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Kitty Bloor is believed to have been born in Łódź, Poland,
in the early years of the 20th century. She came to the UK as a
teenage refugee after the end of the first Word War and settled in the East End
of London. The circumstances are unclear but she was befriended by Lily Montagu,
whose father had founded a merchant bank and been a Liberal MP for Whitechapel.
Lily was much concerned for underprivileged working class and later was part of
the formation of Liberal Judaism in the UK. It seemed that Lily was an
important part of Kitty’s life story, helping and supporting her until her
death.
Kitty was a member of West Central Jewish Girls Club founded
by Lily Montagu (it later merged into the Jewish Girls Brigade).
The date of her marriage to James Bloor is uncertain, but
they moved to Southport, Lancs where she gave birth to her son Gordon in 1942.
James is believed to have served and died in the War.
During the 1940s and 50s, Kitty was the housekeeper and cook
for the Jewish Blind Home near Dorking, Surrey.
She was taken to hospital with stomach cancer in 1956 and
died in May 1960.
The plaque in her memory has been placed in the Burial
Ground in 2023 by her son Gordon who has lived the majority of his life in Bath
and for much of that in Combe Down, and who continues to further research the
history of his mother’s life.
Although the Bath Jewish Burial
Ground is closed for internments, the Trustees permit memorials for Jewish
people with a strong association with Bath either personally or through their
immediate family.