1140 Samuel Montagu

Constituency : Whitechapel  1885-1900

Samuel  won  the  new  seat  of  Whitechapel.

Samuel  was  born  in  Liverpool. His  father  was  a  watchmaker  and  silversmith . He  was  educated  at  the  High  School  of  Liverpool  Mechanics'  Institute.  He  started  out  working  in  banking  with  relatives. In  1853  he  began  the  Samuel  Montagu  &  Co  Bank  which  concentrated  on  foreign  exchange.  He  was  a  pious  Orthodox  Jew  who  sought  to  develop  Jewish  institutions. He  was  involved  in  the  "Lovers  of  Zion "  movement. He  established  the  Federation  of  Synagogues  in  the  East  End.  Samuel  persuaded  the  Royal  Exchange  to  put  a  roof  over  its  dealings. He  had  a  reputation  for  probity.

Samuel  largely  confined  himself  to  speaking  on  financial  and  Jewish  matters  in  the  House.

In  1886  Samuel  visited  Russia  but  was  ordered  to  leave  Moscow when  the  authorities  discovered he  was  Jewish. He  was  keen  to  help  persecuted  Russian  Jews settle  in  London.

From  1887  to  1890 , Samuel  sat  on  the  Gold  and  Silver  Commission  as  an  ardent  bimetallist.. In  1888  he  offered  a  reward  for  information  about  the  murder  of  Annie  Chapman  fearing  an  increase  in  anti-semitism  in  the  East  End  as  a  response  to  the  Ripper  murders.He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1894.

In  1893 , on  behalf of  the  Lovers  of  Zion,  Samuel  presented  a  petition  to  the  Foreign  Secretary  in  favour  of  Jewish  colonisation  of  Palestine   to  be  passed  on  to  the  Sultan. In  1895  he  dined  with  the  Zionist  Theodor  Herzl  and  declared  that  he  himself   and  his  family  would  settle  in  Palestine.

In  1894  Samuel  persuaded  Harcourt  to  insert  a  clause  in  the  Finance  Act  exempting  bequests  to  libararies, museums  and  art  galleries  from  death  duties.

Samuel  was  the  main  architect  of  the  Weights  and  Measures  Act  of  1897  which  legalised  the  use  of  metric  measures.

In  1898  Samuel  started  a  housing  scheme  to  encourage  Jewish  families  in  Whitechapel  to  move  out  to  the  suburbs.

In  1900  Samuel  stood  down  in  Whitechapel  in   favour  of  his  nephew  Stuart  Samuel,  standing  unsuccessfully  in  Leeds  Central  instead.

In  1907  Samuel  was  created  Baron  Swaythling. His  last  speech  in  the  Lords  was  in  support  of  Lloyd  George's  Budget  in  1909.

Samuel  was  a  collector  of  art  and  silver  artefacts.

He  died  in  1911  aged  78. His  second  son  Edwin  was  a  prominent  Liberal  of  the  early  twentieth  century  as  was  his  nephew  Herbert  Samuel.