Two dozen strangers responded to a social media appeal to make up a minyan at the funeral of a 103-year-old refugee from Nazism, allowing the deceased’s family a “very moving” farewell.

Relatives of Maja Bagley have also expressed gratitude to the United Synagogue Burial Society for fulfilling her wish for a Jewish funeral, no burial plans having been in place at the time of her death.

After being alerted by the Association of Jewish Refugees, which had been supporting Mrs Bagley, the burial society organised the funeral at Bushey Old Cemetery, defraying the cost, and issued the plea for additional mourners at 10pm the previous night.

“Mum really wanted a Jewish funeral,” her daughter Miriam told the JC. “If it had been any other way it would have been wrong.”

But she had always deflected questions over burial, saying: “I want to go on for a while yet.” In the event, there had been “a lovely atmosphere” at the service, with the strangers approaching family members to express condolence.

“It was a lot to take in but I’m very pleased and relieved,” her daughter reflected.

Maja Bagley was born in Berlin. In 1938, her parents and children fled Nazi Germany for a new life in New Zealand.

Having studied photography in Berlin, and freelanced for an Italian newspaper, she pursued her career in her new country, developing prints in her home darkroom and working for the Auckland Star.

However, with the world at war, she was deemed an “enemy alien” by the authorities and her camera was confiscated.

She married in New Zealand and had three children, one of whom pre-deceased her, moving to London in 1970.

Her daughter said that almost to the time of her death, she lived a “very independent” life in West Hampstead. She retained a passion for photography, particularly portraiture, learning to take pictures on her granddaughter’s iPhone: “It’s not quite a Rolleiflex but very impressive,” Mrs Bagley had remarked.

“She wasn’t interested in going into a home. Her mind remained extremely sharp. She had a great sense of humour, even if she didn’t know it. She had a slight fall last year and became immobile. We got in carers to help her.”

The US has also thanked the mourners who attended the funeral as a result of the social media appeal, saying: “Maja was by all accounts an extraordinary woman and it was the United Synagogue Burial Society’s sacred duty to conduct her levayah [funeral].”

Burial society operations manager Linda Boxer added that staff “had conducted the funeral beautifully and said that even though they did not know Maja, it was a moving and emotional service”.

Linda, Mrs Bagley’s social worker at the Association of Jewish Refugees, said it had been “a pleasure to help Maja since 2011. She was a very single-minded lady, who lived alone after her husband died in 1990. She had a positive attitude and was devoted to her family. It was quite a surprise to learn about her career in photography as she never mentioned it to me.”