THE OXFORD AND ST. GEORGES CLUBS

In the early part of the 20th century The East End of London was densely packed with Jews. Some streets.had 95 to 100% Jewish occupancy. Most of these were recent immigrants from Russia and Poland who had come to escape the antiSemitism and the pogroms there. Living conditions were appalling. Families were crowded together in bad quality housing, without a bath or an inside toilet. Some racist politicians spoke of "]he Jewish Problem". accusing the Jews of takingjobs and housing from nativeborn Englishmen and also of creating a crime wave. The Jews were accused of being alien because they spoke Yiddish and because they had peculiar customs.

One person who helped to change the situation was a young man called Basil Henriques, who came down from Oxford University and founded a boys' club in premises in Cannon Street Road. The club was called Oxford and St George's, and opened in 1914, a few months before the start of the Ist World War. (Oxford from the university and St George's from the area of East London where the club was situated.) In 1915 Rose Loewe started a parallel girls' club.

BETTS STREET.

Basil and Rose married in 1917. Captain Basil Henriques returned from the war after a distinguished career. in the Tank Corps, where he commanded one of the first tanks ever to engage in battle. In 1919 Basil and Rose Henriques started the St Georges Jewish Settlement in Betts Street. They lived on the premises and ran the clubs there. They were affectionately known as the Gaffer and the Missus.

The clubs were not just social. They were educational, and taught sports, acting, ballet, physical education, First Aid, etc. They helped to prepare the boys and girls to enter into the British way of life and so helped them in eventually seeking careers. At the same time they gave them a modem outlook upon Judaism and their Jewish heritage. The highlight of the year was the Annual Summer Camps. The clubs took several hundred Jewish children away for a holiday under canvas each year. For many youngsters this was the only time that they left inner city London. Many of these annual camps were at Highdown near Goring by Sea. The boys and the girls went to separate camps. These camps. were enjoyed so much that the Old Boys continued going to camps for many years after they had grown up. In fact, some of the Old Boys and Girls still (in 1998) have an annual holiday together, although they call it camp, it is now in an hotel.

BERNERS STREET.

In 1929 the clubs moved to a large building in Bemers Street. A cigarette manufacturer named Bernhard Baron donated money for the purchase of an old school building. The flat roof was converted into a play area with netting over the top so that ball games could be played. There was a wellequipped gym and many other facilities. The building was known as the Bernhard Baron Settlement. As a settlement, it catered for Jewish needs from the cradle to the grave. It had a clinic for expectant mothers and other patients, a kindergarten, youth clubs, parents groups. The Settlement Synagogue had religion classes, adult activities and a burial scheme. In between there was a Boot Club, which helped to provide footwear for children in families who could not afford it, and there was a Poor Man's Lawyer scheme where people could get free legal advice.

The club was particularly renowned for its sporting successes. The clubs had teams for Cricket, Football, Netball and Hockey. They entered Swimming, PT, Table Tennis and Boxing competitions and gave coaching in all of these. They produced several boxers who gained titles like Harry Mizier and Kid Berg. (The well equipped shower room proved to be an attraction for youngsters who either had either to go to the public baths or bathe in a fin bath in their living room.) The clubs succeeded in creating a tremendous club spirit, which lasted long after their youth. They had their own club cry based upon a Maori chant.

WORLD WAR 111.

During the 2nd World War 600 old boys and girls served in the British forces. The Gaffer used to keep in touch with all of them and later published a book of some of this correspondence. Basil Henriques became a magistrate specialising in juvenile cases and eventually received a knighthood. The Gaffer died in 1961. He was a most impressive figure being 6 foot 4 inches tall. His wife was very short, but with a very strong personality. She was artistic and played both the piano and the organ. She produced a Club Song Book which contained 176 songs where she had written new words set to old tunes.

The clubs were very successful in teaching the young generation how to get on in the world and it instilled in them an ambition to better themselves. By doing this it helped in its own demise. One resultwias that many Jews left the crowded insanitary conditions of the East End, to live and work in more prosperous areas. Eventually, in 1973, the Berriliard. Baron Settlement was sold and the clubs moved to Totteridge in North London.

THE SETTLEMENT

The Synagogue started in 1919 in the Youth Club and Settlement in 26a Betts Street in the area of St Georges, and was originally called The St George's Settlement Synagogue. The founders were Basil and Rose Henriques. The Synagogue was the only congregation to be affiliated to both the Reform and Liberal movements in Great Britain. In 1929, it moved to a large building in Berners Street off Commercial Road.

The new building was known as the Berriliard Baron Settlement. By the front door of the building, which has now been converted into flats, there is a stone plaque stating that the building was dedicated to the memory of those members of the West London Synagogue and the Liberal Jewish Synagogue who lost their lives in World War I. (The road has now been renamed Henriques Street.) The Ner Tamid, perpetual light, which still hangs in front of the Ark at the Stepney Branch, is dedicated to the memory of Leonard Stem who was killed in WWI. Leonard Stem was a club manager in the Boys Club founded by Basil Henriques, and the son of Rev. LF. Stem the minister of the East London Synagogue in Rectory Square.

In 192 9, the congregation produced its own prayer book and Rose Henriques set various passages from this book to existing music. The congregation therefore had a unique form of service. Some of this is still preserved at the services at the Stepney branch. At first the services tended to be rather anglicised; but not as much as some Liberal and Reform Synagogues of that period. Over the years rather more Hebrew has been introduced into the services. The use of English followed an old Jewish traditi6n going back to the time of the Mishnah (200 C.E.), and similar practices still exist in both Orthodox and Reform services today.

Basil Henriques used to preach at services and Rose Henriques formed a choir from the girls at the club. She accompanied them on the organ, another traditional practice which was dropped by some Jewish congregations. The services attracted so many worshippers that for some of them it was necessary to hire the Whitechapel Art Gallery.

WORLD WARII

The Bernhard Baron Settlement survived the bombing in WW2, where it sometimes provided shelter and served as a First Aid Post and as an Air Raid Wardens post. The minister and choir used to visit local air raid shelters on Friday nights to conduct Sabbath Eve services for those who slept there during the Blitz. The congregation was one of the six original Reform Synagogues which founded the Association of British Synagogues (now R.S.G.B.) in 1942. Just after the second World War, The Settlement claimed to be the third largest nonOrthodox Synagogue in the country. But times were changing, and Jews began to leave the East End for more prosperous areas. Numbers dwindled. The Bernhard Baron Settlement building was sold. The youth clubs moved to the Whetstone area of North London. The Synagogue moved to the Brady Club and Settlement.

Settlement information by Rabbi Lawrence Rigal taken from Settlement Web Site at http:llwww.rigai.freeserve.co.uk