Tomb of Lazarus Magnus, Chatham Jewish Burial Ground, Chatham, Medway

Summary

Memorial to Lazarus Magnus, died 1865, erected in 1866, by Edward James Physick, in Chatham Jewish Burial Ground.

Description

Memorial to Lazarus Magnus (d 1865), erected in 1866, by Edward James Physick, in Chatham Jewish Burial Ground.

MATERIALS: Portland Stone, on granite steps, with raised lead lettering.

DESCRIPTION: the monument stands over 4m high, and consists of a heavily draped urn on a pedestal with a tall stepped cap. On the north side of the pedestal is an arched marble panel depicting lightning striking a tree, signifying that the life of the deceased was abruptly curtailed; portions of the relief have been lost through vandalism. On the pediment above is carved a badge with a central lion, thought to be connected with Lazarus's role as captain of the volunteer artillery corps. The pedestal stands on three graduated blocks, bearing the very detailed inscription to the north; the upper two blocks have projecting tablets. The leaded inscription is in sans serif capitals. The upper tablet, in Hebrew and English, provides Magnus’s details: ‘SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF LAZARUS SIMON MAGNUS, ESQ. / THE BELOVED AND ONLY SON OF / SIMON MAGNUS OF CHATHAM. / WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 7.TH 1865 (A.N. 5625.) / IN THE FORTIETH YEAR OF HIS AGE.’ The middle tablet describes his personal qualities, his commitment to Judaism, and his energetic benevolence. It is noted that he was an example of ‘HOW AN INTENSE LOVE OF JUDAISM MAY BE BROUGHT TO HARMONIZE WITH THE EXERCISE OF EVERY DUTY AND OBLIGATION PROPER TO AN ENLIGHTENED AND PATRIOTIC CITIZEN.’ The bottom panel describes his career in detail, his involvement in the Kent Volunteer Artillery being particularly emphasised through the use of larger lettering. The inscription ends with a quotation from Ecclesiastes XII_7 in both English and Hebrew: ‘THE DUST HAS GONE BACK TO THE EARTH AS IT WAS: / THE SPIRIT HAS RETURNED TO GOD WHO GAVE IT.’ Beneath that is the traditional abbreviation based on Samuel, 25:29, ‘May his/her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life’ in Hebrew lettering. The monument is raised yet higher by three granite steps, and is enclosed by a chain-link fence strung between tapering stone piers on a granite kerb. Within the memorial’s enclosure are three ledger stones: on one is inscribed ‘BENEATH THIS STONE LIES / INTERRED THE BODY / OF CAPATIN / LAZARUS SIMON MAGNUS’. The others lie on the graves of Lazarus’s sister Jane (d. 1872), and her husband Henry Jacob Nathan of London (d 1879).

History

Chatham has one of the earliest provincial Jewish communities in England, growing in importance during the C18 and early C19. By the mid-C19 there were about 60 Jewish families residing in Chatham and its neighbourhood.

It is probable that Chatham’s Jews worshipped in one another’s houses until the mid-C18. However, a document of 1770 mentions a tenement belonging to St Bartholomew’s Hospital being sublet for use as a synagogue; the lease of the tenement had been acquired in 1766. By 1780, the building was described as being ‘lately rebuilt’. The early synagogue was described in Samuel Bagshaw’s ‘History, Gazetteer & Directory of Kent’ (1847) as ‘a small building of brick and wood about one hundred years old’, and is thought to have been reminiscent of wooden Ashkenazi synagogues in Poland.

The date of the establishment of the burial ground is not known, but it is thought likely that it was created at the time the synagogue was established at the site, or that it may have preceded the synagogue; burial space was considered to be of the first importance for Jewish immigrant communities, and burial grounds were frequently established before synagogue buildings. Certainly from the 1780s all the area’s Jewish burials were conducted in the Chatham burial ground. The burial ground lies immediately to the south and south-east of the synagogue: the establishment of a synagogue and burial ground in such close proximity was very rare. Despite the high degree of respect accorded to the deceased - Jewish burial grounds are regarded as sacred places, where the deceased must remain undisturbed in perpetuity - a fundamental belief in the impurity of the dead underpins many of the customs relating to death and burial defined in ‘halakhah’ (Jewish religious law), and Jewish burial grounds are therefore normally isolated from residential areas with their religious and social amenities; circumstances may have made this impossible at Chatham. Although there are two other known examples of a synagogue standing adjacent to a cemetery in England, in both cases the synagogue was established next to the pre-existing cemetery at a much later date, rather than there being a historic connection between the two elements, as at Chatham.

In 1866 a member of the congregation, wealthy coal merchant and naval agent Simon Magnus, whose family had been associated with the synagogue since the early C19, purchased the freehold of the synagogue and burial ground, along with several adjoining cottages, in order to build a new synagogue together with a minister’s house. The synagogue was a gift to the community in commemoration of the donor’s only son Captain Lazarus Simon Magnus who had died prematurely on 7 January 1865, aged 39; a condition of the synagogue’s deed of trust is that his memorial within the burial ground should remain always visible from the High Street. The memorial, by Edward James Physick, was erected in January 1866, in an area to the north-east of the burial ground. The new, larger synagogue, in an ornate eclectic Romanesque style, was sited to the north of the earlier building, and the burial ground expanded northwards to fill the space released by the old synagogue. Built in 1868-1870 to the design of London Jewish architect Hyman Henry Collins, the new synagogue was consecrated in 1870 by Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler. The synagogue was entered from the High Street, with the minister’s house immediately to the east; surviving plans within the synagogue show the architect’s conception of the two buildings framing the monument, with a walkway to the burial ground between the buildings. The graves of Simon Magnus (d 1875) and his wife Sara (d 1850) are marked by a pair of Portland stone obelisks within an ornate iron railed enclosure towards the rear of cemetery, almost directly in line with their son’s memorial. Also present is the tomb of Simon's Magnus's father, also Lazarus Magnus (d 1821), who established the family in Chatham in the first decade of the C19.

In about 1970 the minister’s house was demolished and in 1972 an extension was completed linking with the synagogue to the east. Built as a youth and community centre or centenary hall, the extension was designed by Halpern and Partners; Hilary Halpern’s family had been associated with the synagogue since the late C19. The extension obscured the view of the Lazarus Magnus memorial from the High Street, and an Act of Parliament was obtained through the Charity Commissioners to vary the trust, on the understanding that the memorial would be visible through the largely glazed structure. Since the construction of the extension, access to the burial ground has been via an alleyway running to the west of the new synagogue, dating from the C18 if not earlier. The last burial took place in 1982 and the cemetery is now full. The cemetery has been the subject of vandalism on a number of occasions, with the Lazarus Magnus tomb being amongst those damaged.

Lazarus Magnus (1824-1865) took on numerous responsibilities, in addition to family and synagogue business. Involved in a number of major engineering projects, as Vice-Chairman of the Sittingbourne and Sheerness Railway from 1856, Magnus was instrumental in taking the new railway via the ancient but moribund port of Queensborough on the Isle of Sheppey, earning local gratitude. Magnus was elected Mayor of Queenborough three times, making him the first Jewish provincial mayor in 1858. In 1859 Magnus formed and also became captain of the 4th corps of the 1st Brigade of the Kent Volunteer Artillery, which included many members of the synagogue congregation; he was one of the earliest professing Jews to receive a military commission. The inscription on the memorial describes the attendance of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the corps at the cemetery for his funeral. Many local shops were closed on that day as a mark of respect. Magnus’s premature death is believed to have been caused by over-administration of chloroform taken to relieve toothache.

Edward James Physick (1829-1906) was a successful London sculptor from a family of sculptors; Edward James had exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, as well as the Royal Academy and the British Institution. The majority of his known surviving works are memorials, many within churches.

The name Chatham Intra is associated with an area of sloping land extending down to the river Medway that links the historic settlements of Rochester and Chatham. This middle ground was split administratively between the two towns, straddled three parishes and was traversed by an ancient routeway running between London and Canterbury and onward to Dover, of Roman or earlier origin. Development here began with the construction of the Hospital of St Bartholomew for people with leprosy in 1078 which was under the control of Rochester although located just outside it. More concerted building along the routeway only got underway in the late C17. This came both from the west, as a suburban extension of Rochester, and from the east, as part of Chatham’s rapid growth following the establishment of a naval dockyard in the late C16. Thereafter the fortunes of town and Chatham Intra were closely tied to the military, as a garrison town and naval base serving the needs of soldiers, sailors and marines, until the late C20.

From the C18 the area began to develop an increasingly commercial and industrial character, including ship-building, brewing and the movement of goods, notably coal and timber, encouraging the building of wharves and piers out into the river Medway. The impetus for growth also came from the railways, which arrived at Chatham Intra in the 1850s. Redevelopment along the High Street was also the consequence of major fires in the early C19 followed by road widening initiatives and landowners seeking to build more densely later in the century. The result was a flourishing High Street that supported a lively mixture of shops, theatres, cinemas, public houses and hotels up to the mid-C20. But this was followed by a sustained period of decline due to wider social change and the loss of military facilities. However, despite some losses the area retains a considerable amount of historic fabric and an urban grain still shaped by historical patterns of growth.

Reasons for Listing

The memorial tomb of Lazarus Simon Magnus in the Jewish burial ground at Chatham Memorial Synagogue is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for its bold design, being an unusually distinguished example of a fairly standard form, skilfully executed by the sculptor Edward James Physick.

Historic interest:

* the monument plays a key role in the historic development of the synagogue and burial ground site, having originally served as a focal point announcing the burial ground, as seen from the High Street; it remains a prominent marker within the site;
* Lazarus Magnus was a prominent figure within both the Jewish community and the wider life of Medway, as Vice-Chairman of the Sittingbourne and Sheerness Railway, three times mayor of Queenborough, and founder and captain of a volunteer artillery corps; Magnus was England’s first professing Jew in England to hold the office of mayor, and one of the first to obtain a military commission.

Group value:

* the tomb has group value with the Grade II*-listed synagogue, and with the burial ground within which it stands, which is registered at Grade II.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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