International Jewish Cemetery Project
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies

Print

Hoxton Cemetery, Hoxton Street, London N1 (United Synagogue) (no longer exists):

  • Situated on Hoxton Street, a northern extension of Curtain Road, Hoxton Old Town, this cemetery belonged to the Hambro Synagogue of Fenchurch Street. Acquired in 1707, it was officially open until 1878, although it had not been used for many years before that. Upon expiration of the lease on the ground in the mid-1960s, the human remains were transferred, under the authority of the Home Office, to West Ham Cemetery. Unfortunately, the office register (called "return") of graves removed from Hoxton sent to the Register General did not contain a schedule of the inscriptions. The Home Office did not demand a transcription of names from the headstones when the remains were re-interred at West Ham, since the remains were reburied in individual (albeit unmarked) graves. The official return of the graves merely shows the paths taken up for reburial. Where a number of headstones are still extant, they are laid flat and all are illegible. A survey of the Hoxton Cemetery made by a Dayan (judge) of the Beth Din (Rabbinical Court) in the late 1920s is believed to still exist, having at one time been in the possession of the Jewish Museum. Although its current whereabouts and the identity of the Dayan are unknown, the manuscript may have been transferred to the Mocatta Library and subsequently (early in 1990) transferred to the University of Southampton together with other Anglo-Jewish archives.
  • UPDATE:  A list of epitaphs written by Dayan Mendelssohn in 1929 is the only remaining record of those buried since no photos were taken of the headstones prior to its conversion into a playing field. 
  • UPDATE: Most of the epitaphs noted by Dyan Mendelssohn (see above) comprise patronymic only and lack dates. The following are the only ones that might lead to positive identification (source: Harold Lewin, Jerusalem, July 2010):

Gompertz Lydia relict of Solomon Barent Gompertz

Gompertz Joseph died 5567 aged 78

Wife of Israel Emerich

Bella dau. of Michel Benjamin

Benjamin son of Ganwel(?) Samuel

Wife of Israel son of Emerich

Rebecca dau. of Moses Anshel

Sarah dau. or wid. of Zvi Hirsch Ferst of Vienna

Bela dau. of Michel Benn and wife of Judah Leb

Wife of Samuel Habeleni

Henoch son of Mordecai Hamburger

Aaron son of David Segal

Abraham son of Baruch Joseph