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Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish Cemetery, established in 1864, was situated at 377 Hereford Street. It closed in 1943.

The founding of a Jewish congregation in Christchurch, the Canterbury Hebrew Congregation, was first initiated in 1863, following a meeting held on 12 January. 

On 13 October 1864, members of the congregation, Louis Edward Nathan, Maurice Harris, Hyman Marks, David Davis, and Henry Moss purchased a parcel of land consisting of 1 rood which was part of Rural Section 26 on Hereford Street. 

The first burial, that of Samuel Cohen, took place in 1865. Over time, the cemetery included the following burials:

Hyam Davis (d. 1878).
Sarah Elizabeth Nathan (d.1883).
Hyam Edward Nathan (d.1885).
Jacob Schwartz (d.1877).
Alfred Isaac Raphael (d.1875).

The last burial was that of Mary Ann Raphael following her death on 3 April 1890.

By the 1920s, the site had fallen into disrepair and was considered unsightly. The trustees decided to sell the site in 1924. However, the congregation was required to obtain the consent of two thirds of its members. The congregation also needed to receive the permission from the relatives of those who had been interred in the cemetery. 

On 1 July 1943, the MP for Christchurch East, Mabel Howard, introduced the Canterbury Jewish Cemetery Empowering Bill to Parliament. This allowed the trustees to remove the remains of those who had been buried in the section to a new burial ground and to close the site as a burial ground. It came into force on 25 August 1943 as the Canterbury Jewish Cemetery Empowering Act 1943.

The land was purchased by Edward Hitchcock who lived at 385 Hereford Street.

To prepare for the re-internment, Dr. Thomas Fletcher Telford, the Medical Officer for Health, inspected the graves and noted that there was no longer any evidence of human remains. He suggested reburying the soil from each plot. This was exhumed and and re-interred in the Jewish section of Linwood Cemetery which had been consecrated by Rabbi Isaac Zachariah in 1885.

The site at 377 Hereford Street is now a private property. 

References

Christchurch City Libraries. Linwood Cemetery Tour

Town and Country, Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 7653, 14 September 1885, p.4.

Deaths, Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7517, 5 April 1890, p.4.

Jewish Burial Ground, Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20670, 6 October 1932, p.7.

Sale of Cemetery, Otago Daily Times, Issue 24639, 21 June 1941, p.10.

Private Bill, Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23914, 5 April 1943, p.1.

Jewish Cemetery, Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23989, 2 July 1943, p.4.