Christadelphian Hostel
This document shows an example of different religious communities connecting with one another to find support in a moment of crisis. Here, we find Birmingham Christadelphians coming to the aid of the ...
City of Religion: Staff Recommends
This is an additional miscellaneous resource list of materials on the ‘City of Religion’. Each item was suggested by the staff of Birmingham's Archives and Heritage Services during research seminars held ...
Early Jewish Presence In Birmingham
‘A House Inhabited by Jews’ (1750).
In one Birmingham’s early ‘levy books’, a number of Jews can be seen living together as early as 1750. This is an important piece of evidence. It proves that ...
Education, Rights and Resistance
Image: Birmingham's Hebrew School (Cornish's Guide to Birmingham and its Manufactories, 1856. Local Studies and Archives)
The quest for Jewish rights and education played an important role in the ...
Engraving of Singer's Hill Interior
The Midland Illustrated News (1869).
After the Severn Street Synagogue would come the famous Singer's Hill Synagogue, opened in 1856. The architect Yeoville Thomson was commissioned for the design. ...
Faiths, Journeys, Jewels: Jacob Jacobs and Birmingham
[Submitted by Dr Andy Green]
Introduction: Rediscovering the Past
From a sign on a wall, it is sometimes possible to uncover a whole history. Buildings that we walk past every day can often hold ...
Fighting Prejudice
In the twentieth century, the 'Birmingham Hebrew Congregation' of Singer's Hill faced a humanitarian crisis- the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany.
In WWII, Hitler's brutal regime would ...
Finding Refuge
It has been estimated that Birmingham received approximately 700 Jewish refugees between 1933 and 1945.There are a number of different archive sources and historical accounts to help us get a better understanding ...
Great Western Arcade
Image of the Great Western Arcade today.
Hans Schwarz, aged 16
After Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, British relief agencies were concerned about the fate of Jewish children. The British Government was reluctant to allow too many Jewish refugees to enter Britain ...
Inside Singer's Hill Synagogue Today
Photograph of Singer's Hill Today (taken by Brigitte Windsor)
This contemporary image of Singer’s Hill shows how little it has changed since the nineteenth century. The synagogue, built in 1856, ...
Isaiah Phillips
Portrait of Rabbi Isaiah Phillips, a minister of the early Birmingham Hebrew Congregation between 1785-1835. Phillips was known to have lived on Hurst Street, part of the early Jewish district of Birmingham. ...
Jacob Jacobs
Image: Jacob Jacobs. Birmingham Faces and Places, Vol 4. Local Studies and History.
Jewish Congregation
Jewish Congregation, Wolverhampton Synagogue. Photograph by Nick Hedges for the exhibition 'I'm a Believer - Religion in the West Midlands'.
Jew's Burial Ground
Map of Birmingham, 1810.
This is part of an early nineteenth century map of Birmingham, a document which helps us to see the development of the Jewish Community. In the very bottom right hand corner ...
John Phillips, philanthropist (born 1836)
Between 1851 and 1871, the number of Jewish families living in Edgbaston had increased from two to a hundred - an indication of the growing prosperity of many Jews.1 John Phillips was one of a number ...