A short history of the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue St James’s Gardens Based on a talk given by Mrs Suzanne Saragoussi in March 2005 The story behind the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue is that of Sephardim (from the Hebrew word Sepharad for Spain) who were expelled in 1492 after the Inquisition, and subsequently settled in North Africa and in the Ottoman Empire, especially Turkey and Greece, (then part of the Turkish empire). When the latter started to crumble at the end of the nineteenth century, they headed west again towards Europe, and finally Britain. Cut off from the language of their Spanish provinces they evolved their own language, Ladino, an older form of Spanish with borrowed words from Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Greek and even French. Many forms of Sephardi prayers and orders of service are a combination of Hebrew and Ladino and are presently still in use. Mrs Saragoussi related that her own father, who was born in England, did not speak English until he went to school. Jews started resettling in Britain after Oliver Cromwell agreed their readmission in 1655 and the first Synagogue in the country, Bevis Marks (a Sephardi Synagogue) was consecrated in 1701. It was at the end of the 19th century that many Jews began to arrive from Turkey and Greece. They settled in the East End of London close to the docks where they had landed. These new immigrants educated themselves, and assimilated very well in their new homeland. They were imbued with gratitude and loyalty to their sovereigns, their leaders and to the people who showed them kindness and understanding. To this day the regular order of service on the Sabbath includes a special prayer for the Queen and Royal Family. In 1908, a number of new immigrants, who were involved in the carpet trade throughout their long sojourn in Turkey, attended the Anglo-French Trade Exhibition at White City and eventually began to settle in the Shepherd's Bush area. By the beginning of the First World War, a community of some seven hundred families, who had carried on the same religious beliefs and traditions throughout two millenia, felt the urge to hold their religious services in