The Montagu Case

DAVE ADAMS HAS SENT ME AN ARTICLE FROM THE WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER, DATED WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6TH, 1892

THE DUKES OF MANCHESTER WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY ARMAGH, WITH 12,298 ACRES. THEIR COUNTY ARMAGH SEAT WAS TANDRAGEE CASTLE. THE RT HON LORD ROBERT MONTAGU, OF CROMORE HOUSE, WAS THE SECOND SON OF GEORGE, 6TH DUKE. 

CRUELTY TO A CHILD - EXTRAORDINARY CASE IN IRELAND: WOMAN CHARGED WITH CAUSING THE DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER

The correspondent of The Central News at Coleraine reports that considerable sensation has been caused in that town and neighbourhood by the committal for trial, on a Coroner's warrant, of Mrs Annie Margaret Montagu, the charge against her being the causing of the death of her daughter, Mary Helen Montagu, aged three years.

The accused is the wife of Mr Montagu, of CROMORE HOUSE, Coleraine, eldest son of Lord Robert Montagu, who is an uncle [sic] of the 7th Duke of Manchester. [Lord Robert was the 7th Duke's brother].

The offence, as is alleged, was committed on February 13th, and on that day, according to the evidence taken at the inquest, the child was locked in a dark room by her governess as a punishment for some offence.

A short time afterwards, Mrs Montagu went into the room, and, it is said, tied the little girl's hands behind her back with a stocking, and, having fastened to this a piece of string, fixed it to a ring in the wall of the room.

About three hours later the mother went to the door of the room, and called her child by name several times, but there was no answer.

She opened the door, and, going to the place where she left the little girl, found her dead.

She carried the body to her own room, stripped off the clothes, and tried to restore life, but without success.

She then called the governess, and told her what had happened.

At the conclusion of the evidence, the Coroner (Mr. Caldwell) committed Mrs Montagu for trial at the Londonderry Assizes.

STATEMENT BY THE FATHER

The Press Association's correspondent has had an interview with Mr A C Montagu JP, the father of Helen Montagu, aged three years, who was found dead in a small dark room, where she had been tied to a ring in the wall by her mother, under circumstances detailed above.

Mr Montagu, who lives at Cromore House, Portstewart, is a son of Lord Robert Montagu, and a grandson of the Duke of Manchester.

He was formerly a lieutenant in the navy, but was compelled to leave the service, owing to an exceptional tendency to seasickness.

Mrs Montagu, who stands committed for trial on a charge of killing her child, is of Scotch extraction, and the daughter of a late wealthy London tea merchant.

She is a lady who is noted in the North of Ireland for her daring horsemanship and her splendid management of high-spirited animals.

They move in the best society, and Cromore is one of the finest mansions in the district, being surrounded by an extensive and valuable estate.

The circumstances of the child’s death, so far as they have leaked out through the meagre reports of the coroner’s inquest, which lasted five hours, have caused the greatest excitement in Ulster.

When, the correspondent proceeds, he called on Mr Montagu, he found that gentleman engaged with his spiritual adviser, the local parish priest.

He willingly granted an interview and escorted the correspondent upstairs to the dark room.

This is an apartment about 6ft. square, with no fireplace or window, and opens into what is known as the children's room, which is bright and airy.

Two rings were fastened by screws into a board, and it was to one of these rings that the child was tied.

There is no ventilation in the apartment except what comes from beneath the door, a mere chink and from* between a couple of badly placed boards.

Mr Montagu mentioned, in the course of the interview, that the little child was his only daughter. He has seven sons.

In reply to a question he stated that it was erroneous to say, as had been implied, that the child got no food on Saturday from breakfast time, which was eight o'clock.

She had come down late that morning, the conjecture being that she was not feeling very well and it was in consequence of this that she got the meal at eleven.

Asked how such a punishment came to be awarded to a child of three years for soiling her clothes, Mr. Montagu said:

"Mrs Montagu entertains very strong opinions on the subject of the upbringing, training, and correction of children. Her theory, which I think to a great extent is right, is that the spirit of disobedience, or any tendency to disobedience, must be conquered from the very earliest years.

She insists upon obedience and cleanliness in her children, and unless they are punished early they soon learn bad habits. She also believed in restraint and confinement as the best punishment."

Asked if it was not too long to leave the child without visiting her, Mr Montagu replied,

"Yes, perhaps it was too long, but then Mrs Montagu has so much to do. I believe she was out for some time while the child was confined, and most of the rest of the time she was in the kitchen attending to various domestic duties."

Mr Montagu added that he thought the governess was kind to the children.

She had never been anything to the contrary.

She had been with them a year last October.

It was on the governess’s report of misbehaviour that Mrs Montagu acted.

The child was a little wilful at times, and Mrs Montagu believed that the natural inclination to that must be suppressed, or the child would grow quite beyond control.

The correspondent adds that the body of the child was buried with great privacy: Mr Montagu and one of his boys took the coffin in the family carriage, which, with blinds drawn, was driven in the direction of Bushmills, where there is a Roman Catholic burying-ground.

[A cablegram in another column states that Mrs Montagu has been sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment, for the murder of her daughter].

First published in May, 2014.

Dundonald: Glebe House

DUNDONALD, County Down, now almost consumed within Greater Belfast, was once a charming, picturesque village, with its own tavern, meeting-house, parish and presbyterian churches, and a row of cottages lining the main road.

This continuous line of cottages was known as Gape Row.

Gape Row on the right, not far from the former Old Moat Inn.

The last cottage to stand was the old post office, and they were all swept away by 1934.

Opposite Gape Row, across the main road, the prospect remained rural and agricultural.

The Glebe House. Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020

The Glebe House, former residence of the Rectors of Dundonald, still stands on the hillside, in its own grounds.

It was erected in 1819 by the Rev Roger Moore Dillon, Rector from 1810 till 1851, and cost £830 to build (equivalent to about £73,000 in 2019).

This Georgian rectory is today part of a residential home, and is surrounded by extensions and various additions.

The residential home, St Elizabeth's Court, is named after the parish church which still stands on the other side of the main road.

The parish church was named after Elizabeth Cleland, of Stormont Castle.

The main block comprises two storeys and three bays, with a fanlighted door.

Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020

There are single or one and a half storey wings.

The outbuildings, however, included a carriage house, piggery, and potato house.

A garden remains at the front of the house, down a few steps, and the grounds originally extended to twelve acres.

A series of Rectors resided in the Glebe House, including the Rev Andrew Cleland (from 1851-80).

The Rev Thomas Herbert Frizelle, Rector from 1951-80, built the new parish church, which was completed in 1966.

Thomas Frizelle was probably the last Rector to live at the Glebe House, because a new rectory was built within the glebe grounds, south of the Glebe House.

Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020

On my way home I cycled over to Church Green, now the heart of old Dundonald, and spotted a Victorian post-box.

First published in July, 2020.

The Portaferry Hotel

THE PORTAFERRY HOTEL is a substantial, long, relatively plain, two-storey block located at the corner of the Strand and Castle Street in Portaferry, County Down.

The Ards Peninsula and Strangford Lough are amongst the most picturesque parts of Northern Ireland.

This building, amalgamated and much altered, formerly comprised separate properties, one of which is probably pre-1834.

A large section to the south-east was the site of two smaller houses, which were demolished in 1991 when the hotel was extended.

To the rear there are large modern extensions.

The facade is rendered and painted.

The roof of the main section is mainly gabled, though is hipped on the corner.

The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates, with three plain, rendered chimney stacks to the southern elevation, with matching pots.

A Small cast-iron skylight is in the middle of the roof to the south elevation.

Two Buildings seen to the left now form the Hotel

This building was built in stages and represents the amalgamation of a number of properties and the demolition of others.

Eventually the remainder of the property on the south, or strand side incorporated the site now covered by the present hotel as well as land and buildings to the rear.

During the early 19th century, however, the lease was sub-divided, with the buildings to the rear becoming Maxwell's Distillery (later a corn mill and by 1860s, falling into dereliction) and a tan yard, run by William Warnock.

The rest of the section to the corner formed one large property, with a separate house next to it further along The Strand.

In 1835, the larger property to the corner was in the possession of Hugh Boden and included a two-storey dwelling house with extensive single storey outbuildings.

The dwelling further along The Strand (also two-storey) was the home of Eliza Lyttle.

In 1860, Edward Bryce had obtained a lease of the large corner property, as well as the house beyond; and for most of the next two decades ran a spirit grocer's on the corner, whilst sub-letting the two houses beyond.

In 1880, Mr Bryce sold the lease to Henry McGrath, an auctioneer and leading figure in Portaferry's social, cultural and political life.

The property remained in the McGrath family until 1933, when the lease was bought by William Lyons, who sold it three years later to a local businessman, William McMullan.

With many other business interests already, McMullan sub-let the spirit grocer's to a Mrs Corbett and her daughter, Miss Thompson, who decided to open a hotel on the site.

Thus, during the late 1930s, the spirit grocer's and the buildings to Castle Street were converted and a door opened from the hotel to the house on The Strand (likely Hugh Boden's residence in 1835).

In 1947, the lease was acquired by a Mrs Wolson, who had been in the hospitality trade for some time, and who extended the business, taking in the whole of the former house.

When Mrs Wolson retired she sold the hotel to Brian Waddell of Waddell Media in Holywood.

He was in partnership with a boat builder from Bangor by the name of Palmer.

They sold to John Herlihy, former manager of the ill-fated Russell Court Hotel on the Lisburn Road, Belfast, who improved and extended the Portaferry Hotel to the greatest degree.

Adjoining houses, numbers eight and nine, were acquired and demolished, and the hotel was extended on to this site, extensively renovating the entire building in the process.

Mr Herlihy was in the right place at the right time, as the Northern Ireland Office used the premises extensively.

When John Herlihy retired in 2005, he sold the hotel to a hospitality group who also owned the Hillside Bar in Hillsborough.

Their intention was to turn the Portaferry Hotel into apartments, but were prevented when they went bankrupt in the recession of 2008.

Bill Wolsey, OBE, bought out the group's assets from the Ulster Bank, and owner-managed it for several years before leasing it to an American couple.

After a year, they experienced financial difficulties and disappeared - probably to the United States.

Bill Wolsey's Beannchor Group then leased it out (2016) to the Arthurs family - local butchers and businessmen.

Since then the hotel has thrived under local ownership.

I am particularly grateful to Richard Graham, a former manager at the hotel, for additional information.

First published in June, 2014.

Ann Street, Belfast

57-59 Ann Street, Belfast (Timothy Ferres, 2022)

ANN STREET, Belfast, runs from 21, Arthur Square, to Queen's Bridge.

The oldest remaining building is probably at 57-59 Ann Street, now Bogart, a menswear shop.

These premises are at the corner of Ann Street and Upper Church Lane.

57-59 Ann Street: Upper Church Lane elevation (Timothy Ferres, 2022)

Marcus Patton, OBE, in his Historical Gazetteer of central Belfast, remarks that the building dates from about 1830; and was refaced fifty years later, ca 1885.

"Ornate and elegant four-storey stucco building with Italianate details including rich cornice and balustraded parapet with spiked urn finials; ornamental shop front with iron cresting and panelled pilasters; delicate moulding round panel on gable to Upper Church Lane."

33, Ann Street (Timothy Ferres, 2022)

Number 33, in 1907, was occupied by Erskine & Sons Ltd, trunk, bag, and portmanteau manufacturers.

About 1960, number 33 became the premises of H Johnston, Wholesale & Retail Umbrella, Sunshade & Walking Stick Manufacturer, a business which once held a royal warrant from His Majesty The King, and proudly displayed the said warrant outside their premises.

This building dates from about 1850, and is three storeys in height.

• 1852  William H Milligan, Grocer, tobacco, and snuff manufacturer
• 1880  John Woods & Co, wholesale grocers
• 1910  Erskine & Sons, trunk, bag, and portmanteau manufacturers

The brick is now painted over, with stucco quoins and parapet moulding.

Johnston's distinctive gilded umbrella unfurled with a blue-sleeved arm adorned the exterior of the shop, having originally hanged resplendently outside 31 High Street.

Fish City, a seafood restaurant, opened in 2013 and has become well established in the city centre today.

First published in July, 2022.

Franklin Maxims: VII

LEARN OF THE SKILFUL: HE THAT TEACHES HIMSELF, HATH A FOOL FOR HIS MASTER.

First published in May, 2020.

Carrigglas Manor

THE LEFROYS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LONGFORD, WITH 4,229 ACRES

The LEFROYS are of Flemish extraction, and emigrated from Cambrai to England in the time of the Duke of Alva's persecutions, settling at Canterbury, Kent.

The first settler, about 1559, was ANTOINE LEFROY, a native of Cambrai, who settled in Canterbury ca 1587, where his descendants followed the business of silk dying.

His descendent in the fourth generation, 

THOMAS LEFROY (1680-1723), of Canterbury, married Phœbe, daughter of Thomas Thomson, of Kenfield, by Phœbe his wife, daughter of William Hammond, of St Alban's Court, Kent, and granddaughter of the Rt Hon Sir Dudley Digges, of Chilham Castle, Kent, Master of the Rolls, and had a son,

ANTHONY LEFROY (1703-79), of Leghorn and Canterbury, who married, in 1738, Elizabeth, sister of  Benjamin Langlois MP, many years Under Secretary of State, and had (with one daughter, Phoebe, married to an Italian nobleman), two sons,

ANTHONY PETER;
Isaac Peter George.

The elder son, 

ANTHONY PETER LEFROY (1742-1819), Lieutenant-Colonel, 9th Dragoons, married, in 1765, Anne, daughter of Colonel Gardiner, and had issue,

THOMAS LANGLOIS, of whom hereafter;
Anthony, an army captain;
Benjamin, ancestor of Jeremy John Elton Lefroy MP;
Christopher;
Henry (Rev), Vicar of Santry.

The eldest son, 

THE RT HON THOMAS LANGLOIS LEFROY  (1776-1869), of Carrigglas Manor, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF IRELAND, espoused, in 1799, Mary, only daughter and heir of Jeffry Paul, of Silver Spring, County Wexford, member of the younger branch of the family of Sir Robert Paul Bt, and had issue,

ANTHONY, his heir;
THOMAS PAUL, succeeded his brother;
Jeffry (Very Rev), Dean of Dromore;
George Thomson, High Sheriff of Co Longford, 1845;
Jane Christmas; Anne; Mary Elizabeth.

Lord Chief Justice Lefroy, one of the most distinguished lawyers of his time, was called to the Bar in 1797, and appointed a Bencher of the King's Inn, 1819.

He was MP for Trinity College, Dublin, from 1830 until his elevation to the Bench, which took place in 1841, when he was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer.

He was appointed Lord Chief Justice in 1852.

The eldest son,

ANTHONY LEFROY JP DL (1800-90), of Carrigglas Manor, MP for Trinity College, Dublin, 1858-70, County Longford, 1830-47, High Sheriff of County Longford, 1849, married, in 1824, Jane, eldest daughter of Robert Edward, 1st Viscount Lorton, and granddaughter of Robert, 2nd Earl of Kingston, and had issue,

Thomas, died an infant;
Frances Jane; Mary Louisa.

Mr Lefroy was succeeded by his brother,

THOMAS PAUL LEFROY QC (1806-91), of Carrigglas Manor, County Court Judge of Down, Chancellor of the Diocesan Court of Down, Connor and Dromore, Bencher of the King's Inns, who wedded, in 1835, the Hon Elizabeth Massy, daughter of Hugh, 3rd Baron Massy, and had issue,

THOMAS LANGLOIS HUGH, his heir;
AUGUSTINE HUGH, successor to his brother;
Anthony William Hamon (Rev);
Charles Edward;
George Henry;
Alfred Henry;
Margaret Everina; Mary Georgina; Millicent Elizabeth; Grace Elizabeth; Frances Anna.

Judge Lefroy was succeeded by his eldest son,

THOMAS LANGLOIS HUGH LEFROY JP DL (1836-1902), of Carrigglas Manor, High Sheriff of County Longford, 1892, Barrister, who espoused, in 1894, Dorothy Winifred, daughter of Robert Carreg DL, of Carreg, Carnarvonshire.

He dsp 1902, and was succeeded by his brother,

AUGUSTINE HUGH LEFROY JP DL (1839-1915), of Carrigglas Manor and The Lodge, Boxted, Colchester, Essex, High Sheriff of County Longford, 1909, who wedded, in 1878, Isabel Mary, eldest daughter of John Hebblethwaite, of St Clair, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and had issue,

HUGH PERCIVAL THOMSON, his heir;
Augustine George Victor;
Mary Elizabeth; Kathleen Grace.

The eldest son,

HUGH PERCIVAL THOMSON LEFROY DSO MC (1880-1954).

It is believed that Jeffry and Tessa Lefroy were the last of the family to live at Carrigglas.

They had moved in to the house in 1976 and opened to visitors in 1985.

Sadly, the cost of maintaining the mansion house was unsustainable and, after twenty-nine years, they sold the estate in 2005.

CARRIGGLAS MANOR, near Longford, County Longford, is one of the larger and more impressive country estates still extant in that county.

It features buildings from two distinct periods and in two different architectural styles.

The present manor house is built on, or close to, the site of an earlier house.

The estate was originally a manor of the Anglican Bishops of Ardagh.

It was left to Trinity College, Dublin, in the 17th century and was later leased by Trinity College, ca 1695, to the Newcomen family (later the Gleadowe-Newcomen family).

The estate appears to have been later bought by the Newcomens in 1772.

The owner or resident at the turn of the 19th-century, Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen, commissioned the eminent neoclassical architect James Gandon (1742-1823) to design for him an unusual house/villa.

Gleadowe-Newcomen later went bankrupt, following financial troubles that led to the eventual collapse of the Newcomen Bank, before work could start on this house/villa.

However, a magnificent stable block and farmyard with central pedimented archways, and an elegant triumphal arch gateway incorporating gate lodges to either side, designed by Gandon were built at Carrigglas.

An unusual walled garden on oval-plan and a gardener's house may also have been built to designs by Gandon.

Carrigglas was leased to, and later bought by, Thomas Lefroy (1776-1869) ca 1833.

Reputedly the character Mr Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was based on Judge Lefroy (they met in England when Lefroy was attending college there during the late-18th century).

Lefroy engaged the architect Daniel Robertson (d 1849) to design a new house for him at Carrigglas, ca 1837, demolishing the earlier country house to site.

Robertson designed the new house in an Elizabethan/Tudor architectural idiom, creating a highly picturesque building with a dramatic roof-line of tall Tudoresque chimney-stacks, crenellated turrets and gabled projections that ranks as one of the finest buildings of its type in Ireland.

Robertson was also an accomplished landscape architect, well-known for his work on the Italian gardens at Powerscourt, and he also carried out extensive landscaping at Carrigglas.

The Lefroy family remained at Carriglass Manor until about 2005, when they sold the estate and grounds. 

Other former seat ~ The Lodge, Boxted, Colchester, Essex.

First published in June, 2012.

The Queen's Birthday

Her Majesty The Queen LG LT GCVO GBE PC is 79 today.

Her Majesty was born at King's College Hospital, London.

In 2007, Her Majesty received The Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2012, HM, as Duchess of Cornwall, was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO), as illustrated on HRH's armorial bearings.

In 2016, HM was appointed a Privy Counsellor.

On New Year's Day, 2022, The Queen, as Duchess of Cornwall, was appointed a Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

On the 16th June, 2023, it was announced that The King had appointed Her Majesty to the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.

Grand Master and First or Principal Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 2024.

In June, 2024, Her Majesty received The Royal Family Order of King Charles III.

The Queen was appointed Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom in July, 2025.