| AdminHistory | Born Montagu Samuel, Liverpool, second son and youngest child of Louis Samuel, watchmaker and silversmith of Liverpool, and his wife, Henrietta, 1832; his parents altered his name to Samuel Montagu as soon as he completed his education at the Mechanics' Institution (later the Liverpool Institute); the name change was confirmed by royal licence in 1894; moved to London, 1847, where he joined the money-changing business of his brother-in-law Adam Spielmann; appointed London manager of V. Monteaux & Co.,a private bank in Paris, c1850; in partnership with his elder brother, Edwin Samuel, founded the merchant bankers, Samuel Montagu and Company, 1853; with his partners founded the independent firm of A. Keyser & Co., 1868; retired from active business life, 1909. Married Ellen Cohen (1848-1919), youngest daughter of Louis Cohen, merchant and stockbroker, 1862; ten children. Liberal member of Parliament for Tower Hamlets, 1885-1900; member of the gold and silver commission, 1887-1890; president of the Decimal Association; member of the House of Commons select committee on alien immigration, 1888, where he opposed over-restriction and spoke for the interests of persecuted Jews; chief author of the Weights and Measures Act, 1897; stood as MP for Central Leeds, 1900; consulted by successive chancellors of the exchequer on financial matters; created baronet, 1894; created baron, 1907; JP; Deputy Lieutenant. Benefactor to the poor of Whitechapel, Jewish and non-Jewish; treasurer, Jews' Temporary Shelter; founder, East London Apprenticeship Fund, 1887; trustee, People's Palace at Mile End; member, house committee at the London Hospital; director, Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company. A strictly observant Jew, he was a prominent member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews 1862-; member of the Board of Guardians and the religious education board; founder and president of the Jewish working men's club in Aldgate, 1870; President of the Shechita board; Chairman of the building committee of the New West End Synagogue; founder, Federation of Synagogues, 1887; prominent in the affairs of the Mansion House Fund (later the Russo-Jewish Committee), President, 1896-1909; life member, United Synagogue Council; travelled to Palestine (founding with Lord Rothschild the first secular and industrial school in Jerusalem, 1875), Russia, and the United States on behalf of Jewry, but vigorously opposed Zionism; amassed a large collection of antique silver and English paintings; elected a fellow of the Society of Arts, 1897; died 1911. Publications include: contributions to Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the Jewish Chronicle; magazine articles on finance, decimal currency, weights and measures, etc. |