The history of the Liberal movement Just picture this scene. The
year is 1902. It is Saturday afternoon, October 18th. Around 300
men, women and children are seated - together - in the
Wharncliffe Rooms, the splendid banqueting suite of the Great
Central Hotel in Marylebone Road, London. In case of problems, a
policeman guards the entrance. A non-Jewish artist employed by
the newspaper The Jewish World has been given permission to
sketch the occasion, provided he sits at the side. A mixed
choir, accompanied by a harmonium, is ready to sing in both
English and Hebrew. Orthodox minister, the Rev. Simeon Singer,
is about to conduct the service. Bible scholar Dr. Claude
Montefiore will give the sermon. You are observing a unique
occasion - the first service of the Jewish Religious Union,
later to become the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues.
The plans for this service had been initiated some months
previously on 16th February 1902 - when the JRU was formally
established at a drawing room meeting held at