The Synagogue started in 1919 in the Youth Club and Settlement at 26a Betts Street in the area of St Georges, in the East End of London, and was called The St George’s Settlement Synagogue. The founders were Sir Basil and Rose Henriques.
Sir Basil Lucas Quixano Henriques (1890-1961) was an Anglo-Jewish philanthropist, who came from an old Sephardic family which was originally part of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community based on the Bevis Marks Synagogue. He served in the Tank Corps in the First World War.
In addition to writing reforms to religious Jewish ceremonies, Sir Basil set up boys’ clubs for deprived Jewish children. In 1914, He founded the Oxford and St George’s Club. The boys received education, vocational training, recreation and holidays in the country.
The Settlement Synagogue was the only congregation affiliated to both the Reform and Liberal movements in Great Britain. In 1929, it moved to a large building in Berners Street (now called Henriques Street) off Commercial Road.
The new building was known as the Bernhard Baron Settlement. By the front door of the building 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 the first World War. The Ner Tamid, (perpetual light) was dedicated to the memory of Leonard Stern who was killed in WW1. Leonard Stern was a club manager in the Boys Club founded by Basil Henriques, and was the son of Rev. J.F.Stern the Minister of the East London Synagogue (United Synagogue, Orthodox) in Rectory Square.
This 1964 report demonstrates an active community of 827 families. The Ashkenazi pronounciation (page 5 below) is noteworthy. The Settlement was one of the largest non-orthodox synagogues in the country. However, as Jews left the East End for more prosperous areas, numbers dwindled and the building was closed.
Jewish Miscellanies 