Surrey History Centre is a local government archive administered by Surrey County Council. It holds the records of the Jewish communities of Surrey as well as other digitised material.

Archive Description

Surrey History Centre collects and preserves the records of Surrey’s past and present, documenting the story of the county and its people from the 12th century to the 21st century. Amongst its archive holdings are records of specific Jewish families and communities in Surrey. These include collections and items relating to homes, schools and hostels that opened in Surrey specifically to accommodate people escaping Nazi oppression in the 1930s and 1940s, such as Stoatley Rough School in Haslemere; Weir Courtney in Lingfield; and Rowledge House Hostel, near Farnham.

It holds records of Kingston Synagogues, including DVDs of Holocaust Memorial Day school workshops by Auschwitz survivor, Martin Bennett, and Kindertransportee, Bronia Snow.

It also hold papers of prominent 19th and 20th century individuals and families including banker and philanthropist, Sir Edward and Lady Stern of Fan Court, Lyne; the Sassoon family of Ashley Park, Walton-on-Thames; Polish poet and playwright, Marian Hemar of Coldharbour, Dorking; Polish architects, Edward Henrik Hartry (né Edek Herzbaum) and Teresa Krystyna Hartry of Woking; and philanthropist Leopold Salomons of Norbury Park, Mickleham, who gifted Box Hill to the nation.

Access Information

The archives are open to the general public and can be accessed by booking a session in their public search rooms to consult the records. The archives can be accessed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 09:45-12:45 and 13:45-16:45. Visitors are asked to bring either a Surrey Libraries Card, Archives Card, or proof of identity including address – such as a driving license or utility bill. The Centre asks that you provide at least two working days notice in advance.

Enquiries can be made by email to shs@surreycc.gov.uk, and visitors should pre-order records at least two days in advance of their visit.

Digital Accessibility

The Surrey History Centre catalogue can be found online, and digital material such as indexes and thumbnail images on the catalogue are available for free. High resolution images of many of the records can also be purchased.

The Centre commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day each year with a dedicated webpage on the Exploring Surrey’s Past website and in 2021 they produced a podcast to commemorate the day which is available on YouTube.

In addition, the Exploring Surrey’s Past website hosts the Stoatley Rough School Historical Trust content which includes photographs of former pupils and staff, a history of the founding of the school, a profile of the founders, descriptions of learning and leisure time, as well as archive film footage from 1938.

It also has digital copies of two United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) collections which can be viewed in the public search room. They are:
• Material of Alice Goldberger of Berlin (1897-1986), head of a post-war hostel for child Holocaust survivors at Weir Courtney, Lingfield;
• Material of John (Hans) Goldmeier (1928-2002), pupil at Stoatley Rough School, Haslemere.

Street Address

Surrey History Centre
130 Goldsworth Road
Woking
Surrey
GU21 6ND