Jacob Montefiore

Jacob Barrow Montefiore (1801–1895) was a member of the South Australian Colonization Commission in London from 1835 to 1839, a body appointed by the British Government under King William IV to oversee implementation of the South Australia Act 1834, which established the Colony of South Australia.

Montefiore Hill in North Adelaide, the location of Light's Vision (a statue of founding father Colonel Light), is named after Montefiore.

Early life Montefiore was eldest son of Eliezer Montefiore, owner of a sugar plantation in Barbados with a home in London, and Judith (née Barrow). was educated in London and lived in the city.

He became a member of the South Australian Association, formed in 1833 by a group consisting of men of varied backgrounds, from philanthropists to merchants, and including Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Robert Gouger, Robert Torrens Sr and George Fife Angas, who wished to create a new British province in southern Australia.

In May 1835 he was appointed to the board of South Australian Colonization Commissioners in London, who were responsible for establishing the new British Province of South Australia. He remained a Commissioner until 1839. As the Commission's first two ships, and , were readying for the voyage to Australia in August 1836 (the South Australian Company having sent the first three ships in July), Montefiore and Palmer helped Colonel Light to prepare the ships. By the time he visited again in 1854, his brother Joseph was in Adelaide and once again successful in business, as proprietor of JB Montefiore & Co. Jacob Montefiore was a keen advocate for South Australia for the rest of his life, and full of praise for Light. Jacob Levi Montefiore (1819–1885), New South Wales politician, was a nephew of the brothers. Eliezer Levi Montefiore (1820–1894), brother of Jacob Levi, who arrived in Adelaide by 1843 there, was another nephew. The couple moved to Melbourne in 1853, and later to Sydney, where Eliezer was the first director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Other siblings Moses Eliezer Montefiore (born 1798?) may have been a brother to Jacob and Joseph Barrow Montefiore. According to a genealogy on the Museum of the Jewish People's database, there were siblings as follows: Rachel, John (1854–1795, four children), Moses Eliezer, Evalina (m. Abraham Mocatta – same family as Joseph Barrow M's wife), Esther Hannah (who married Isaac Levi and had Levi Eliezer, see above). Moses Eliezer Montefiore's will, made in 1820 and proven in 1822, describes him as a merchant of the island of St Thomas in the West Indies, then living in Finsbury in London. He leaves residual estate (other than that specified for siblings) to his father, Eliezer. Other sources show an Eliezer Montefiore as owner of land in Jamaica, and a man of the same name appears in the Kingston slave registers.

Barbados Barrows From will transcripts, all of which mention slaves: Simon Barrow of St Michael (will 21 May 1801): daughters Judith Barrow, Rebecca Barrow and Sarah Barrow; son Joseph; grandson Simon Barrow, son of late son Jacob. Joseph Barrow of St Michael (undated): wife Sarah. "After Sarah's death the Barbados house to go to Moses Eliezer Montefiore, son of my niece Judith Montefiore." (Niece Judith Montefiore is wife of Eliezer.) Sarah Barrow of St Michael (31 March 1814): "Relic of Joseph Barrow Esqr deceased."

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