"This is the last will of me, Sir Moses Montefiore, of Grosvenor Gate, Park Lane, in the county of Middlesex, and of East Cliff Lodge, Ramsgate, in the Isle of Thanet, in the county of Kent, Baronet, F.R.S., son of Joseph and Rachel Montefiore, of happy memory, and for more than fifty years the happy husband of my deeply lamented Judith, daughter of the revered Levy Barent Cohen and Lydia, his wife, deceased. I desire, in the first place, gratefully to acknowledge the goodness of Almighty God, the Lord of all beings, for the abundance with which he has blessed me, and for having allowed me the enjoyment of it for so many years. When it may please Him to call me away from this world to eternal life, may our Heavenly Father pardon all my sins, and have mercy on my soul, and may those persons whom I may in any way have offended forgive me. I desire that my remains may rest by the side of those of my beloved wife in the mausoleum near our Synagogue at Hereson, and that my funeral may be as private as may be, and without carriages to follow.
"I appoint my esteemed friend Sir Nathaniel Mayer de Rothschild, Baronet, M.P., and my nephews, Arthur Benjamin Cohen, of the Inner Temple, Esquire, Queen's Counsel, M.P., and Joseph Sebag, of Westbourne Terrace, in the county of Middlesex, Esquire, and my friend Dr Louis Loewe, of Oscar Villas, Broadstairs, Executors and Trustees of this my will, and I give to each of them the sum of £1000 free of legacy duty.
"The testator bequeaths £3000 Bank stock, 300 Alliance Assurance shares, £10,000 Imperial Continental Gas Company stock, to the Trustees of the Synagogue and College at Ramsgate, founded by him in memory of his late wife, Judith, Lady Montefiore; he also bequeaths to the said Synagogue and College four pictures from his house in Park Lane, all his Hebrew books and MSS., a piece of plate presented to him by the late Viceroy of Egypt, and all his English, French, and German testimonials; £1000 Bank stock, 550 Alliance Assurance shares, and £5000 Imperial Continental Gas Company stock, to the Trustees of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Bevis Marks, upon trust, to apply two-fifths of the income to or for the benefit of learned and necessitous Jews of every congregation residing in the Holy City of Jerusalem, and one-fifth of the income to or for the benefit of learned and necessitous Jews of every congregation in each of the Cities of Safed, Hebron, and Tiberias. He also bequeaths £100 to be distributed within three months of his decease among the learned and necessitous of each of the said four cities: £1000 Bank stock and £5000 of the said Gas Company's stock to the Trustees of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Bevis Marks, upon trust, to apply the income in the purchase of blankets and coals to be distributed annually among the deserving poor of the Spanish, Portuguese, and German communities; £1000 to the Trustees of the United Synagogue for the poor; £500 each to the Synagogue in Bevis Marks and the Synagogue at Leghorn, in augmentation of their respective repairing funds; £500 each to the Jewish Convalescent Home and the Beth Holim Hospital; £300 to the Jews Hospital at Norwood; £250 each to the Ladies' Lying in Charity for the relief of Jewish women, the Bread, Meat, and Coal Charity, of which his father-in-law was one of the founders, and the Jews College; £200 each to the Samaritan Fund of St Bartholomew's Hospital, the London Hospital, and Mrs Palmer's Cancer Hospital; £100 each to Mrs Tail's Orphanage, St Peter's, Thanet, the Royal Sea Bathing Infirmary, Margate, the Seaman's Hospital, Ramsgate, the Fishing Boys' Home, Ramsgate, the Sailors' Home, Ramsgate, and the Ramsgate and St Lawrence Dispensary; and £100 each to the principal officiating Ministers of the Parishes of St Lawrence and St Peter, in the Isle of Thanet, of St Luke, St George, the Vale Church, the Roman Catholic Church of St Augustine, and the Parish Church of Broadstairs, to be applied for the benefit of the poor of their respective parishes and congregations."
The dividend on Sir Moses' legacy sent this year (the second after his death) to the learned and necessitous Jews in the Holy Land, amounted to £1251, 2s. 5d., which, in compliance with his instructions, was divided as follows:—
| £500 | 8 | 11 | to | Jerusalem. |
| 250 | 4 | 6 | to | Hebron. |
| 250 | 4 | 6 | to | Tiberias. |
| 250 | 4 | 6 | to | Safed. |
On Sunday, March 14 = Adár 7, the 3158th anniversary of the death of Moses, the son of Amrám, the ceremony of setting the tombstone took place in the presence of Mr Joseph Sebag Montefiore, Mr Háim Guedalla, and other relatives, the Wardens of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in London, many members of the community, and a large assembly of strangers.
At the conclusion of the ceremony at the mausoleum, the company proceeded to the Lecture Hall of the College, where I held a special service and delivered an address.
The tombstone of Aberdeen marble is similar to that of Lady Montefiore, and bears the following inscription:—
In memory of
Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart, F.R.S.,
of East Cliff Lodge, Ramsgate,
Born the 8th Heshván 5545 A.M.,
Died the 16th of Menákhem Ab. 5645 = 28th July 1885,
In the hundred and first year of his age.
"I have set the Lord always before me."
(This verse, which is the first part of verse 8, in Psalm xvi., is in Hebrew.)
This inscription was composed by Mr Joseph Sebag Montefiore. It is in all respects very appropriate, as in every occurrence of his life Sir Moses set the "Lord before Him," and recognised the direct hand of Providence.