RASCAL

Montgomery Family Papers	Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
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Collection
Identifier	D/627, T/1089
Description	Estate and personal papers of the Montgomery family of Blessingbourne, Fivemiletown, Co. Tyrone, c.1650-1924, and, in particular, those of Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (1844-1924), a senator of the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1922-24. The estate papers relate to lands in Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh around Fivemiletown and Enniskillen. They are of the normal estate classes and include maps dating from 1728, account books, rent rolls, lists of free holders, mortgages, leases, surveys and conveyances, running from about 1650 to 1900. By far the most important section of this collection, however, are the letters and papers of Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (1844-1924), which are particularly complete reflecting all aspects and avenues of his life as both an Ulster landlord and politician from his coming of age in 1865 to his death in 1924. He can be studied in all his phases: as an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford; as a landlord interested in the welfare of his local community and society; and as a father of a growing family for which he built Blessingbourne House. Letters and papers relating to his tenants and lands are particularly extensive and enlightening. These discuss everything that happened in Cos. Tyrone and Fermanagh during his tenure: abatements, local quarrels, distress funds, Land Bills and Acts, all aspects of local government and the affairs of tenants; in these letters the part played by the local estate in provincial life can be studied in detail. The collection also contains files of letters concerning Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery's activities before Royal Commissioners, in the Liberal Unionist Association and in the Irish Landowners' Convention; letters about the Irish Convention from such people as Sir James Strong, Edward Carson, the Bishop of Down, the Archbishop of Armagh, Dawson Bates and A.V. Dicey. Later, between 1918 and 1922 there is correspondence with almost everybody prominent in Irish political life on the Unionist side. Among other items in the collection are letters of Lady Noel Byron, Edward Lear, W.E. Gladstone, James Craig, A.J. Balfour, Lord Hartington, Joseph Chamberlain, Horace Plunkett and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, O'Connor Don, Hubert Parry and Walter Long. Accounts and papers of the Clogher Valley Railway are also included to be found..
Strengths	The principal strength of the collection lies in the wide range of political correspondence included.
Physical Characteristics	c. 2,000 items, c.1650-1924 comprising a range of documents, transcripts, maps and volumes occupying 19 PRONI boxes.
Languages	English
Contents Date Range	- 1924
Collection Type	Collection.Archive.Text.
Accrual	Policy: Closed Method: Indefinite Loan Periodicity: Closed
Access	The collection is stored in secure, closed accommodation and can be requested for on-site consultation using an in-house document ordering system. Access is supervised and for research and/or reference purposes only.
Description or Catalogue	See PRONI references D/627 and T/1089 for catalogues of the papers which are available for consultation in PRONI's Public Search Room.
Publications Note	Archive Collection

Collector
Name	Montgomery Family
History	The Montgomerys have been in Tyrone since the middle of the seventeenth century. One renowned member of the family was Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (1844-1924), who, from his surviving papers, seems to have been a remarkable man. His mother was Swiss (and daughter of Philip Emmanuel de Fellenberg, an eminent educationalist) and his continental connections appear to have been a consistent influence on him, giving him a cosmopolitan outlook quite unlike the conventional character of a nineteenth-century landlord. He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford and enjoyed a political career of sorts, involving himself in local government on behalf of his tenants in Tyrone and nationally owing to his involvement in the Liberal Unionist Association, the Irish Landowners’ Convention and Horace Plunkett’s Co-operative movement. He later went on to become a Senator in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1922 until his death in 1924. He was married to the youngest daughter of the Rev. John Charles Maude, rector of Enniskillen and was responsible for the building of Blesingbourne House in 1874, the Montgomery Family home, which is today, at the start of the 21st Century, now a guesthouse. Montgomery’s eldest son, Major-General Hugh Maude de Fellenberg Montgomery, also entered the political life of Northern Ireland and was, among other things, founder of the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations in 1938.

Collector

Name

Montgomery Family

History

The Montgomerys have been in Tyrone since the middle of the seventeenth century. One renowned member of the family was Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (1844-1924), who, from his surviving papers, seems to have been a remarkable man. His mother was Swiss (and daughter of Philip Emmanuel de Fellenberg, an eminent educationalist) and his continental connections appear to have been a consistent influence on him, giving him a cosmopolitan outlook quite unlike the conventional character of a nineteenth-century landlord. He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford and enjoyed a political career of sorts, involving himself in local government on behalf of his tenants in Tyrone and nationally owing to his involvement in the Liberal Unionist Association, the Irish Landowners’ Convention and Horace Plunkett’s Co-operative movement. He later went on to become a Senator in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1922 until his death in 1924. He was married to the youngest daughter of the Rev. John Charles Maude, rector of Enniskillen and was responsible for the building of Blesingbourne House in 1874, the Montgomery Family home, which is today, at the start of the 21st Century, now a guesthouse. Montgomery’s eldest son, Major-General Hugh Maude de Fellenberg Montgomery, also entered the political life of Northern Ireland and was, among other things, founder of the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations in 1938.

Owner
Name	Montgomery Family
History	The Montgomerys have been in Tyrone since the middle of the seventeenth century. One renowned member of the family was Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (1844-1924), who, from his surviving papers, seems to have been a remarkable man. His mother was Swiss (and daughter of Philip Emmanuel de Fellenberg, an eminent educationalist) and his continental connections appear to have been a consistent influence on him, giving him a cosmopolitan outlook quite unlike the conventional character of a nineteenth-century landlord. He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford and enjoyed a political career of sorts, involving himself in local government on behalf of his tenants in Tyrone and nationally owing to his involvement in the Liberal Unionist Association, the Irish Landowners’ Convention and Horace Plunkett’s Co-operative movement. He later went on to become a Senator in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1922 until his death in 1924. He was married to the youngest daughter of the Rev. John Charles Maude, rector of Enniskillen and was responsible for the building of Blesingbourne House in 1874, the Montgomery Family home, which is today, at the start of the 21st Century, now a guesthouse. Montgomery’s eldest son, Major-General Hugh Maude de Fellenberg Montgomery, also entered the political life of Northern Ireland and was, among other things, founder of the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations in 1938.

Owner

Name

Montgomery Family

History

The Montgomerys have been in Tyrone since the middle of the seventeenth century. One renowned member of the family was Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (1844-1924), who, from his surviving papers, seems to have been a remarkable man. His mother was Swiss (and daughter of Philip Emmanuel de Fellenberg, an eminent educationalist) and his continental connections appear to have been a consistent influence on him, giving him a cosmopolitan outlook quite unlike the conventional character of a nineteenth-century landlord. He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford and enjoyed a political career of sorts, involving himself in local government on behalf of his tenants in Tyrone and nationally owing to his involvement in the Liberal Unionist Association, the Irish Landowners’ Convention and Horace Plunkett’s Co-operative movement. He later went on to become a Senator in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1922 until his death in 1924. He was married to the youngest daughter of the Rev. John Charles Maude, rector of Enniskillen and was responsible for the building of Blesingbourne House in 1874, the Montgomery Family home, which is today, at the start of the 21st Century, now a guesthouse. Montgomery’s eldest son, Major-General Hugh Maude de Fellenberg Montgomery, also entered the political life of Northern Ireland and was, among other things, founder of the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations in 1938.

Location
Name	Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Address	2 Titanic Boulevard Belfast United Kingdom BT3 9HQ
Website	http://www.proni.gov.uk
Access Control	The Record Office is open to the general public on weekdays between 9.15 am and 4.45 pm, with late night opening until 8.45 pm on Thursday evenings. The Office is closed on the main public holidays and is closed annually for two weeks late November/early December. All readers are required to register their membership on their first visit to the office for which some form of identification will be asked. Registration and admission to the office is free of charge to the public, although certain commercial users (i.e. solicitors, journalists, television reporters and professional genealogists) are subject to a fee. Disabled access facilities, self-service microfilm and a chargeable copying service are provided.
Role	Government agency with responsibility for official and private records
Phone	0442890534800
Email	proni@dcalni.gov.uk

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