Bancroft Road Cemetery (London)

No data have been preserved about the founding of the community.

In 1819, as a result of disagreements, part of the congregation of the Western Synagogue split from it and founded its own congregation. Its history is marked by difficulties, for financial reasons it had to disband in 1826 and sell its synagogue to pay its debts. In 1829 it was re-established and set up its synagogue at Maiden Lane, Covent Garden.  The small congregation (about 90 members in 1904) remained in financial difficulties due to a decline in membership as a result of departures and death  and rejoined the Western Synagogue in 1907.

In 1811, a small plot of land of a good 1300 m² on Bancroft Road in the immediate vicinity of the city's three oldest Jewish cemeteries had been acquired and a cemetery established there. By 1895, it was already nearly full, with a 1928 court record citing the number of' about 500 graves." The last burial there took place around 1923 and around this time the cemetery was also finally closed.

After the congregation returned to the Western Synagogue, it refused any responsibility for preservation and maintenance of the cemetery. Several bomb hits during World War II did their part, and the cemetery fell into disrepair.

Since the first half of the 20th century and up to the present day, there have been repeated efforts to preserve the cemetery or to restore it to a dignified condition, which, however, have apparently not yet led to any visible result.