Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 16 November 1895, page 20


THE LATE MB. JACOB MONTEFIORE.

Mr. Jacob Montefiore, whose death at the age of 95 has been announced by cable, was tho last surviving member of the Board of Commissioners to whom was confided the administration of the affaire of tho colony in its very earliest days. Ho was, indeed, one of its founders, having assisted, in. 1834, to organise the scheme for the colonisation

of South Australia, and later on he was ap-pointed one of tho Commissioners to manage the land sales and immigration under the Im-perial Act constituting the province. The other Commissioners were Colonel (afterwards Sir Robert) Torrens, Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Hutt, Messrs. George Fife Angas, George Palmer, T. Wright, Samuel Mills, W. A. Mackinnon, E. Barnard, and J. G. Lefcvre, all of whom are now dead. In December, 1839, the Commissioners were superseded by three salaried officers, but Mr. Montefiore continued his interest in the colony and in 1843 he visited Adelaide and was ban-queted by the leading citizens. He came of a very old Jewish family, which like the Disraelis, had long been resident in Italy, but settled in England about the middle of last century. Mr. Montefiore was born in Barbadoes on November 23, 1801. He married a Miss Gompertz, a niece of Sir Moses Montefiore, and for a number of years was a partner in the firm of Montefiore Brothers, established in London, and doing a large trade in New South Wales. Mr. Montefiore came to Victoria in 1852 as agent for the Messrs. Rothschild, and he also spent a few years in business in South Australia, subsequently returning to England. The firm of J. B. Montefiore & Co. carried on business on the site of the present Imperial Hotel. One of the latest services which he rendered South Australia was to act as her honorary Commissioner at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. His name will be perpetuated by the hill on which some of the finest residences in North Adelaide now stand. He was a member of the Royal Colonial Institute and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His portrait, presented by himself, adorns the Adelaide Art Gallery.