JEWISH EAST END OF LONDON PHOTO GALLERY & COMMENTARY

London's East End Synagogues, cemeteries and more......

My personal journey through the Jewish East End of London

Cheshire Street synagogue (United Workmen's and Wlodowa Synagogue), off Brick Lane
 
Cheshire Street synagogue (United Workmen's and Wlodowa Synagogue), late 1980sA reader was kind enough to give me the photo on the left of Cheshire Street synagogue, 21 Cheshire street, off Brick Lane, Bethnal Green.  The photo (click to enlarge) was taken in the late 1980s after the synagogue's closure in 1987.  The synagogue's formal name was the United Workmen's and Wlodowa Synagogue.  It was an independent synagogue and was founded in 1901.  Wlodowa is in Poland near Lublin and is where the founders' families originated.  In it's last years it struggled to maintain a minyan and was finally closed because the building's structure had become dangerous.  It had been the base for the welfare work of 'The Fund of Good Deeds' which helped to look after the welfare of local elderly housebound Jewish residents.  The Fund ran a shop in Cheshire Street but the income from the shop was insufficient to save the building.  At the closure the synagogue had 180 members.  Many of the original members were skilled carpenters who made the synagogue's furniture.. It would be good to hear from any readers who know what became of the furniture.
 
 
Minnie Lansbury memorial clock, Bow Rd, Bow, London E3
 
Next time you are in Bow take a look at the Minnie Lansbury Memorial Clock, on the side of Electric House, Bow Rd, London E3.  The clock was recently restored as a result of a campaign by the Jewish East End Celebration Society.  It was first erected in the 1930s to commemorate the life of Minnie Lansbury (born Glassman), a Jewish suffragette who died tragically young from pneumonia in 1922 at the age of 32. Her husband, Edgar, was the son of East End politician & Labour Party leader, George Lansbury.  In 1921 George Lansbury led the Poplar rates Rebellion when thirty Labour Councillors and aldermen (including Minnie) refused to implement rate (council tax) rises on an impoverished local community.  These 30 local representatives were sent to prison.  Minnie Lansbury's stay in Holloway Prison broke her health and she died of pneumonia shortly after her release.  After Minnie's death her husband Edgar married an actress and their daughter was the actress Angela Lansbury.

Plaque commemorating Mnnie Lansbury on the side of the Electric Building, Bow

Minnie Lansbury memorial clock in pristine condition following its restoration in 2008

Minnie Lansbury being congratulated by one of the crowd as she makes her way to Poplar town hall to be arrested

MInnie Lansbury Clock on Electric House 1925

MInnie Lansbury Clock on Electric House 2008

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