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CANVEY ISLAND - HISTORY OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

In November 1935 a handful of Jewish residents met on Canvey Island to discuss the building of a new Synagogue. The venue was a bungalow named 'Goldina' on Shell Beach Road and several Jewish families living on the island attended. A building fund was launched by Harris Rosenthal, Maurice Shifren and Maurice Hartfield and other families under the names of Flitterman, Sugar and Barnett were also part of this plan. Up until then services had been taking place in 'Goldina' but due to the popularity of Canvey Island as a desirable place to live the numbers of Jewish residents had been steadily rising. This meeting was reported by the Jewish Chronicle at the time but we do know that no synagogue was ever built and services continued at 'Goldina' for many more years.

So, why Canvey Island? We know that Jewish families had been making their way to Canvey since the turn of the twentieth century. An article from the Spectator Magazine dated 25 August 1900 suggests why Canvey might be the ideal place for Jews, albeit for spurious reasons: 'The growth of the Jewish colonies not far off on the mainland, where poor Hebrews continually reinforce a community devoted to field and garden labour, and content to begin by earning the barest living, seems to indicate that a population from the poorest urban class might be found for reclaimed land'.

Canvey developed fairly quickly in the 1920s as small parcels of land were heavily marketed within the Jewish East End. Families took advantage of the cheap prices and built small properties with exotic names like Israel Sugar's house 'Tel Aviv' on Meynal Avenue, or The Hartfield's home at 'Samson Lodge' on Oxford Road. Jews not only wanted to live there, they also visited for day trips and holidays. At least one kosher hotel and several boarding houses were established and Jews became part of everyday life on the island, although not everyone in Essex understood or were sympathetic to Jewish customs.