________________________________

From: bersoni@hotmail.com
To: jcr-uk@lyris.jewishgen.org
Subject: RE: jcr-uk digest: December 05, 2007
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 10:24:17 +0000




Dear Andrew,

It's very hard to find material on the Jewish communities in Kent
in general. First of all, and I'm sure you know that, BMD goes back
only to 1837. Anything earlier than that is a serious detective work.
In theory, the records of the Jewish community of Canterbury are kept
in the Canterbury Cathedral archives
(http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/history/archives.htm),
though I'm not sure that anything survived, but I would suggest you
double check that.
The only collection of the Jewish records in Kent that I know of is
in Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre (http://cityark.medway.gov.uk).
They also hold quite a nice collection of books on Jewish history in the
area, and the Chatham Memorial Synagogue is the only one that has been
active since 1760s. I do know that there were connections between the
communities, and quite a few Jewish families moved to Rochester and
Chatham >from Canterbury. You can send them an email, explaining the
problem, and I know that you're entitled for a 20 minutes free research.
I do recommend the staff there, who are very helpful and friendly.

Hope this helps.

Irene Berson
Chatham, UK