‘Part of our history’: heritage trail of Islington’s Jews is unveiled
Untold Stories abounds with fascinating people and landmarks and is aimed at helping Jews in the area to feel it is their home
A heritage trail that celebrates the rich Jewish history in Islington and its landmarks has been unveiled at the town hall.
As well as fascinating stories of artists, teachers and refugees, the walking route also includes prisoners, prime ministers and a chief rabbi.
Plaques outside locations where some of the figures were born, lived or worked form part of the self-guided tour, with QR codes leading to revelations about their life and work.
Created by Chabad Islington, the trail came into being thanks to a grant from London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s £1m Untold Stories fund to help communities to share their history. Rabbi Mendy Korer, who co-ordinated the project, hopes it will help Jews who live in the area to feel that it is their home.
“There’s a long history of Jews in Islington and they are part of that history,” Rabbi Korer told Jewish News, pointing out that the community thrived, built synagogues and had an impact not only in London and the UK but far beyond.
Included in the trail are the architect George Elias Basevi, who designed the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the esteemed portrait painter Julia Goodman, née Salaman, and the statesman Benjamin Disraeli. According to one narrative, the future British prime minister may have been born in a doctor’s surgery in Upper Street in central Islington, on the site where Budgens stands today.
At the Angel, walkers can find a plaque in Chapel Market celebrating the lives of Max and Fanny Finer, immigrants from Romania who ran a greengrocer’s stall and were killed by V-2 rockets in 1945. Their youngest son, Samuel, became an influential political scientist (and his son was a member of the pop group the Pogues).
A section on ‘faith leaders’ on the project’s website includes Wolf Morein, minister at North London Synagogue in Barnsbury, who died in 1941 during his service as war chaplain, and Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler, who lived at 16 Finsbury Square in Moorgate.
Lily (Leah) Delissa Joseph, née Solomon, is one of three prisoners who is remembered: her involvement in a window-smashing campaign in the West End as part of the women’s suffrage movement led her to a spell in Holloway. Among the politicians is Julius Vogel, who lived as a child in Finsbury Square and who went on to become prime minister of New Zealand.
Research for Untold Stories was done by Petra Laidlaw, a historian and author of an illustrated book, The Jewish Communities of Islington, 1730s-1880s, with the mapping and design by Footways, who promote the benefits of a 20-minute brisk walk each day.
At a time of heightened sensitivity and concern, Rabbi Korer said it was particularly important “to encourage the narrative that London belongs to everyone and everyone feels they can thrive here”.
Of the 70 projects supported by the mayor’s Untold Stories scheme, Islington’s Jewish Heritage Trail is the only one to be delivered in the borough. In Willesden, a project by Shared City to celebrate local Jewish and interfaith immigration has also received money from the mayor’s fund.
• See the full trail at jewishislington.co.uk/untoldstories
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