B W D Montgomery, businessman who helped formulate the Ulster Covenant

Craig was struggling with the task in the Constitutional Club, his London club, when B W D Montgomery, a Belfast businessman and honorary secretary of the Ulster Club in Belfast, approached him and asked him what he was doing. Craig explained his problem. Montgomery suggested having a look at the Scottish Covenant of 1581, a ‘fine old document, full of grand phrases, and thoroughly characteristic of the Ulster tone of mind at this day’.

Although on close scrutiny the text was not deemed appropriate, the document proved inspirational. The idea of what was to become Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant began to take shape. In the event Thomas Sinclair, leading Presbyterian layman, Ulster’s foremost Liberal Unionist and Unionism’s finest wordsmith, completed the task of drafting the Ulster Covenant. Sinclair took the title of the document from the Scottish Solemn League and Covenant of 1643 but its spirit from the Scottish National Covenant of 1638.

Twenty years ago most of us knew comparatively little about Thomas Sinclair but that situation has now been happily rectified. However the question remains: who exactly was B W D Montgomery?

Montgomery was born at Ballykeel House, Dromore, Co Down, in September 1853. He was the youngest son of the Rev Thomas Hassard Montgomery of Dromore and his wife Emily, the daughter of Rev Boughey William Dolling of Magheralin. Both his parents had distinguished lineages.

Thomas Hassard Montgomery‘s family traced their ancestry to an Alexander Montgomery who settled in Ireland in the early 17th century on the invitation of Viscount Montgomery. He was appointed prebendary of Doe in Co Donegal. One of Alexander Montgomery’s descendants was General Richard Montgomery, the American revolutionary general, who was killed in the battle of Quebec in 1775.

Emily Montgomery was the daughter of the precentor of Dromore, a clergyman noted for his zeal, eloquence and enthusiasm for social reform. The family was of Huguenot stock, being descended from the younger son of a French nobleman who had fled France to escape religious persecution.

He was educated at Parkgate in Cheshire and abroad. He served in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, becoming a lieutenant in 1886; a captain in 1890 and resigning his commission in 1895 in order to go into business.

In due course he emerged as one of ‘the leading figures in linen industry’, becoming a partner in the firm of John Preston & Co, in Callendar Street. He combined ability, hard work and inventiveness and assisted in making it one of the most progressive and successful firms in Belfast. On July 8 1902 he filed US patents for a new type of bleaching vat. Right up until his death, he retained a keen interest in the firm.

As a serving soldier, his role during the second Home Rule crisis would have been necessarily curtailed, although he was listed as a North Belfast member of the Ulster Defence Union in the Belfast Weekly News of October 21 1893.

Politically, Montgomery was an enthusiast for the Union. As a businessman, he believed that Home Rule – in the words of the Ulster Covenant – ‘would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as the whole of Ireland’.

He may have been a member of the Unionist Clubs originally founded by Viscount Templetown in 1893 during the second Home Rule crisis but certainly during the third Home Rule crisis he assisted Templetown to revive the clubs when in late 1910 the Ulster Unionist Council invited the viscount to revive them.

By mid-December 1911 there were 164 clubs. In all 139 clubs were represented at the Craigavon demonstration of September 23 1911. By the end of February 1912 there were 232 clubs.

Montgomery and Sir George Clark, the founder of Workman, Clark & Co, were joint secretaries of the movement. Montgomery was efficient and enthusiastic in everything he did and credited with sparing no time or effort in this work.

He was also active in the formation of the UVF and was given command of the 6th Battalion of the North Belfast Regiment of the UVF, a battalion of 1,500 men.

He was an extremely popular officer and set a good example by his regular attendance at drills and the enthusiasm with which he undertook his responsibilities. After the outbreak of the Great War, he assumed command of the whole North Belfast Regiment of the UVF.

Montgomery was a member of the Standing Committee of the Ulster Unionist Council and president and a founder member of the North-East Unionist Club which was based in Brougham Street.

He was a member of Eldon LOL 7 and a high-ranking mason.

A devoted member of the Church of Ireland, he worshipped regularly at St James’s and served as a churchwarden and a parochial nominator. He was also a member of the Diocesan Council and Synod.

An expert shot, a skilful angler and, as a young man, he was a playing member of North of Ireland Cricket Club.

He died on October 4 1917 and was buried in the joint Montgomery and Dolling family plot at Magherlin Old Graveyard.

The HQ Council of the UVF passed a resolution of condolence to Montgomery’s family, noting ‘during his life Mr Montgomery was a consistent and untiring supporter of the Unionist cause and his death will leave a blank which will be very hard to fill’.