H. W. Montefiore (1920–2005)

The Rt. Rev. H.W. Montefiore was born Hugh William Sebag-Montefiore in London to a prominent Anglo-Jewish family. He converted to Christianity while at Rugby School. In World War II, he served as an officer in the Royal Artillery and rose to the rank of captain. After the war, he graduated from Oxford University, and legally changed his name by deed poll. He was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1949. He became the dean of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was a University Lecturer in Divinity. He was the vicar of the Church of St. Mary the Great at Cambridge from 1963 to 1970, Bishop of Kingston-upon-Thames from 1970 to 1978, and Bishop of Birmingham from 1977 to 1987. Bishop Montefiore was the author of more than 20 books, including The Probability of God (1985), Christianity and Politics (1990), Credible Christianity (1993), On Being a Jewish Christian (1998) and The Paranormal: A Bishop Investigates (2002).