3. First Meeting: 4th February 1872 (25 Scebat [sic MB P] 5632)

The circular that Elia Negrin, 'the acting warden of the present (temporary) place of worship' (MB), had sent round the previous Friday brought thirty men to a meeting at the Old Jews School at 78 York St. (now Cheetham Hill Road) on Sunday, 4th February. There are two copies of minutes for this meeting. The first (MB P, a notebook donated to the Museum by Mr. Pereira in 1984) has only the minutes of this meeting and would seem to be the original minutes. The second (MB R) is contained in a red-bound notebook with minutes of the committee meetings from the initial meeting until July 1874. As the minutes for the 4th include information of subscriptions raised after the 4th, this minute book must have been started at a later date with the early minutes being supplied from notes elsewhere. Subsequently this book was titled in gold on its front board 'Minute Book of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation from its foundation on the 4th February to the 19th July 1874' as a mark of its historical significance. 

The names of the gentlemen present at the meeting with Elia Negrin are set down in alphabetical order in the copy of the minutes in MB P:

Abraham Belisha, Habib Ades, Isaac D. Belisha, Barrow Belisha (Isaac's son), Mardocheo Besso, Haim Besso (Mardocheo's son), Raffael Besso (a second cousin), Mattatia Besso, Moses Bianco (son-in-law of Ezra Sharim), Saul Bigio, Behor Cattan, Joshua Cohen, Levi A. Cohen, M Cohen, Moses Esses, Moses Farache, Shalom Laniado, Raphael Laniado, Isaac Laniado (1), Victor Levi, Sabbato A. Levi, Gabriel Mattatia, the brothers Moses and Nissim Ben Messulam, Moses Raffael, Abraham Semo, Ezra Sharim, and the brothers Abraham and Raphael Silveira (2).

The men were all relatively young. Most were in their thirties or forties. Only four men were over fifty; Behor Cattan (52), Joshua Cohen (approx. 66), Raphael Laniado (approx. 53)  and Elia Negrin (approx. 54). The youngest was Isaac Belisha's son, David Barrow Belisha, aged only 18. All lived in Cheetham Hill or close by in North Broughton (Ezra Sharim), the Bessos occupying two residences in 'Mardocheo Terrace', a property they themselves had had built.

All were merchants. Their relative economic standing (with today's approximate equivalent in brackets (3)) may be gauged by the amounts twenty-three of the men pledged to an initial subscription fund:

£52 10s (£4,000) I. Belisha, R. Besso, S. Bigio, M. Esses, V. Levi, M. Messulam, E. Sharim.

£31 10s (£2,500) Habib Ades.

£26 5s   (£2,000) A. Abadi, M. Besso, M. Raffael.

£15 15s (£1,200) M. Bianco,  J. Cohen, L. A. Cohen, E. Negrin.
£10 10s  (£800)   B. Cattan, M. Farache, S. Laniado, I. Laniado, S. Levi, N. Messulam, A. Semo.
(missing from the list of subscribers are: C. Cohen, R. Laniado, R. Mattatia and the Silvera brothers).

The geographical origins of the Sephardim would play a significant part in the affairs of the community, so it is interesting to note the national groups and their relative strengths. The Messulams were from Constantinople, and the Belishas, L. A. Cohen and Moses Farache were from Morocco, but the others were divided between a group from Corfu and Greece (10 men: the Bessos, V. Levi, S. Levy, G. Mattatia, M. Raffael, A. Semo and Elia Negrin), and the close-knit group  of Aleppans from Syria (14 men) who were led by Ezra Sharim, at whose home a separate Syrian minyan had been meeting.

Out of politeness Elia Negrin was naturally voted to chair the meeting as it had been his initiative and he proposed that the meeting should see to the 'mode of improving the present place of worship, the better organisation of conducting it with a view of ultimately erecting a more suitable synagogue' However after discussion it was decided that the building a new synagogue should be the immediate concern and that a committee should be appointed to carry that out. The motion was carried by 'acclamation' and the committee duly appointed:
Isaac Belisha (President), M. Messulam (Vice President), victor Levi (Treasurer), L. A. Cohen (Honorary Secretary), B. Belisha, (Assistant Secretary) and members; M. Besso, R. Besso, M. Esses, S. Bigio, E Sharim, E. Negrin, A. Abadi.

It was proposed that all 'private prayers rooms should at once be closed,' thus banning all other Sephardi minyanim and with a vote of thanks to Mr. Negrin the meeting closed to be convened again on Tuesday evening, 6th February.

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(1) Collins speculates that the 'R.' and 'I. Laniado' in the minutes are Shalom Laniado's brothers. An Isaac and Raphael Laniado are recorded in the 1871 census, but both later left Manchester (Collins p. 239).

(2) Biographical details from Collins.
(3) Before decimalisation of the currency in 1971, the pound sterling (£) was divided into 20 shillings (s), each shilling being made up of 12 pennies (d). The 'guinea' was often used as a measure of account, 1 guinea = £1 1s. It is not simple to gauge the relative worth of money in the past. There are a number of indexes that can be used. I have used the simplest here, the RPI (retail price index) (http://www.measuringworth.com/) but it must be noted that simple prices do not reflect the massive difference in relative earnings between rich and poor at this period.