Dr. Nathan Abrams

1250 circa

A small medieval Jewish community was present in Bangor, but little is known about them.

1820 circa

In the 1820s, two brothers called Michael and Joseph Hyman (members of the Liverpool Hebrew Congregation) are recorded as being jewellery hawkers in the Bangor area and Joseph soon opened a short-lived watch and clock making business at 'Waterloo Place'.

1828

By 1828, former hawkers, Saul and John Aronson from Prussia, has a Silversmith's and a Jeweller's shop, 'opposite Mr. Harris' Wine Vaults', and by 1833 they had moved to larger premises at Berlin House.

1894

In the 1890s, 'Joseph Owen's Kosher Meats', the 'only Kosher Butcher in North Wales', is established.

1894

The Jewish community raise funds to establish a synagogue in Bangor and as a result a two-roomed Synagogue was opened in 'Arvonia House'.

1895

Morris Wartski opens his original shop in Bangor in 1895, the beginning of an international business empire.

1896

Two young Jewish men are terribly assaulted and injured in Upper Bangor by three men in an anti-Semitic attack. Their assailants get off lightly in court.

1908

Philip Pollecoff, a Jew who had escaped persecution in Russia, became an owner of several shops and open one in Bangor in this year.

1918

Three of Morris Wartski's sons followed him into business and were immensely successful. Isidore Wartski opened a fine drapery at 196-200 High Street and by 1918 and soon he bought'The Castle Hotel' opposite.

1939 circa

A number of Jewish Refugees escaping Nazi Germany, come to Bangor, as well as Jewish evacuees from London and swelled the Jewish population and boosted community life over the period of the War. Isidore Wartski prepared 'kosher' meals at St James's Church Hall, for as many as 60 Jewish children who came to Bangor during the wear, both as refugees and the children of those who had come to work in the Diamond Cutting factories.

1939-41

Isidore Wartski is the Mayor of Bangor.

1950 circa

During the 1950s, the Jewish population of Bangor rapidly declines as refugees and evacuees go home or move elsewhere, a patterns seen in other towns and cities, such as Oxford.

1963

The Synagogue is finally closed, but services continue in a room at the Tabernacle Chapel on Garth Road until the 1970s.