The Knowles Collection: the Jews of the British Isles

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Jewish Genealogy

Knowles Collection

Database

Community Trees Publication Last Revised 3 Feb 2017	People Count	Family Count	Date Added or Updated	Sources Count
Africa, Orient, and the Middle East	42,836	10,722	5-Jan-2017	1,381
British Isles	228,344	75,115	5-Jan-2017	412
Europe	459,431	187,772	5-Jan-2017	1,302
North America	609,307	154,891	5-Jan-2017	1,440
South America and the Caribbean	21,844	8,974	5-Jan-2017	115
Southern Pacific (includes Australia, New Zealand & Pacific Islands)	21,528	6,633	5-Jan-2017	119

Introduction

Use this record to find the genealogy of many Jews from the British Isles. The great advantage of the Knowles Collection is that it links together into family groups, thousands of individual Jews (over 228,000 as of May 2021). Until now, these records were available only at the FamilySearch Library through a complex indexing system devised by the late Isobel Mordy whose Mordy Collection forms the basis of the Knowles Collection.

This record contains

Surname and forenames (continually being added)
Links to ancestors
Dates where available
Places where available
Source citations where available
Notes where available
Mordy number, where applicable

Major British Records Sets within this Collection

Birth, Marriage and Death records from the Great Synagogue of London
Birth, Marriage and Death records from Bevis Marks Synagogue
Cemetery records from Willesden Cemetery in London.
Cemetery records from Hoop Lane Cemetery in London.
Cemetery records from Southern cemetery in Manchester.

Before using this record know

Name of person to search for
Approximate year of birth
Where the person lived

Where to access the collection

Search this collection through the Community Trees Project. Look for the section on Knowles Collection.

How to search the record

Search by the name of your ancestor
View the sources
View the notes

Tips

There are three types of records in the British Isles collection:

Those which were part of the Mordy Collection. These have the original Mordy Index numbers included in the Custom ID field, e.g., ML 31.10.52. In the Notes field, each item is categorized under “General Notes”.
Original records which have been added by Todd Knowles. In the Notes field, each item is categorized under “Research Notes”.
Items contributed to the site by others, who are acknowledged.