evident during the years 1910-1914 when an influx of Sephardim settled there. Solomon Arditti, a maternal uncle of Elias Canetti, for instance, moved from Cairnfieild, 124 Barlow Moor Rd in 1913 to 'The Rossett', 123 Palatine Road. House sale transactions were also frequently made between the same group of Jews. Directory data shows that Solomon Arditti sold Cairnfieild on Barlow Moor Road to David Manashee and bought ‘The Rossett’ on Palatine Road from Joseph Smouha - all three being Sephardi Jews. Likewise, Ernest Horkheimer sold his ‘Holly Royde’ mansion at 30 Palatine Rd between 1891-95 to Gustav Behrens - both were Ashkenazi Jews. Mr. and Mrs. 'A' emphasized that although they are in a ‘mixed marriage’ - Mr. 'A' being Ashkenazi and Mrs. 'A' Sephardi - such unions were uncommon in their parents' generation. During that time, social divisions between the two groups were pronounced.
Assimilation into mainstream
middle-class society has shown to be most prominent amongst the affluent
Ashkenazi
members of the community. Crition Gradisky, for instance,
represented Didsbury Ward in the City Council (Obituary), Israel Sieff,
co-founder
of Marks and Spencer, donated £5,000 to the
Manchester Grammar
School (Graham and Phythian, 1965, p.86) and Gustav Behrens was chairman
of the Halle Concert’s Society and director of the Chamber of Commerce
(Obituary).
Siegmund
Oppenheim also participated on quite a high level in the local community
as a Vice-Consul and Justice of the Peace, Magistrate.
This study has found, through analysis of various class indicators (such as occupations, education and servant-keeping), significant socio-economic divisions between the Manchester Jewish communities of Didsbury and the northern sector of the city’s Jewry. Divisions were also found between the Didsbury Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews. Although there were many wealthy Ashkenazim, it was the Sephardim that held the reputation associated with wealth and elitism. Yet, unlike some prominent Ashkenazim who assimilated into mainstream middle-class society, the Sephardim were more inclined to ‘keep themselves to themselves’ as is evident in their residential clustering patterns and shared occupations as shipping merchants. This study, then, bares out the wider comparative findings of other researchers in confirming the hypotheses that ‘separation of classes affected the Manchester Jewish minority as much as the general population’.
To close on a personal
note, a particularly rewarding aspect of this project has been the ‘hands
on’ experience of using primary sources such as
the censuses and interviewing surviving relatives. The excitement of tracing missing links
from such sources has made this study a most enjoyable pursuit.
Brewer, Mrs 1892 'The Jewish
Colony in London - First Paper' in DA301.
Canetti, E. 1988
The
Tongue Set Free, London, Pan Books Ltd. Collins, Lydia 2006 The Sephardim of Manchester : Pedigrees and Pioneers, Manchester, Shaare Hayim
Drake, M. and
Finnegan, R.
(eds.) 1994
Sources and Methods for Family and Community Historians:
A Handbook, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press in association with
The Open University.
Englander, D. 1994 `Jewish
East London, 1850-1950', in Pryce, W.T.R. (ed.)
From family history to
community history, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press in
association with The Open University.
Graham, J.A. and Phythian,
B.A. 1965
The Manchester Grammar School -1515-1965, Manchester
University Press.
Price, S.L. 1984 Unpublished
dissertation for Honours degree of BA - The Rise of the Manchester
Jewish Suburbia: a study of intra-urban migration, Department of
Geography University of Nottingham.
Pryce, W.T.R. (ed.) 1994
Volume 2,
From Family History to Community History, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press in association with The Open University.
Rau, D. 1984 `Who chose Chalcots? Aspects of family and social structure in 1851', in DA301
Offprints Booklet 1, The Open University.
Williams, B. 1976
The making of Manchester Jewry 1740-1875,
Manchester, Manchester University Press. Williams, B. 1988 Manchester Jewry - A Pictorial History 1788-1988, Manchester, Archive Publications.
7. Primary Source References
Census Enumerators' Books,
1891, for Didsbury and
Withington, Manchester Central Library (Local Studies Unit).
Manchester Trade Directories,
1869-1914, of Fallowfield, Withington and Didsbury, Manchester Central
Library (Local Studies Unit).
Manchester Grammar School,
(1965) A Biographical register of Old Mancunians 1888-1951,
Manchester, H. Rawson & Co. Ltd.
Obituaries, Manchester Newspaper Cuttings, Manchester Central Library (Local Studies Unit).
Oral Sources
Mr and Mrs 'A' (second generation Jewish immigrants, Director of men’s retail outfitters). Interview not recorded. Interviewed in Manchester by Julia Maine (1996).
Website
Visitors Sources
8. Postscript
Given the project's time constraints and word limit, it proved impractical to encompass all class indicators comprehensively. Notably, the exclusion of social and cultural aspects was particularly regrettable, given their significance as class indicators alongside occupations, education, and servant-keeping. Throughout my research, I encountered ample evidence showcasing the active engagement of the Didsbury Jewish community in literary and philosophical debating societies, classical music, and amateur dramatics. Exploring the nuances of such interests across Didsbury Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews, as well as between the northern sector of the city’s Jewry, would have been particularly intriguing. Given the qualitative nature of this domain, oral interviews emerge as the most promising primary source for further investigation. However, conducting interviews during a later period might offer access to a greater number of surviving community members, enhancing the richness of the data gathered.
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