A Jewish common lodging house

[Chris]

I have been looking at "Jack the Ripper and the East End", the book written to accompany the Docklands Exhibition. Like others, I have found it disappointing.

But I did notice one thing I thought was interesting in the chapter on "Mapping the East End Labyrinth" by Laura Vaughan. It's an extract from one of the Booth notebooks (p. 233):

West along Brushfield St. North up Gun St. Very rough. Mixture of dwelling houses & factories. 3 st[orey] & attic houses. A Jewish common lodging at the N.W. end. Where the Jew thieves congregate. It is called 'the poor Jews home' on the board outside.

Probably it's just my ignorance, but I don't think I've heard of a Jewish common lodging house before. Does anyone know whether there were others?

[Chris Scott]

Hi Chris
It doesn't directly answer your question but if you haven't seen the article below it might be worth a read
Chris S

http://www.mernick.org.uk//thhol/eevicar.html

[Scott Nelson]

Henry Cox mentions one when describing his pursuit of a suspicious man one night. He doesn't say it was a Jewish lodging house, but a Model Dwelling House (?) somewhere in the vicinity of Leman St.

[Chris Scott]

I'm just wondering if there may have been some confusion between the "Poor Jews' Home" and the "Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter" in Leman Street
I had a look at Gun Street in 1881 and there is only one lodging house listed as such at Nos 50 to 53 but the listing of lodgers showed a small minority of Jewish persons but the overwhelming majority were not
Of course this was 7 years before the murders and things might have changed
Chris

[Chris]

I'm just wondering if there may have been some confusion between the "Poor Jews' Home" and the "Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter" in Leman Street
I had a look at Gun Street in 1881 and there is only one lodging house listed as such at Nos 50 to 53 but the listing of lodgers showed a small minority of Jewish persons but the overwhelming majority were not
Of course this was 7 years before the murders and things might have changed
Chris

Thanks.

Here's a link to an image of the relevant notebook:

http://booth.lse.ac.uk/notebooks/b351/jpg/101.html

This is from a walk with Sergeant French dated 17 March [1898]. I suppose the Jewish population in this area would have been much larger than in 1881, particularly after the big influx of Jewish immigrants in the early 1880s.

This coloured map showing the Jewish population of East London in 1899 appears to indicate the north-west section of Gun Street was between 50% and 75% Jewish:

http://tinyurl.com/55d569

[Chris]

It doesn't directly answer your question but if you haven't seen the article below it might be worth a read
http://www.mernick.org.uk//thhol/eevicar.html

Thanks for posting a link to that interesting article.

Henry Cox mentions one when describing his pursuit of a suspicious man one night. He doesn't say it was a Jewish lodging house, but a Model Dwelling House (?) somewhere in the vicinity of Leman St.

Yes, I've often wondered where that was. I assume it was something along the same lines as the Wentworth Model Dwellings or the Rothschild or Peabody Buildings. From the way he refers to it, I imagine it must have been fairly well known, so perhaps it could be identified.

[Chava]

The Rothschilds etc gave a great deal of money towards Jewish immigrant relief and housing in the East End. I was in London a couple of weeks back, and walked past the Jews' Soup Kitchen near Brick Lane. Gorgeous building which will probably end up as lofts... I imagine that what's being referred to here is a relief house run by the Jewish community.

The church's ministry among the Jews was never successful. There was a huge amount of resistance, and converts to Christianity were shunned . Mayhew interviews Jews in London in the mid-century, and this antipathy towards evangelism was just as fierce then.

[Sam Flynn]

Mayhew interviews Jews in London in the mid-century, and this antipathy towards evangelism was just as fierce then.

Reminds me of one of my fave Jewish jokes.

Hymie gets hit by a bus and is clearly slipping away fast. A priest happens to be in the assembled crowd, and steps forward to administer the last rites, saying: "Tell me, my son, do you believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost?". Hymie manages to open one eye, throws the priest a peevish look, and says: "Oy! Here I am dyin', and he asks me riddles already..."

[Paddy]

Nathan Kaminsky

This chap looks a possible has he ever been looked into?

Name: Nathan Karnsky
Birth Date: 1872
Admission Age: 27
Admission Date: 21 Dec 1899
Death Date: 9 Jul 1908
Record Type: Admission and Discharge
Borough: Tower Hamlets
Parish or Poor Law Union: Bethnal Green
Place: London, England
Title: Workhouses and Institutions, Waterloo Road, 1920-1921
Ancestry.....I also saw that he had come from Bethlem Asylum at one point....

[Paddy]

I must apologise I have done this twice lately. I find a thread and by the time I have answered it, it appears to have gone and I am answering something completely unconnected. I must get more sleep I think....
Pat....