Montgomery/Campbell engagement

[Michael Rhodes]

---.The engagement was announced 26 Jan 2009, between Hugh Montgomery,
son of Mr William and the Hon Mrs Montgomery, of Grey Abbey, County
Down, and Laura Campbell, younger daughter of Mr and Mrs Michael
Campbell, of Shalden, Hampshire.

==--==

[Turenne]

On 28 Jan, 19:36, Michael Rhodes <mig73allenford2...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

The Montgomeries appear to have been seated at Grey Abbey for some
time. Do you know who the Hon Mrs Montgomery's parents are?

Richard L

[Michael Rhodes]

Remiss of me. Hugh Geoffrey Clive Montgomery (b 1966) is the eld son
of
William Howard Clive Montgomery, of Grey Abbey, viz:-

http://www.greyabbeyhouse.com/

Hugh's mother is the former Hon Daphne Bridgeman (b 1940), sister of
the
3rd Viscount Bridgeman, and a descendant of the 2nd Earl of Bradford.

---

[JonnyK]

Great news for Bill and Daphne Montgomery, who live not half an hour
from me here in County Down.

The seat, Grey Abbey, is sometimes referred to as Rosemount and is one
of the finest houses in the county but hasn't always been that way.

According to Mark Bence-Jones in 'Life In An Irish Country House', the
house was inherited by Bill's father Major Hugh Montgomery in 1941,
who was then serving in the army and did not come to live at Grey
Abbey until after the war..."They found the house empty of furniture,
having been occupied by the Electricity Board; they were given £500
which was supposed to cover the cost of redecorating it from end to
end. They had to work hard; and to make matters worse, the agent died
soon after they arrived. Major Montgomery had to get up at dawn to
help with the milking. His wife ran the house with two girls from the
South; cooks, butlers and footmen were a thing of the past."

Within close sight of the house are the ruins of the Cistercian abbey,
dating from 1193 and which is open to the public, where there are
numerous memorial stones to earlier generations of the family,
fascinating for those of us interested in this kind of thing!

[Turenne]

JohnnyK wrote:

>Great news for Bill and Daphne Montgomery, who live not half an hour
>from me here in County Down.

I used to know someone who lived at Carrowdore Castle. Does it still
exist? Do you know who lives there now?

Richard L

[Shinjinee]

For more on the family, see the following

http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/mm4fz/montgomery07.htm for
their genealogy (this is a subscriber only page, but you can get a
glimpse)

http://www.william1.co.uk/w120.htm for descent from the earls of Powis

and for an old version of the family genealogy A Genealogical and
Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=KikAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA186&lpg=PA188&ots=OUltSGu3u1&dq=%22Montgomery+of+Grey+Abbey%22
[short form: http://tinyurl.com/akuqew]

Also see "Visitation of Ireland"
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=zpR6uNPmV1EC&pg=PT635&lpg=PT635&ots=vnwjhBFcrR&dq=%22Montgomery+of+Grey+Abbey%22
for updates including death of Lady Charlotte Montgomery and her third
son, and marriage of her fifth son George to his second cousin.

I had asked about this family some years back on alt.talk.royalty, and
was updated as far as the present owner's father. His mother Anne
Montgomery (d Jan 2004) was the intrepid chatelaine of the story by
Jonny K. When did the father die?

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.talk.royalty/browse_thread/thread/393358849c546d2b/d8d994194fdb3179?lnk=gst&q=Grey+Abbey#d8d994194fdb3179
[short form: http://tinyurl.com/bzbnhk]

Very happy to hear that the only son and heir is finally marrying. We
must hope that his future wife is somewhat younger, or that there are
collateral heirs.

According to the 2002 report mentioned by Chris Buyers on atr, the
Montgomerys of Grey Abbey are related to the Field Marshal (Bernard
Montgomery, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein) [http://www.thepeerage.com/
p10668.htm#i106675]. Despite stirnet, I have never quite been able to
figure out how these families are related to each other.

By the way, I was correct. George Montgomery, grandfather of the
present owner, and the great-grandfather of the happy fiance, DID
marry his second cousin Mildred Mary Clayton, granddaughter maternally
of the Baroness Windsor.

Shinjinee

[JonnyK]

The person you may have known at Carrowdore Castle was Mr Thomas
Jennings, once the ninth richest man in Northern Ireland who died not
so long ago, I am informed. The old castle is still there, whether or
not it is a ruin I am not sure, but a new house was built about 20
years ago, in very contemporary style.

The family that owned the castle for most of the period before Mr
Jennings was the Crommelin family, originally de Lache Rois
(Delacherois), who were French Huguenots who had settled in Ireland
following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The family
first fled to Holland, where the three brothers, Nicholas, Daniel and
Boisgonval, enrolled with the army of William of Orange. Whilst in
Holland they became acquainted with the Crommelin family, a wealthy
Huguenot family who had been involved in the linen industry for more
than 500 years.

Nicholas Delacherois married Marie Crommelin, sister of Louis
Crommelin, who was later employed by William III to introduce the
process of linen manufacturing into Ulster, whilst her cousin
Angélique married Daniel. The three brothers accompanied William to
Ireland in 1690 and fought at the Battle of the Boyne. Nicholas was
made a Lieutenant Colonel and rewarded with 1500 gold crowns for his
heroic actions during the campaign, but Boisgonval was killed at
Dungannon.

Daniel and his wife Angélique had one child, a daughter whom they
named Marie Angélique Madeline, who in turn married firstly a merchant
called Philippe Grubiere and later, in 1721, Thomas Montgomery, 5th
Earl of Mount Alexander. They had no children and following her second
husband’s death in 1750 Marie Angélique, now Lady Mount Alexander,
found herself in sole possession of the remains of the vast Montgomery
estates in County Down.

When Marie Angélique died in 1770 she left her County Down estate to
two cousins, each of whom received equal shares. Her first cousin,
Samuel Delacherois, inherited the Donaghadee portion while her other
cousin Nicholas Crommelin inherited the Carrowdore estate. Having no
sons of his own, Nicholas in turn, passed the estate to his younger
cousin, another Samuel Delacherois, on the condition that he assumed
the name Crommelin. This he did, and by 1804 became head of the
Delacherois-Crommelin branch of the family.

Nicholas seems to have taken his position in Carrowdore very seriously
and played a prominent role in the local area, acting as High Sheriff
and DL for County Down, gifting the land for the building of Christ
Church Carrowdore and for the building of the Presbyterian Meeting
House. He also contributed towards the building of the schoolhouse in
Carrowdore village. In 1847 he left Carrowdore to live in Cushendun,
Co. Antrim and his eldest son, Samuel Arthur Hill Delacherois-
Crommelin rented the castle from him, where he lived with his younger
brother, another Nicholas, who was a prominent figure in the linen
business.

In 1884 following the death of their father the castle and remaining
lands at Carrowdore passed to his third son Frederick Armand
Delacherois-Cromellin, who died in 1902 at the age of 31. With his
passing the male line of the Delacherois-Cromellin family came to an
end and a sale of the contents of the castle was held in 1902. The
castle was leased to various occupants before eventually being sold in
1931.

Altogether fascinating, with credits to the County Down Railway Museum
website.

[Turenne]

Many thanks for that. The person I knew was called Mitchell; maybe her
family were subsequent lessees.

Richard L