OLD JEWISH BURIAL ROUND IN LIVERPOOL

PROPOSED REMOVAL OF BODIES

A STREET IMPROVEMENT SCHEME

An interesting landmark in local history, forming as it does a link between the present generation of Liverpool citizens and those who trod its streets when George the Third was King, is about to be effaced. We refer to the old Jewish burial ground at the corner of Oakes-street and Boundary-place, off London-road. Outside Liverpool Jewry it may be safely asserted that only a small percentage of the present generation of Liverpool knew of the existence of this ancient God's acre. How many, we wonder, of those who pass daily along Boundary-place - and it is a tolerably busy thoroughfare - would image for a moment that there existed behind the high brick wall on the right side leading from London-road this remnant of what at one period was the place of sepulture for the Jewish dead? Liverpudlians there are of wide acquaintance with the city, and possessing excellent topographical knowledge, who will vow that this is something in the nature of a discovery. Seeing that the cemetery was closed in 1835, when the one in Deane-road was opened, and that for many years it has been completely hidden from view, it is hardly to be wondered at that its existence is not more generally known. Now, however, after nearly threequarters of a century it has come forth from its oblivion, only as a preparatory step to its final extinction, for the Liverpool Corporation require the site in order to carry out street improvements. In this way the burial ground is now brought before the public eye, and the spot will no doubt be interesting to many of our citizens.

In the Liverpool corporation omnibus bill of 1902 it was sought to obtain

POWERS FOR ACQUIRING

the Jewish burial ground in boundary-place. Negotiations have, we understand, been proceeding between the Corporation and the leading members of the Jewish community in Liverpool for the acquisition of the site for the purpose indicated, and these are now practically completed, so that the next stage in the matter will be the removal of the bodies which are interred there, which, of course, requires the consent of the Home Secretary. The burial ground possesses a historic interest, particularly for those associates with Liverpool Judaism. It was not, however, the first cemetery attached to the Jewish community, as is shown by the one which exists, though, of course, now closed, in Upper Frederick-street, and which antedates the one in Oakes-street. Sir James Picton, in his "Memorials of Liverpool," has the following relative to the earlier cemetery:- "A few hundred yards above St Thomas's Church, on the east side of Upper Frederick-street, a little north of Kent-street, there exists, at the back of the houses, an old Jewish cemetery, of course, no longer used, but still containing monuments of departed worthies of the Hebrew race. It is not of very ancient date, having been constructed about 1794, when the synagogue was removed from Cumberland-street, and having continues to be used until the synagogue in Seel-street was erected in 1807. There is nothing about it either picturesque or antique, but it illustrates in a striking manner the fugitive career and indomitable pertinacity of the chosen people of Israel."

The place is also referred to in an interesting pamphlet entitles, "Records of the Jews in Liverpool," by an esteemed Liverpool citizen, Mr B L Benas, JP, and which that gentleman read before the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in November, 1899. Mr Benas, it may be parenthetically mentioned, is the only person who has ever secured any records of the Hebrew race in Liverpool, and it was at the urgent request of the members of the community that he took up the task. How adequately and gracefully he has discharged that duty may readily be seen by a perusal of this booklet. After describing the house in Frederick-street, which he states is now occupied as a "mikoah" or ritual bath, for baptismal purposes, according to Mosaic and rabbinical rite, he says: "The yard in Frederick-street is about the size of an average semi-detached villa residence. It is now in a poor condition, wedges in among back slums, with a few erect and fallen tombstones, bearing here and there the trace of Hebrew characters, almost obliterated and illegible."

Mr Benas's researches also evolved something authentic in regard to the burial ground in Oakes-street. He says: "Reverting to the direct annals of the

JEWISH COMMUNITY

we find that in 1802 a new cemetery was acquired from the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses of Liverpool, in Oakes-street, off London-road. It was then thought to avoid the mistake of the Frederick-street burial ground, and acquire one so remote from the busy centre of Liverpool that the town could no more encroach upon the abode of the departed. [The character of the neighbourhood then may be imagines from the circumstance that it was in a field off Boundary-place that Major Brooks was killed in a duel by Colonel Bolton in 1805.] The young municipality, however, continued to grow, and Oakes-street is now in the midst of a densely-populated, almost slummy neighbourhood. The cemetery was closed in 1835. It contains the remains of some prominent Jews of Liverpool, and the parents and connections of many influential Metropolitan co-religionists." Anyone visiting this burial ground will at once see from its partly grass grown surface that it has long since fallen into disuse. The gravestones are visible, and indeed much of the inscription, both in the Hebrew and the English text, is legible, though in most instances the ravages of age have dealt somewhat unkindly with the stones, and some of the characters are obliterated. The writer of this article deciphered the Samuels, the Josephs, the Solomons, and other kindred Hebrew names, and in one case discovered the following inscription: - "Beneath this stone resteth the remains of the lovely Abraham, son of (the name is here stated)," the age of the departed being given as eleven years. The person in quest of epitaphs would no doubt think the following worth annexing: -

"He took the cup of life to sup,

Too deep it was to drain,

So meekly put it from his lips,

To fall asleep again."

This is the writing on one of the tombstones, and from further particulars in the stone, it is gathered that it refers to the a young man of 23 years, who "departed this life, February 14th, 1833." There is no doubt that other interesting features could be found in this quiet, isolated corner. It is quite true that it contains the remains of several prominent Jews of Liverpool, for it is the resting place of relatives of Sir Samuel Montagu, the banker, who is a native of Liverpool.

It is proposed to exhume the bodies and remove them to another burial ground, in all probability to the new site which has been secured at Knotty Ash for Jewish interments, but which, we understand, has not yet been consecrated. It is uncertain as to the number of bodies which are interred in Oakes-street. It is a rubric of the Hebrew Church that in the order of interment only one body is placed in each grave, and on this assumption, and bearing in mind the somewhat limited area of the burial ground, it may be inferred that there will not be an abnormal number of bodies to remove. Whenever this delicate process is carried out - and it is expected to take place before very long - it will be done with the utmost reverence and care. In all probability it will be supervised by the Rev S Friedeberg, the minister at the Prince's-road Synagogue, and a number of the leading members of the synagogue. The Jewish population in Liverpool is about 6,000, of which some 2,000 are the native population, whilst the death-rate per annum is somewhere near 110.

LIVERPOOL COURIER 25th April 1903