Background
Montefiore"s father, Stephen Eric Sebag-Montefiore, was descended from a line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who were diplomats and bankers all over Europe. At the start of the 19th century, his great-great uncle, Sir Moses Montefiore, became a banking partner of North M Rothschild & Sons. His mother, Phyllis April Jaffé comes from a Lithuanian Jewish family of poor scholars.
Her parents fled the Russian Empire at the turn of the 20th century.
They bought tickets for New York City, but were cheated, being instead dropped off at Cork, Ireland. During the Limerick Pogrom of 1904 they left Ireland and moved to Newcastle, England.
The father of his namesake, Bishop of Birmingham Hugh Montefiore, was the great-great-nephew of Sir Moses.