Georges Montefiore-Levi

Georges Montefiore-Levi ( bust of Thomas Vinçotte at the Institut Montefiore of the University of Liège)

Georges Montefiore-Levi (born February 18, 1832 in Streatham , † April 24, 1906 in Brussels ) was a British - Belgian engineer , metallurgist , entrepreneur , philanthropist and patron .

Life

Montefiore-Levi's Jewish parents Isaac Levi (1787–1839) and Esther Hanna Montefiore (1798–1864) had come to England from Barbados and settled in Brussels in 1838 . The sons added their mother's name to their name to indicate the relationship with Moses Montefiore . Montefiore-Levi studied civil engineering at the University of Liège from 1850-1852 .

After graduating, Montefiore-Levi became the director of the Bischoffsheim family's nickel factory in Italy . In 1856, together with the Parisian bank Société Bischoffsheim, Goldschmidt et Cie, he founded the Société G. Montefiore et Cie for nickel production in Valsesia and Liège . In 1865 he returned to Belgium and became general manager of the Compagnie Générale du Matériel de Chemins de Fer . In 1866 he married Hortense Bischoffsheim , daughter of the banker Jonathan-Raphaël Bischoffsheim . He was now director of various Bischoffsheim companies.

As part of his metallurgical investigations, Montefiore-Levi developed a bronze with improved electrical conductivity , which was then used by the Fonderies et Tréfileries de Bronze phosphoreux d ' Anderlecht (known as Usine Montefiore in Huizingen ) and the Compagnie française des Bronzes Montefiore near Paris as a result of the emerging telephony was successfully marketed. 1879 supplied the cables for the first Belgian telephone network. He was co-organizer of the Sydney International Exhibition (1879) and Belgian commissioner for the Melbourne International Exhibition (1880) . He participated in the International Electricity Exhibition in 1881 . Noting that engineering training in Belgium had lagged behind the rapid development of technology, he devoted himself to establishing an institute for the training of electrical engineers at the University of Liège. In 1883 the first Institut Électrotechnique Montefiore (IEM) , which he financed, was inaugurated.

Montefiore-Levi operated as a railway operator . With others he founded the Mutuelle des Chemins de Fer and was chairman of the board of Spoorweg Antwerp - Rotterdam and the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Grand Central Belgium . He was also director of the Brussels office of the Bank of Paris and the Netherlands and chairman of the board of Algemene Spaaren Lijfrentekas .

Montefiore-Levi owned a stately palace in the Wetenschapsstraat in Brussels, which is now used by the Belgian Council of State. In 1882 Montefiore-Levi received Belgian citizenship. In the same year he was elected to the Senate as a Liberal for the Liege district. In 1882 he bought the Château du Rond-Chêne in Esneux with a few 100 hectares of land in which he now lived (later Baron Louis-Jean Empain used it for Pro Juventute ). When it became known after his wife's death in 1901 that she had converted to Catholicism , the international public scandal prompted Montefiore-Levi to resign as senator.

Montefiore-Levi founded the Société internationale pour l'étude des questions sociales with other liberal economists . He was chairman of the Belgian Photography Association . In Liège he supported the construction of workers' housing. In Esneux he founded the Hortense Montefiore House for sick children. He made a generous donation to the Jewish communities in Brussels and Liège. He directed the construction of the Great Synagogue in Brussels (1872–1878). 1872–1879 he was a member of the Consistoire central israélite in Brussels. The new synagogue in Liège was largely financed by him. He supported the Alliance Israélite Universelle in particular in its work for Russian Jews .

Web links

Commons : Georges Montefiore-Levi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Massimo M. Augello, Marco Enrico Luigi Guidi: Economist in Parliament in the Liberal Age (1848-1920) . Ashgate Publishing, 2005, pp. 56 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Philippe TOMSIN, Université de Liège: Carnets du Patrimoine - L'Institut Électrotechnique Montefiore ( Memento des Originals of September 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on September 12, 2017). 
3. ↑ Jean-Philippe SCHREIBER: Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique . De Boeck, Br Brussels 2002.
4. ^ François Stockmans: Biographie Nationale de Belgique , publiée par l'Académie royale des lettres, des sciences et des beaux-arts de Belgique, tome 38, supplément tome X, fascicule er . Etablissements Emile Bruylant, Bruxelles 1973, p. 598-599 .
5. ^ Eliane Gubin, Catherine Jacques, Valérie Piette, Jean Puissant: Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles . Lannoo Uitgeverij, 2006, p. 59 .
6. ↑ Montefiore-Levi, Georges; C. Kunzel: Essais sur l'emploi de divers alliages et specialement du bronze phosphoreux pour la coulee des bouches a feu . E. Guyot, Brussels 1870.
7. ↑ John F. Buchanan: Brassfounder's Alloys - A Practical Handbook . ReaD Books, 2008, pp. 88 .
8. ↑ Grote Synagoge van Brussel (accessed September 12, 2017).