19th century On 15 April 1840, 24 members of the
Mocatta,
Goldsmid and other families announced their secession from their respective congregations, the
Sephardi Bevis Marks Synagogue and the
Ashkenazi Great Synagogue of London, and their intention to form a prayer group for neither "German nor Portuguese" Jews but for "British Jews", which would allow them to worship together. The Mocattas and Goldsmids had been quarrelling with the wardens and complaining over lack of decorum for years. The new prayer group, convening in Burton Street, hired Reverend
David Woolf Marks in March 1841. Marks and the congregation adopted a unique, bibliocentric approach often termed "neo-
Karaism" by their critics, largely rejecting the authority of the
Oral Torah. They abolished the
second day of festivals and excised various prayers grounded in rabbinic tradition. It was only after almost a century that the congregation adopted mainstream
Reform Judaism. On 27 January 1842, the West London Synagogue of British Jews was consecrated in its first permanent building, at Burton Street Chapel. By 1848, it had become too crowded for the congregation. A new location was found, in Margaret Street,
Cavendish Square, at a cost of £5,000. It was dedicated on 25 January 1849. In 1867, a new location was required again. Eventually, the current synagogue building in Upper Berkeley Street was opened on 22 September 1870. It cost £20,000 and had capacity for 1,000 congregants at the time. which, shortly afterwards, was renamed
Westminster Synagogue. Rabbi
Hugo Gryn succeeded van der Zyl in 1968, until his death in 1996.
Archives The synagogue's archives, from 1841 to 1942, are held in the
University of Southampton Libraries Special Collections. == Clergy ==