Moses Montefiore

Who was Moses Montefiore?

Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was an English financier and banker, advocate of social reform, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. As well as aiding various persecuted non-Jewish minorities abroad and aiding the abolition of slavery, he donated large sums of money to promote industry, education and health amongst the Jewish community in the Levant, including the founding of Mishkenot Sha'ananim in 1860, the first settlement of the New Yishuv. As President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, his correspondence with the British consul in Damascus Charles Henry Churchill in 1841-42 is seen as pivotal to the development of Proto-Zionism.