LADY M. MONTGOMERY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 13, 8 October 1943, Page 3

LADY M. MONTGOMERY

MOTHER OF GENERAL

"HITLER OR MY SON!" Lady Maud Montgomery., oT New Park, Moville, County Donegal, Eire, is the mother of Lieut.-General Sir Bernard Montgomery.*. She is 78 years old and has been widowed 11 years.. Her husband was Bishop of Tasmania. Besides the General., she raised four sons, who are all abroad serving the. Empire,, and two daughters. She speaks with equal pride of all of them, but when Mrs Roosevelt, meeting her, paid tribute to the General, Lady Montgomery replied surprisingly: "You are the wife of one of the three greatest men in the world. President. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill are two, and the third will be either Hitler or my son." The General's mother lives alone, except for an elderly companion and a young Irish maid, in the family home, New Park, near Lough Foyle, wheVe the boy Bernard, used to fish and boat., She is an exceedingly active woman for her age, and spends most of her time doing war work. She has collected £2500 for the Comforts Fund of her famous son's Eighth Army, and some 2,000,000 razor, blades for the troops in the Middle East.. Lady Montgomery's father was a famous Victoria cleric, Dean Farrar. Her husband, the Bishop., was the. Dean's; curate at St. Margaret's, Westminister, when she married him, and their third son was born in St. Marks Vicarage, near London, in November, 1887. A month later they were bound, for Tasmania, where they lived for 13 years before returning to England. The effect of this stern religious background is apparent in the character of the General to-day. He reads his Bible daily and carries a copy of Pilgrim's Progress with him in the field. I*i the little chapel the General said his daily prayers., and there Lady Montgomery prays daily alone.