Herbert Bentwich

Herbert Bentwich (originally Bentwitch; 1856 in Whitechapel – 1932 in Jerusalem) was a British Zionist leader and lawyer.

He was a leading member of the English Hovevei Zion and one of the first followers of Theodor Herzl in England.

In 1897 Bentwich led a group of 21, including the writer Israel Zangwill, on a tour of holy sites and new settlements in Palestine on behalf of the Maccabaeans, and in 1911 he acquired land for settlement at Gezer, near Ramleh, on behalf of the Maccabean Land Company.

Bentwich was a founder of the British Zionist Federation in 1899 and for some time served as its vice-chairman.

His eldest son, Norman Bentwich, a leading barrister, also spent much of his professional life there, and another son, Joseph Bentwich, was awarded the Israel Prize for education in 1962; his daughter Thelma Yellin was a distinguished Israeli cellist (Hebrew article here).