Rt Rev Hugh Montefiore, Bishop of Birmingham

The Telegraph 14 May 2005 The Right Reverend Hugh Montefiore, who died yesterday aged 85, was Bishop of Birmingham from 1978 to 1987 and one of the most energetic, impatient, colourful and unpredictable Church leaders of modern times. Born into a famous Jewish family, he underwent a sudden conversion to Christianity while a schoolboy at Rugby, and later brought to his ministry in the Church of England an extraordinary combination of intellect, moral passion and concern for individuals, especially the underprivileged. Hugh William Montefiore was born in Bayswater on May 12 1920. His father, Charles Sebag-Montefiore, was a great-great nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore, patriarch of the English Jewish community, and the family attended the Lauderdale Road Synagogue in Paddington. Hugh Montefiore - who was taken ill on Thursday, his 85th birthday, while dining with one of his daughters - married Elisabeth Mary Macdonald Paton in 1945; she died in 1999, and he is survived by their three daughters.