The shortage of eligible Jewish women in Stroud, for marriage, was a long term problem. In fact all of the Jewish brides (other than converts) came from outside of Stroud. They came from birthplaces as diverse as Belgium, Sunderland, Holland, Amsterdam, Germany, Prussia, Poland. Natural inclinations were not to be thwarted and there were some inter-marriages - one in church, others in civil ceremonies. However there were two conversions to Judaism of local women before marriage. At least two marriages of Stroud Jews were performed in Cheltenham Synagogue, in 1878 and 1879. The first at the Stroud synagogue was in 1 June 1882.
The relatively high rate of inter-marriage is of particular interest, given that the Eastern European Jews were generally known for their higher levels of Jewish fervour and piety than their more long established English co-religionists. Many of these Jews had been in England for a short number of years and would have been unlikely to have fallen into non-Jewish ways by choice. This suggests a strong tension that must have existed in the community between the services of these young hardworking men to Mammon on the one hand and Judaism on the other hand.
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