The Leonard Montefiore Fountain: A history of the Stepney Green memorial
A Stepney memorial fountain had been left in disrepair but now its history and water supply are flowing thanks to a 2023 restoration.
If you’ve been taking a turn around Stepney Green Park on a sunny day you might find yourself in need of somewhere to stop and quench your thirst.
Fortunately, if you head to the north of the park you will find a fully operational historic water fountain.
This attractive two-toned obelisk sits on Stepney Green (B121), where the pavement widens just a stone’s throw from the Grade 2 listed Stepney Clock Tower. Conveniently placed benches allow for a moment to absorb the two marvellous sights in such proximity.
The fountain was previously located at Rutland Street School before moving to Stepney in 1939. It now adds another breath of life to verdant south Stepney, where the ribbon of Stepney Green Gardens meets the expanse of the Park. This corner is rich in historical monuments, including the remaining frontage of a Baptist Chapel dating back to 1811.
The red marble fountain sits on a four-legged white granite base. Its truncated pyramid top rises above a deep basin that wraps all the way around, with four taps in the shape of water lilies.
Before the Heritage London Trust renovation in 2023, few might have noticed the fountain’s poems and inscriptions in honour of author and philanthropist, Leonard Abraham Montefiore.
Leonard A. Montefiore, not to be confused with his nephew, Leonard G. Montefiore, was a part of a wealthy lineage of Jewish philanthropists, the grandnephew of Moses Montefiore and also related to the Goldsmid family, a German-Jewish banking dynasty, as grand-nephew of Francis Goldsmid.
Montefiore attended Baliol College and was friends with many prominent thinkers of his time including Oscar Wilde and Samuel Barnett, the founder of Whitechapel’s Toynbee Hall, a pioneering charitable institution aimed at combatting poverty.
After college, Montefiore became the chief assistant to Samuel Barnett. He is also said to have been greatly influenced by the institution’s namesake and fellow Baliol alumnus, Arnold Toynbee.
Montefiore died at just 26 but in his short life, showed himself to be dedicated to improving society.
In Tower Hamlets, Montefiore worked for the Society for the Extension of University Teaching and became a member of the Jewish Board of Guardians, the main provider of relief for Jewish immigrants in London and the East End, in 1878.
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Montefiore was especially involved with the movement for women’s emancipation.
Women’s rights activist Emily Faithfull in her book Three Visits to America that Montefiore visited the United States ‘to see for himself what could be learned from the political and social condition of the people.’
She said: ‘The world can ill afford to lose men of such deep thought and energetic action.’
Sadly, the world lost Montefiore in 1879, when he died of an attack of rheumatic fever in Rhode Island. His body was brought back to England and he is buried at Balls Pond Road Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Canonbury.
Montefiore’s memorial now stands proud thanks to the hard work of some pressure washers and a full dismantling funded by the Heritage of London Trust.
The refurbished fountain was unveiled on 26 February 2023 by Rabbi Julia Neuberger and Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein, alongside Heritage of London Staff and local campaigner Clive Bettington.
Its restoration honours the long and rich history of Jewish philanthropy in the area whilst providing a public water supply to East End folks.
If you liked this read On loss and incomplete retrieval: the Jewish East End with Nadia Valman.
