Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling

Samuel Montagu
Samuel Montagu, by Liborio Prosperi, 1886.

Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling (21 December 1832 – 12 January 1911) was a British banker who founded the bank of Samuel Montagu & Co. He was a philanthropist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1900, and was later raised to the peerage. Montagu was a pious Orthodox Jew, and devoted himself to social services and advancing Jewish institutions.

Life and career

Montagu was born in Liverpool as Montagu Samuel, the second son of Louis Samuel a watchmaker of Liverpool and his wife Henrietta Israel, daughter of Israel Israel of Bury Street, St. Mary Axe, London. He was educated at the High School of Liverpool Mechanics' Institute as Samuel Montagu. In 1853 he founded the bank of Samuel Montagu as a foreign banker.[1]

Montagu's commitment to Jewish causes included both initiatives aimed at improving the lot of Jews in England, and his participation in the proto-Zionist "Lovers of Zion" movement. He was involved in founding new synagogues, and in establishing the Federation of Synagogues, which was an umbrella body for the small Orthodox congregations in the East End of London.

He was elected at the 1885 general election Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Whitechapel,[2] and held the seat until he stood down at the 1900 general election.[2] From 1887 to 1890, he was a member of the Gold and Silver Commission. He was created a Baronet, of South Stoneham House in the County of Southampton and of Kensington Palace Gardens in the County of London, on 23 June 1894.[3]

In September 1888, after the murder of Annie Chapman at the hands of an unknown man later called Jack the Ripper, he tried to offer a reward of £100 for the discovery and conviction of the criminal. The Home Office did not accept the offer because that practice had been discontinued. Montagu offered this because the Whitechapel murders created some anti-semitic incidents in the East End population.[4]

In 1893, Montagu presented on behalf of the "Lovers of Zion" in England a petition in favour of Jewish colonisation in Palestine to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with the request that he forward it to the Turkish Sultan. The petition did not lead to any concrete result, but it shows that what was to become political Zionism had already taken roots in the minds of both the Christian researchers of Palestine, and the Jewish activists in search for solutions to the so-called "Jewish question".[5]

Land owned by Montagu in Jeremys Green Lane, Edmonton—now known as Montagu Road—was presented to the Federation of Synagogues as a burial strip.[6] At this time he was aware of the overcrowding in his constituency, and was especially keen to see Jewish families move out to the suburbs. In 1898, therefore, he proposed that land south of Salmons Brook, Edmonton—some 25 acres (100,000 m2) in all—be used for 700 houses, to house between 3000 and 4000 people. The houses were to have low rents and to include small gardens, with preference given to those currently living in Whitechapel. The project was first offered to the LCC, and then Edmonton UDC; both prevaricated. In 1899 the proposals were rejected and Montagu subsequently gave £10,000 (equivalent to £1015,000 in 2015) towards LCC housing on the White Hart Lane estate,[7] Tottenham.[8]

Towards the end of his life, Montagu lived at South Stoneham House at Swaythling, a suburb of Southampton.[9]

In 1907, Montagu was raised to the peerage as Baron Swaythling, of Swaythling in the County of Southampton.[10]

South Stoneham House.

Montagu died in January 1911, aged 78.

Family

Montagu married Ellen Cohen, daughter of Louis Cohen, in 1862.[11]

His daughter Lily would eventually help to establish Liberal Judaism.[11]

He was succeeded in the baronetcy and barony by his eldest son Louis Montagu, co-founder of the anti-Zionist League of British Jews.

His second son Edwin Samuel Montagu followed his father into politics, becoming Secretary of State for India. In 1915 Edwin Montagu married Venetia Stanley (1887-1948), who in accordance with the will of the 1st Baron Swaythling converted to Judaism upon her marriage.

Lord Swaythling's nephew was the leading Liberal politician and philosopher Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, the first High Commissioner of Mandate Palestine.

Samuel Montagu was the maternal grandfather of the seminal medical researcher Philip D’Arcy Hart and also of the lawyer Walter D'Arcy Hart.[12]

Legacy

Located in Kidbrooke, South London, the Samuel Montagu Youth Centre provides recreational opportunities for young people.[13] Montagu is remembered in Edmonton at Montagu Rd, Montagu Gardens, Montagu Crescent, Montagu Road School (demolished) and Swaythling Close.

References

  1. ↑ Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886
  2. 1 2 Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 57. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 26526. p. 1894. 26 June 1894.
  4. ↑ Philip Sudgen (3 January 2014). Complete History of Jack the Ripper. Constable & Robinson Limited. pp. 121–123. ISBN 978-1-78033-709-8.
  5. ↑ Nahum Sokolow (1919). History of Zionism: 1600-1918 1. London: Longmans, Green & Co.; republished by Forgotten Books, London 2013. p. 231. In brief, all these English Christian authorities put forward in the most definite and clearest terms what we know as political Zionism. These testimonies of English authorities concerning Palestine encouraged the "Lovers of Zion" in England to carry on their philanthropic work, and also to take certain political steps. A great and far-reaching step was taken by them in 1893, when a petition to Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey (1876-1909), was presented by Mr. Samuel Montagu, M.P. (afterwards Lord Swaythling) (1832-1911), to the Earl of Rosebery, with a request to transmit it to Constantinople (Appendix Ixxiv). The petition was signed by the officers of the Executive Committee and the secretaries of each Tent of the " Lovers of Zion." It had no effect, because negotiations with the Turkish Government are generally very tardy, and the circumstances of the time were not favourable. There were obstacles, difficulties, uncertain political influences, currents and counter-currents which could not be got rid of immediately. But at any rate the English "Lovers of Zion" endeavoured to do precisely what the Zionists did at a later period.
  6. ↑ Federation of Synagogues Retrieved 12 January 2013
  7. ↑ History of Tower Gardens Retrieved 12 January 2013
  8. ↑ Godfrey A. (notes to) Old Ordnance Survey Maps: London Sheet 4, Edmonton (SE) 1894 Alan Godfrey Maps, ISBN 0-85054-969-8 Retrieved 12 March 2008
  9. ↑ William Page (editor). "Parishes: South Stoneham". A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  10. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 28043. p. 5029. 23 July 1907.
  11. 1 2 The Times,Hon. Lilian Montagu Social Improvement And Religion, 24 January 1963; pg 15 col B
  12. ↑ The Independent. Obituary 30 Jan 1995. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituarieswalter-darcy-hart-1570446.html
  13. ↑ Samuel Montagu Youth Centre Retrieved 12 January 2013

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency
 Member of Parliament for Whitechapel
1885 – 1900 		Succeeded by
Sir Stuart Samuel
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New title Baron Swaythling
1907-1911 		Succeeded by
Louis Montagu
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