The following is an essay which was submitted by Saul Marks as part of his Diploma in Archives and Records Management course at Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies in 2006. It covers how Deane Road Cemetery was established, using the minute book of the committee which presided over its purchase. The essay was required to analyse an item from an archive and place it in historical context, expanding on the area it related to and evaluating it as a historical source, commenting on its provenance and physical condition. It turned out to be an inside look at how Deane Road Cemetery was founded, introducing the readers to the members of the committee and joining them each time they met to share the issues and follow their decisions. The essay was awarded a distinction.
Birth of a Cemetery: The Story of Deane Road
Introduction
At the top of Deane Road, in the Kensington district of Liverpool, stands a shiny new Lidl supermarket, which has been open only a few months. Its pristine, tarmaced car park and shiny trolleys are a contrast to the piece of land directly opposite, on the other side of the street. There, in a wide gap in the rambling Victorian terrace, an enormous tree casts a shadow over the roadway and the gardens either side of it. The tree stands inside what used to be a semi-circular driveway, with an entrance to the street on either side. At the cusp of the semi-circle, behind the tree, stands a sad looking stone archway, which was once as pristine as the supermarket across the road. This is the entrance to Deane Road Jewish cemetery, which has lain derelict for a century. The tombstones it contains now co-habit with an infestation of poisonous Japanese knotweed, self-seeded trees and shrubs, a morass of ivy and piles upon piles of refuse, fly-tipped from the overlooking residential properties. Some tombstones bear childish graffiti, initials and insignia marking the territory of teenage vandals with nothing better to do. However, if we were to wind back the clock some 170 years and visit the cemetery, a very different image would grace our eyes.
The cemetery is the property of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation, which has worshipped at the synagogue on Princes Road, in the Toxteth district, since 1874. The congregation’s history will be discussed later in this essay but it is important to understand that, in Victorian Liverpool, the majority of the Jewish population was wealthy and very assimilated into the English way of life. The men who made up the core of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation had been born in England and were successful businessmen, including silversmiths, watchmakers, shipping brokers or bankers. This essay will trace the history of the congregation’s involvement with the Deane Road site, with the help of the minute book of the committee set up to find and purchase a suitable burial ground, and other documents held at the Liverpool Record Office.
Historical Context in Which the Cemetery was Purchased
The Liverpool Hebrew Congregation (sic) worshipped in a converted house at 133 Upper Frederick Street, not far from the Dingle district of the city, from the early 1770s. The back garden of the house was used as a cemetery as early as 1773. Burials continued there until the congregation was able to find and purchase a site on Oakes Street, behind London Road, about a mile away, which was used as a burial ground from 1802. In 1808, the congregation moved from Upper Frederick Street to a new synagogue on Seel Street, about half a mile closer to the city centre. Seel Street synagogue was the first purpose-built synagogue in Liverpool, designed by Thomas Harrison of Chester. The congregation was growing in membership and those members were growing in wealth and stature. Oakes Street cemetery was small and soon began to be filled, so it was decided that a new burial ground must be found.[1]
At a Special General Meeting of the congregation on 17 April 1833, a committee of seven men was formed to preside over the selection and purchase of a new burial ground.[2] The minute book of that committee is held by the Liverpool Record Office under reference 296 OHC/64/1/2.
The Committee’s Minute Book
The minute book is slightly taller than A4 size, and slightly narrower, and is paperback, approximately one centimetre in depth. The cover is patterned in a style similar to the inside covers of many nineteenth century hardback books, and the pages inside are unruled. The italic handwriting and elaborate use of English which adorns its pages is a tribute to the formality of a bygone era. In terms of its condition, the book has survived reasonably well. The front cover hangs a little precariously from the centre of the binding, which is all that holds it to the back cover. However, apart from this, the pages of the book are strong and the ink remains perfectly legible.
Members of staff at Liverpool Record Office are unsure of the provenance of the minute book, or the date it was deposited. However, it can be assumed that it formed part of various depositions during the last 15 years, which have been presided over by, amongst others, Joseph Wolfman, who served as Community Archivist for the Liverpool Jewish community from 1981 until April this year. It is most likely that, prior to its arrival at the record office, the minute book was kept in the safe at the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation’s synagogue on Princes Road
The book begins with the resolution that the committee be formed, and the names of the seven members. There follow minutes from 29 meetings of the committee, the first being on 24 April 1833 and the last being on 6 September 1837. There is one subsequent entry, dated 20 February 1840. The text covers 26 pages.
“People of the Book”
In order to gain a clearer understanding of the make-up of the committee, it is necessary to pause and introduce some of the more prominent members. Firstly, it is important to explain some of the genealogical relationships.
The most prominent family in the Liverpool Jewish community in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was the Joseph/Mozley family. Morris Lewin Mozley (1759-1845) had four children: Amelia Mozley (1786-1857), Lewin Mozley (1793-1858), Elias Joseph Mozley (1795-1851) and Charles Mozley (1797-1881). Amelia married Israel Barned (1777-1858) in 1811,[3] and he would go on to be elected chairman of the committee for the purchase of Deane Road Cemetery.
Israel Barned was born in Portsmouth but moved to Liverpool some years before his marriage. He seems to have spent the first half of his career, like so many Jews of the early nineteenth century in Liverpool, as a watchmaker and goldsmith, gradually incorporating bullion and banking transactions in the early 1820s. He may have taken over from his wife’s uncle’s earlier work in that field, following his death in 1819. Barned was very successful and, by 1825, owned a number of properties in the city. Around 1830, the Barned & Co Bank was formed, as a private concern, owned by Barned and the three Mozley brothers, who also owned property of their own.[4] The Bank specialised in loaning money to shipping, cotton and timber firms.[5]
Barned served consecutive years as Senior Warden of the congregation from 1831-33, and again in 1838-39.[6] The Senior Warden is the chairman of the Sub-Committee which supervises the everyday running of the congregation and is the most senior of the four wardens. The wardens below him, in descending order of seniority, are the Junior Warden, Senior Treasurer and Junior Treasurer. This system has been in place since 1831 and remains so today. Prior to that, only two warden’s posts existed: Warden and Treasurer.
When Barned died in London in 1858 (leaving an estate worth £200,000[7]), the Barned Bank came under the control of his brother-in-law, Charles Mozley, who would go on to serve as Mayor of Liverpool (the first Jewish man to do so). In 1865, Mozley converted the bank into a limited company, with £2 million in capital, but it collapsed in the following year, due to suspected poor management, the sharp decline in the shipping industry, the effects of the American Civil War and the scandal of fraud allegations against one of the Mozleys’ cousins, who later vanished.[8]
Elias J Mozley (1795-1851) worked alongside Israel Barned professionally and in synagogue politics, and he served as honorary secretary to the committee for the purchase of the cemetery, so it is his commentary which guides the reader through the minute book. Elias Mozley was first appointed a warden of the congregation in 1835 and, like Barned, served consecutive years as Senior Warden in 1841-43 and again in 1850-51, shortly before his death. Prior to his appointment as a warden, he was also secretary to the Sub-Committee of the congregation.[9]
Lewin Mozley (1793-1857) also worked in the family business and also left an estate worth £200,000,[10] so he was another very wealthy and influential man. He was appointed a warden in 1831 and served as Senior Warden of the congregation in 1833-34, taking over from Israel Barned.
Abraham Jackson (1785-1839) and David J Jackson (1780-1854) were brothers who were born in Totnes under the surname Jacobs but settled in Liverpool c.1809 (David) and c.1813 (Abraham). Abraham worked as a watch manufacturer and was first appointed as Treasurer of the congregation as early as 1815. He served as Senior Warden in 1821-22 and 1835-36.[11] David was a draper; his daughter, Henrietta, married her cousin James Braham, whose annual bequests to the congregation and the Liverpool Jewish community are still awarded to this day.[12] Henrietta and her sister, Eliza, set up the Eliza Jackson Home for Jewish spinsters in the Mossley Hill district of the city, which operated from 1877-1958.[13] David Jackson was first appointed a warden in 1834, perhaps explaining his addition to the Deane Road committee shortly afterwards. He served as Senior Warden in 1837-38 and 1845-46 and two of his sons and a grandson would also serve as wardens, later in the century.[14]
Abraham Abraham was another long-standing servant of the congregation, in that he held various offices over many years. He was first appointed as Treasurer in 1824, and is the only man in the congregation’s history to serve four separate, non-consecutive terms of office as Senior Warden: 1825-26, 1839-40, 1844-45 and 1849-50. By trade, he was an author, who translated various works of Jewish interest from the French. His main objective in his years of work for the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation was to introduce and maintain the idea of sermons in the vernacular as part of religious services. This concept was part of the left-wing movement sweeping through Anglo-Judaism from Europe in the first part of the nineteenth century, but it was met with derision in Abraham’s home synagogue, despite the erection of a pulpit for the purpose at Seel Street in 1827. Eventually, the appointment of the renowned Rev Prof DM Isaacs as minister in 1836 ensured its acceptance and eventual success. Abraham died in 1863, having retired to London.[15]
The Story of the Book
The seven inaugural members of the committee were Israel Barned, Abraham Jackson, Elias J Mozley, Myer I Tobias, Simpson Samuell, Lewis Samuel and Moss Joseph. The initial resolution also states that the Senior Warden and Junior Treasurer of the congregation also be considered as members of the committee. At this time, Israel Barned was the Senior Warden and Joseph Hess the Junior Treasurer, although the latter’s name does not appear in the lists of those present during the year he served in that post, from 1833-34.[16]
At the first quorate meeting of the committee (22 May 1833), Israel Barned was elected its chairman, with Abraham Jackson treasurer, Elias Mozley honorary secretary and Montague Nathan secretary. It is Nathan’s beautiful, flowing hand which fills the first few pages of the minute book, after which his involvement appears to end and Elias Mozley becomes responsible for the minute-taking. Nathan died on 11 October 1833[17] and the next entry is dated exactly a year later (21 May 1834), when Mozley does a fine job of explaining to the reader the preferred method of raising the approximately £1000 required for the purchase of a new burial ground:
“…it was resolved…that this Committee are of the opinion it would be expedient to raise the amount required by Loans from the Several members of the Congregation, in such sums as they may be willing to lend upon Debenture bearing Interest payable half Yearly, and upon the Condition that the principal sum shall be reduced by Yearly Instalments out of the annual surplus of the funds of the Congregation.”
The extensive minutes of the following meeting (26 June 1834) reveal that Israel Barned and Elias Mozley had “communicated with and had several interviews with” a Mr Falkner regarding land in Deane Street[18]. This Mr Falkner was either Edward Deane Falkner or John Banastre Falkner, who were the two sons of Edward Falkner. Edward Senior had purchased approximately 13½ acres of land from the Earl of Sefton in August 1777 at a cost of £2,700, and his will of July 1821 granted his executors (his sons) the power to sell his estates in West Derby and Liverpool, in which the piece of land that would become Deane Road Cemetery was situated.[19]
At that committee meeting of 26 June, Mozley reported that Falkner had originally declined to construct a sewer of the required size, although an agreement had been reached via the congregation’s chosen building contractors, Holmes & Bennison. It was also decided to ask the opinion of Jesse Hartley, the country’s top engineer, who built Liverpool’s Albert Dock, amongst other achievements.[20] By 9 July, Hartley had visited the land in Deane Street with a number of members of the committee and declared it “perfectly eligible”, so the decision was taken to formally go ahead with the purchase. On 25 July, it was resolved that a Mr Sam Rowlands be commissioned to prepare designs for the front approach to the cemetery – designs for an archway which would eventually be Grade II listed. The current subscribers to the communal loan to pay for the cemetery were also to be asked for their first 25% instalment, to be paid on or before 20 August. By 9 September, Abraham Jackson reported that he had received £287 10s, being every contribution bar one. On 8 October, Sam Rowlands’ designs were discussed, the cost of which was estimated at £1,250. It seems a second quote for the expense was obtained from a Mr William Duckworth, of £1,050. Further 25% instalments were scheduled for 29 October and 24 December.
The minute book then details the formal business of the purchase of the land. On 28 December, the Conveyance and Declaration of Uses were approved and the President of the Congregation was to be requested to convene a Special General Meeting to appoint trustees. The next entry in the minute book is dated 17 March 1835 and this is the first which is held at the synagogue chambers. Almost all the meetings up to this point had been held at Barned & Co’s premises on Lord Street. Barned, Jackson and Mozley were elected to the same positions on the board of trustees as they held on the committee. The other trustees were Lewin Mozley, Myer I Tobias, Moss Joseph, Simpson Samuell, Samuel H Samuel, Abraham Abraham and David Jackson. The total of the three instalments of the loan received to date was £900 and the fourth was requested. The boundary walls of the cemetery would be arranged to be erected, under the supervision of a sub-committee consisting of Barned, Abraham Jackson and Elias Mozley.
On what appeared to be a long day on 27 March, during which these three men met formally several times, the decision was taken that the boundary walls must be constructed of brick and not stone, for the simple reason that it would take much less time to erect brick walls, and
“considering…the present state of the Burial Ground in Oakes St, it is of the first importance that no delay should take place in proceeding with the Enclosure of the Land in Deane St”.
At a meeting of the trustees on the evening of 11 June 1835, one of Sam Rowlands’ plans for the front entrance of the cemetery was accepted, on the basis that its construction, along with associated cottages would cost no more than £500. Over the next two weeks, Barned, Jackson and Mozley arranged and accepted a quote from Holmes & Bennison and Rowlands to erect the entrance at exactly that cost. Soon, however, Holmes and Bennison reported that it had made an error in its estimate and the true cost would be closer to £970! After further discussions with Rowlands, stalemate was avoided and the building went ahead.
In March 1836, the trustees commissioned a firm named Whalley to lay out the cemetery and plant borders, and this was completed by September. The next issue was to find an occupant to live in the on-site cottage and maintain the cemetery in a good condition. Although two applications for this post had been received by the September meeting of the trustees, neither was considered “fit and proper…to be appointed by the Congregation for the purpose”, so Whalley was asked to maintain the ground for six months, until an occupant for the cottage could be found. The next entry in the minute book shows that the sub-committee of the trustees (Barned, Jackson and Mozley) took over the responsibility the following month. By the meeting of 17 July 1837, the question of who should occupy the cottage was still unresolved, and Barned, Moss Joseph and David Jackson were deputed to resolve it without delay. These men succeeded in finding an occupier and temporary keeper of the ground, a Mr Kellar, on the condition he receive a small sum for his efforts and a particular alteration was made in the cottage, although the details of this alteration are not specified.
On 2 September, the sub-committee of the trustees was informed of the death of Henry Hiams, a distinguished member of the congregation, who had held offices in the congregation in the period before the system of four wardens was introduced in 1831. Hiams had filled the posts of Warden and Treasurer twice each, including spells as Warden in 1817-18 and 1824-25.[21] Over the next two days, the decision was taken to bury Hiams at Deane Road, and the materials provided. On 5 September,
“The Secretary, Mr EJ Mozley, having marked out the first grave on the ground, as previously arranged, the ground was broke up by the following Cohanim [priests]…: A Cohan, A Cohen, HJ Daniel, Cohen”.
Quite why members of the priesthood were used to break up the ground is somewhat of a mystery, as they are prohibited by religious law from setting foot on a burial ground.
Even after the first funeral, painting of the cottage continued, and Mr Kellar moved in the following day. After the second funeral, at the end of the month,[22] the cemetery was divided into sections, in order to separate child burials from adult ones and “Special Interments under the order of the Committee”. The effects of this decision are still evident today, as several of the sources containing burial listings for the cemetery use the original numbering of graves, with the suffix “A” or “C” denoting in which section the plot lies.[23] It was also decided to bury “free members” of the congregation in a different area of the cemetery from the non-free members. The term “free member” still exists in the congregation’s constitution today, and refers to one who has paid seat rental for a minimum of one year and is entitled to be nominated for offices on the congregation’s committees.
At this point, the minute book mentions two other early burials and abruptly comes to a halt. The final entry is dated 20 February 1840, at which the trustees were informed of the death of Abraham Jackson, their treasurer. A letter of condolence was sent to his widow and Lewis Samuel was appointed as his successor. The remainder of the book is untouched.
The Book as a Historical Source
As enchanting as it is to see and read the words of some of the wealthiest and most important men in Liverpool, the minute book must be evaluated as to its quality as a historical source. In its favour, it has much to support it. It is a very detailed chronicle of the negotiations and decision-making processes required of a committee to procure a piece of land for a specific purpose in the 1830s. Students of nineteenth century business may well be interested in this example of a working committee, from its formation to de facto dissolution.
One of the most striking features is the formality of the proceedings, with every decision carefully documented, and reports from consultations with involved parties, such as Jesse Hartley and Sam Rowlands. One of the ways in which this formality comes across is the style of language Mozley uses. Just to read the text transports the reader back to a time when spoken and written English were very different from today. The sentences are longer and many more verbs are used, conveying all kinds of subtleties that are not apparent in today’s more informal English. The minute book is certainly a good source for anyone interested in the style of language in the first half of the nineteenth century as well as, of course, the handwriting. Mozley rarely made any attempt to write his minutes decoratively, in the way that Nathan did at the beginning of the book, so there is plenty of evidence of what might be considered fairly standard handwriting of the era.
The book is also very informative for historians of the congregation and its political structure. Institutions such as the Sub-Committee and Select Committee are mentioned, as well as the existence of a President of the congregation, often a synonym for Senior Warden (although some congregations run both posts, with each playing a different role). Indeed, at the beginning of the book, Nathan refers to “the Senior Warden, I Barned Esq” (24 April 1833), followed by “I Barned Esq, past Senior Warden” (22 May 1833), from which the reader can deduce that the Annual General Meeting of the congregation had taken place during the intervening month, Barned’s term of office had reached its conclusion and a new man was elected. Most of the meetings listed include a note of which members were present, so the later inclusion of members such as David Jackson and Samuel H Samuel can be monitored. The venue for the majority of meetings is given so the reader can truly imagine the group of men in an office or the synagogue chambers, discussing the business of the new cemetery.
Another insight the book gives the reader is the extent to which these men were prominent in Liverpool society. The fact that they commissioned a man of the status of Jesse Hartley to confirm the suitability of the ground demonstrates the extent of their influence outside the Jewish community.
Of course, the minute book has its drawbacks in terms of its value as a historical source. Firstly, it must be remembered that any minute book is only a record of the decisions taken by the committee it serves, and rarely is any information as to the content of discussion ever included. No mention is made of the scouting of any other potential sites for the new burial ground, other than Deane Road, or how the site was discovered. No individual comments are recorded from members of the committee after their visits to the site. In fact, there is very little opinion in the book at all. The minutes are full of resolutions, orders and reports that are the results of the committee’s work.
Any set of committee minutes is, of course, only as accurate as the secretary who has prepared them, and we, in the 21st century, are reliant on the hope that Elias Mozley covered all the issues and omitted nothing which would affect our interpretation of the situation as it was then, or the value of the book as an accurate historical source.
Towards the end of the book, particularly in the entries following the first burial, the minutes deteriorate into notes of actions completed. No lists are given of members present at meetings. In fact, it is impossible to determine whether the actions related in September 1837 were discussed at meetings or whether Mozley decided just to record the final acts in the setting up of the site as a working cemetery. In describing two of the funerals, gaps are left in the text for the insertion of funeral time, expenses or grave number, suggesting they were written before the event and the details not filled in afterwards. These gaps appear in a few other places in the document too, and this does not inspire confidence in particularly the later entries.
However, despite its drawbacks, there is no doubt that this minute book is an excellent historical source, of value to those interested not only in the history of the cemetery, the congregation and those individuals involved, but also in nineteenth century business practices, style of language and handwriting. It is not a document which has a profound bearing on its field, or a document which was innovative. It is simply a standard record of a standard committee working towards a standard goal, and it is this which encapsulates its value as a historical source.
Associated Sources
The Liverpool Record Office holds a number of other items which support the testimony of the minute book and help to present a fuller picture of the congregation’s workings, complementing the work of Barned and Mozley’s committee. Firstly, there are several burial registers, giving details of dates of death, addresses and members of the deceased’s family.[24] The majority of those on the committee that oversaw the purchase and preparation of Deane Road Cemetery are buried there, even if they died elsewhere, such as Israel Barned. The treasurer’s cash accounts also exist, covering the period 1838-1964, allowing an insight into the sums of money spent on the cemetery – a fascinating source for anyone interested in relative costs in history.[25]
However, by far the most historically and lastingly important are the sets of deeds relating to the cemetery. Various agreements and surrenders are held which cover the sale of the land to Barned’s committee members by the Falkner brothers,[26] as well as an abstract of title which traces the history of that parcel of land as far back as 1777.[27] The set of deeds is nicely summarised in a book dated 1835, which explains the significance of each document.[28]
There is also a set of 312 photographs of gravestones in the cemetery, taken by Liverpool photographer Sam Lipson around 1979, during one of the attempts to restore the cemetery to an acceptable state of maintenance and repair. This set of photographs remains in the hands of the congregation and is not deposited at the record office. The record office holds a small set of 24 similar photographs taken around 1997 by Liverpool photographer Frank Dunne.[29]
These original records are complemented further by the existence of various secondary sources, written by historians of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation or the Liverpool Jewish community in general. By far the most helpful of these is David Hudaly’s history of the congregation, published to mark the centenary of the Princes Road synagogue in 1974. Although much of the text relates to the period after Deane Road Cemetery closed, several chapters are devoted to the evolution of the congregation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and this provides an excellent background to the events covered in the minute book. One feature of Hudaly’s publication is the full list of holders of the four wardens’ posts from 1836-1974 at the back of the book. This was continued up to the year 2000 in the supplement to Hudaly’s work, printed by the congregation in that year,[30]and Joseph Wolfman’s article in the congregation’s magazine in 1994 lists wardens prior to 1836 and includes important information about many of the individuals and families involved. Wolfman also published a number of articles in the yearbook of the Merseyside Jewish Representative Council in the 1980s and 1990s, covering much of the history of the Jewish community before and during Deane Road’s period of operation.
Epilogue
In the early 20th century, as Deane Road became increasingly full, the congregation was, again, forced to look for more places where their deceased could rest. A site was chosen on Thomas Drive, in the Broad Green district, and this continues to be used by the congregation today, known to all as Broad Green cemetery. After 1904, only those with reserved plots were buried at Deane Road, and the last recorded burial there took place in 1929. The prayer hall and cottage were demolished in 1952, by which time the site was already in a poor state of repair.
Once burials ceased at Deane Road, the site fell into disuse, then decay and dereliction on a horrendous scale. The cemetery became a target for vandals and somewhere for juvenile delinquents to gather. As well being colonised by plants, trees and brambles, the graves became strewn with litter. The cemetery was no longer a tribute to the illustrious souls buried there, but an insult.
The closest that the congregation has come to restoring Deane Road was during the period 1978-80, under a plan to convert the site into a “rest centre”. The plan, which involved the uprooting of the remaining tombstones, received the backing of the London Beth Din (the most respected organisation responsible for ensuring Jewish religious law is upheld in Britain), following a visit by a dayan (judge in religious law). The government proposed to grant the congregation £400,000 to cover the entire project, which would include a programme of job-creation for people based in the nearby Huyton district. The only expenditure required of the congregation was for the rental of the skips. The site was almost completely cleared of foliage, but the government withdrew the funding and the plan had to be shelved. The congregation could not afford the cost of the maintenance of the cemetery, particularly in the wake of the arson attack on the synagogue building on Princes Road in May 1979, so the Select Committee (the council of the congregation) and the minister of the day, Rev Reuben Abenson, decided to abandon the site and allow the foliage to re-grow indefinitely.
During this period of inaction, the congregation was forced to deal with an infestation of rats at the cemetery, and also three instances of vandalism, where the boundary wall was breached and had to be repaired.
Some years later, a proposal was brought by a local organisation for the rehabilitation of female victims of domestic violence, to buy several of the houses adjacent to the cemetery and convert the cemetery itself into a park for the use of the women whom the organisation set out to help. Again, the foliage was cleared, this time by a working party drawn from the ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Manchester. However, fate dealt another cruel hand and the two Jewish women who headed the women’s organisation were both made redundant, so the project collapsed. The foliage grew back once more.
In 1996, the congregation was generously promised funding to clear the foliage, regardless of the cost. The chairman of the Burial Board at the time employed a local firm, the foliage was cut down once more and the cemetery was given new inner gates, at a cost of approximately £10,000. The source of the original promise then only supplied £1,500, with the remaining £8,500 having to be funded by the congregation! As a result, there were, once more, no funds to maintain the site, and the project was shelved yet again.[31]
The current restoration project was started in 2003 and received two grants from local regeneration projects. The difference between this restoration attempt and its predecessors is that many more groups of people are involved simultaneously, and the future maintenance of the cemetery after the foliage has been cleared has been planned. Descendants of a number of those interred in the cemetery have now been traced, and online donation to the project is possible via the congregation’s website.
Despite the current poor condition of Deane Road Cemetery, the minute book of the committee which chose the site and oversaw its purchase is a reminder of the context in which the cemetery was developed. The book is a well-preserved original historical source, allowing today’s historian to catch a glimpse of the workings of some the congregation’s finest members. It should serve as an incentive to those of us working to restore the site to its former glory. These men worked hard over four years to secure a smart and respectable place to lay their deceased to rest, and they achieved their objective. This minute book is a testament to their achievement
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References
[1] Hudaly, D (1974), “Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation 1780-1974″, Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation, Liverpool, pages 52-54; Liverpool Record Office (LRO): 296 OHC/64/1/1: Report of the Sub-Committee Appointed to Enquire into the Present State of the Burial Ground.
[2] LRO: 296 OHC/64/1/2: Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee for the Purchase of a New Burial Ground.
[3] Wolfman, J (1993/4), “Liverpool’s Jewish Mayor”, in Merseyside Jewish Representative Council Year Book 1993/94, pages 60-61.
[4] ibid, pages 61-62.
[5] Era of the Clipper Ships: http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com, accessed 30 May 2006.
[6] Wolfman (1994), page 22 and Hudaly (1974), page 92.
[7] Wolfman (1993/4), page 67.
[8] Era of the Clipper Ships website.
[9] Wolfman (1994), page 22; Hudaly (1974), page 92; LRO: 296 OHC/64/1/1.
[10] Wolfman (1993/4), page 67.
[11] Wolfman (1994), page 22.
[12] The Collected Writings of Rabbi Dr Chaim Simons:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7854/liverpool03.html, accessed 1 June 2006.
[13] Hudaly (1974), pages 54-55.
[14] Hudaly (1974), page 92.
[15] The Jewish Encyclopedia:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=376, accessed 1 June 2006
[16] Wolfman, J (1994), untitled article in “Together – the Journal of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation”, Sep 1994, page 22.
[17] Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation death register 1818-1849.
[18] It was renamed Deane Road in 1865. Source: Liverpool City Council (1957), “Lists and Streets: Adopted and Unadopted in the City of Liverpool”.
[19] LRO: 296 OHC/64/3/4: Abstract of Title.
[20] Merseyside Maritime Museum:
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/albertdock/jessehartley.asp, accessed 31 May 2006.
[21] Wolfman (1994), page 22.
[22] LRO: 296 OHC/64/1/8: Burial Register Book for Deane Street Cemetery 1837-76.
[23] ibid and LRO: 296 OHC/64/1/3: Deane Road Cemetery Register 1838-1911.
[24] LRO: 296 OHC/64/1/3 and 296 OHC/64/1/8.
[25] LRO: 296 OHC/64/2/2.
[26] LRO: 296 OHC/64/3/1-2.
[27] LRO: 296 OHC/64/3/4.
[28] LRO: 296 OHC/64/3/6.
[29] LRO: 296 OHC/64/4/1.
[30] Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation (2000), “History of Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation 1974-2000”, unpublished.
[31] Deane Road Cemetery, Liverpool: the Payback Project:
http://www.geocities.com/shmuelbennachum/index.htm, accessed 1 June 2006. Since relocated to http://www.deaneroadcemetery.com.