Montague Maizels, 30 September 1899 - 10 February 1976

Abstract

Montague Maizels (‘Monty’ to all his friends and colleagues) was born in London on 30 September 1899. He was the youngest child and the only boy in a family of four. His father, Joseph Maizels, a silversmith and jeweller, was a Jewish émigré from Prague who had come to Hull and thence to London in the latter part of the nineteenth century. After his arrival in England Joseph married Deborah, one of the nine children of Rabbi N. Lipman, a distinguished Talmudical scholar who was descended from a long line of eminent academics. Deborah became an able and energetic partner with her husband in establishing a successful jewellery business in Whitechapel High Street. The Lipman family was much respected in Jewish circles, and two of Monty’s maternal first cousins became well known medical consultants in London—Dr Walter Levitt, the radiotherapist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital (who was also a barrister), and Dr B. S. Nisse, the cardiologist at the National Heart Hospital. Two of Monty’s sisters married men who later rose to fame and who had both been his friends at school. Miriam’s husband was Professor Samson Wright, the physiologist at the Middlesex Hospital, while Hilda’s was Professor M. Lewis, the Director of Education at Nottingham University. Hilda also achieved her own renown as a novelist. One of her many books ( The day is ours ) was made into the film Mandy —a touching portrayal of the struggle to establish communication with a deaf-mute child.