A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City and University of Cambridge. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1959.
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There were several Jewish families in Cambridge in the 18th century, and Jews made an important contribution to the teaching of Hebrew in the University. Evidence has been advanced for the existence as early as 1774 of a small synagogue and an academy for Jews, and a Rabbi was officiating in 1783. All tradition of this earlier congregation had been lost by 1847, when services again began to be held in a room at the house of Lazarus Cohen in Hobson Street. (fn. 40) These services were discontinued in 1850, when the average sabbath congregation was fifteen. (fn. 41)
Subsequent places of worship were located in Regent Street, Petty Cury (1888), St. Mary's Passage, and Park Terrace, (fn. 42) until, in 1910, the congregation acquired a hall off Sidney Street. In 1937 a synagogue in Thompson's Lane was opened and consecrated by the Chief Rabbi. (fn. 43)