David Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

David Bernard Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, CMG, CBE (18 August 1928 – 8 January 2020) was a British politician and businessman.

The Right Honourable The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein CMG CBE
Member of the House of Lords
In office 24 March 1976 – 11 November 1999 (as Hereditary Peer)
Preceded by	Bernard Montgomery
Succeeded by	Position Abolished due to House of Lords Act 1999
In office 28 June 2005 – 23 July 2015 (as Elected Hereditary Peer)
Preceded by	The Baroness Strange
Succeeded by	The Baron Trevethin
Personal details
Born	(1928-08-18)18 August 1928
Died	8 January 2020(2020-01-08) (aged 91)
Political party	Crossbench (from 2005) Conservative (until 1999)
Relations	Bernard Montgomery (father)
Profession	Politician, businessman

Early life and education

Montgomery was the only child of Field Marshal The 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, a senior military commander in the Second World War.[1] David attended Winchester College from May 1942 onwards, and his father, posted abroad from the middle of the year, arranged for his time in school holidays to be divided between his prep school headmaster and family friends, Major Thomas Reynolds and Mrs. Phyllis Reynolds, and Jocelyn, wife of David's half-brother John Carver (one of two sons from David's mother's previous marriage), as well as strict instructions that "on no account" was the boy to visit his aged paternal grandmother, whom the then Sir Bernard Law Montgomery detested, in Inishowen, County Donegal, in Ulster.[2] Montgomery gained an engineering degree at Trinity College, Cambridge.[1]

Career

Montgomery entered business, working for Yardley and several other companies, building close links with Latin America. He served as a patron and chairman of various Anglo-Latin American organisations, including the Anglo-Argentine Society, Canning House and the Hispanic and Luso Brazilian Council. He succeeded in the viscountcy following his father's death in 1976[1] and originally sat as a Conservative in the House of Lords until 1999, when he and most other hereditary peers were removed from the House under the House of Lords Act 1999. He was returned to the Lords as a crossbencher in an election of hereditary cross-bench peers in 2005, following the death of Baroness Strange.

Lord Montgomery of Alamein was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1975 and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 2000. He also received decorations from Germany, Belgium, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. He co-wrote The Lonely Leader: Monty 1944–45 with Alistair Horne about his father in 1994 which documented his own early life as well as his father's.

Lord Montgomery of Alamein (right) receiving the Canning Medal from William Hague in 2013

Personal life

In 1953, The Hon. David Montgomery, as he was then, married Mary Connell, divorcing in 1967 after having a son and a daughter:[3]

Issue:

• Henry David Montgomery, 3rd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (2 April 1954): he married Caroline Jane Odey on 21 June 1980. They have three daughters:
  • The Honourable Alexa Maud Montgomery (30 August 1984)
  • The Honourable Flora Veronica Montgomery (4 May 1988)
  • The Honourable Phoebe Matilda Montgomery (4 February 1990)
• The Honourable Arabella Clare Montgomery (born 21 November 1956); she married Sir Jeremy Stuart-Smith on 25 September 1982. They have five children:
  • Emma Stuart-Smith (6 October 1984)
  • Laura Stuart-Smith (1986-1987)
  • Edward Murray Stuart-Smith (6 May 1988)
  • Samuel Nicholas Stuart-Smith (6 December 1990)
  • Luke David Stuart-Smith (19 January 1993)

He then married Tessa Browning, daughter of Daphne du Maurier and Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Browning, a close colleague of his father.[1] Lord Montgomery of Alamein became Patron of Freedom Flame UK, in May 2014, in recognition of the lighting of a Torch of Unity at the D Day stone, Southsea, by his father, Field Marshal The 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, on 13 September 1948.[4]

He died on 8 January 2020 at the age of 91.[5]

Arms

Coat of arms of David Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Coronet A Coronet of a Viscount Crest Issuant from a Crescent Argent an Arm embowed in Armour the hand grasping a broken Tilting Spear in bend sinister the Head pendent proper Escutcheon Azure two Lions passant guardant between three Fleurs-de-lis two in chief and one in base and two Trefoils in fess all Or Supporters Dexter: a Knight in Chain Armour and Surcoat resting his exterior hand on his sword; Sinister: a Soldier in Battle Dress all proper Motto Gardez Bien (Guard well)

[6]

References

1. Peter W. Hammond, ed. (1998). The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda. Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing. p. 775.
2. Hamilton 1981, p561-2
3. Montgomery of Alamein, Viscount (UK, 1946) Archived 22 July 2012 at Archive.today – website Cracroft's Peerage
4. http://www.montgomeryflame.co.uk
5. Montgomery
6. Montgomery of Alamein, Viscount (UK, 1946) – website Cracroft's Peerage

Book

• Hamilton, Nigel (1981). Monty: The Making of a General. London, UK: Hamish Hamilton Ltd. ISBN 0-241-10583-8.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Bernard Law Montgomery	Viscount Montgomery of Alamein 1976–2020	Succeeded by Henry David Montgomery