Field Marshall Montgomery
Featured in The Inish Times 1st March 2006

Field Marshall Sir Bernard Law Montgomery (1887-1976) soldier, was born 17th November 1887, in Kensington, South London, the fourth of nine children, six boys and three girls, of Henry Hutchinson Montgomery, Anglican Bishop, born in India, and Maud (nee Farrar) Montgomery, of Harrow, North London, daughter of Dean Farrar, Anglican clergyman.

In September 1889, just before Bernard's second birthday, his family moved to Tasmania, before returning to live in London in 1902. He first visited the Irish family home at New Park, Moville, in the summer of 1897, when they were met by a committee from the then village with an address of welcome. New Park's 1,000 acre site had been purchased form the Marquess of Donegal in 1768 by his great-great grandfather, Samuel Montgomery, wine merchant of Derry city, and the young Montgomery developed a lifelong affection for an identification with Moville and its people spending a considerable amount of his youth and numerous holidays at New Park.

He was educated by private tutors in Tasmania, at King's School, Canterbury, for a Summer term, at St. Paul's School, London (1902-6) before attending Sandhurst Military College from January 1907 until July 1908.

He first became a commissioned officer with the Warwickshire Regiment in 1908 and was wounded twice in World War 1, fighting on the western front in 1914-5 and then assuming training duties in the UK later in 1915.

He was then promoted to brigade Major, 104th brigade, at the first battle of the Somme in June-November 1916, staff officer, 33rd division battle of Arras, April 1917, staff officer 9 Corps, 3 battle of Ypres/battle of Passchendaele, July-November 1917, and staff officer 47th division in 1981. He graduated from the Staff College, Camberley, in December 1920, before being appointed brigade-major of the 17th Infantry brigade at Cork in 1921-2. From 1926 until 1931 he was an instructor at Staff College, Camberwell, before being appointed commander, 1st battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment to the Middle East and India (1931-4) and then general staff officer, grade 1, at Staff College, India (1934-7).

Appointed commander, 9th infantry brigade in Portsmouth (1937-8), he then became commander, 8th division, Palestine (1938-9) until the outbreak of the world War II. In 1939-40 he was appointed commander, 3 division, 2 corps for France and Belgium and was one of the last soldiers to evacuate Dunkirk in May-June 1940.

Back in England he was appointed commander, 5 corps in 1940 and commander, 12 corps in 1941. The following year he was promoted to South Eastern Command and was involved in planning the Dieppe raid of 1942, before commanding the 8th army in 1942-3, during which time he defeated Nazi forces in the North African campaign in major battles of Alam Halfa (August-September 1942), El Alamein (October-November 1942), Medenine (March 1943), Mareth (March 1943) and the last major battle in Tunisia (May 1943).

Thereafter, his men joined up with US forces, capturing Sicily (July-August 1943) and mainland Italy (September-December 1943). Appointed commander 21 army group (1943-5), he was commander-in-chief of ground forces in Normandy (June-August 1944) at the battle of Arnhem (September 1944), at the Ardennes 1944-5), and having crossed the River Rhine in March 1945, he accepted the surrender of German forces in May 1945.

After the war he was commander, British Army of the Rhine (1945-6) chief of the imperial general staff (1946-8), chairman, Western Europe Commander-in-chiefs Committee 1948-51) before coming deputy supreme allied commander. Europe, until his retirement in 1958.

Despite his clipped upper-class accent, Montgomery disliked being called English and throughout his life described himself as Irish and a Donegal man. For most of his life, he spent considerable periods of time at New Park until his mother's death in 1949 when the house was sold to become a hotel. Given both his personal and lengthy familiar relationship with Inishowen, it is possible to regard him as the most famous person from the peninsula. Frequently described as Britain's greatest military leader since Wellington, he was unquestionably one of the finest military commanders of the twentieth-century.

His victory against General Rommel, 'the desert fox', in North Africa, was the first and only major British ground campaign success achieved without American assistance.

Among his many honours, he was knighted in 1942 and promoted to Field Marshall in 1944. He wrote a number of books: Memoirs (1958); An Introduction to Sanity (1959); The Path to Leadership (1961); Three Continents (1962); A history of Warfare (1968).

In 1927 he married a widow with two sons, Betty Carver (nee Hobart); they had a son of their own, David, but Betty died in 1937. His main residences were in Tasmania, London, Moville and Portsmouth. He died in Alton, Hampshire, on 24th March 1976.

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