Sir Robert Montgomery GCSI, KCB (2 December 1809 – 28 December 1887), was a British administrator and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prospe ...

. He was Chief Commissioner of Oudh during the period of 1858 to 1859 and later served as Lieutenant Governor of Punjab between 1859 and 1865.

Biography

Early life

Montgomery was born at the family seat at New Park in

Moville Moville (; ) is a coastal town located on the Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal, Ireland, close to the northern tip of the island of Ireland. It is the first coastal town of the Wild Atlantic Way when starting on the northern end. Locatio ...

, a small town in Inishowen in the north of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrcon ...

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. He was educated at

Foyle College Foyle College is a co-educational non-denominational voluntary grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland. The school's legal name is Foyle and Londonderry College. In 1976, two local schools, Foyle College and Londonderry High School, merged unde ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

; Wraxall Hall School, Wiltshire; and, from 1823 to 1825, at

Addiscombe Military Seminary The East India Company Military Seminary was a British military academy at Addiscombe, Surrey, in what is now the London Borough of Croydon. It opened in 1809 and closed in 1861. Its purpose was to train young officers to serve in the East India ...

, Croydon, Surrey.

Career

In 1826, he entered the civil service of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

. His first notable position was as a commissioner in

Cawnpore Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations ...

. In 1849, Montgomery was made a Commissioner at

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

. The following year he replaced Charles Grenville Mansel on the Board of Administration, the body responsible for governing the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

. His two colleagues in the Board of Administration, Henry Lawrence and John Lawrence were both, like Montgomery, alumni of Foyle College. Following a re-organisation in 1853, the Board of Administration was replaced with John Lawrence as Chief Commissioner, and Montgomery was made both his Deputy and Judicial Commissioner. Over the next four years, he was the Chief Judge of Appeal in the Punjab, head of the police force, superintendent of roads, controller of local and municipal funds and responsible for education. In May 1857, at the start of the

Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

, he was in Lahore. He immediately had the native garrison disarmed, which prevented them from taking any action in the rebellion. He was awarded with a knighthood for this action. During the period of 3 April 1858 to 15 February 1859, he was Chief Commissioner of Oudh. He returned to the Punjab in 1859 to succeed John Lawrence as Lieutenant-Governor. He was made a K.C.B. on 19 May 1859. On 1 March 1862 he opened the first section of the Punjab Railway, connecting Lahore with

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha ...

, to much fanfare. His tenure as Lieutenant-Governor ended in 1865 and he was succeeded by his son-in-law Donald Friell McLeod. On 20 February 1866 he was made a G.C.S.I.

Death

He died on 28 December 1887 in London of bronchitis, aged 79, and was interred in the family vault in St Columb's Cathedral, Londonderry on 3 January 1888.Hamilton and Penner 2004. There is a memorial to him in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

Family

He married Frances Thomason, a sister of

James Thomason James Thomason (3 May 1804 – 17 September 1853) was a British administrator of the East India Company and Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces between 1843 and 1853. Early life The son of Thomas Truebody Thomason, a British cleri ...

whilst in India; she died of smallpox at

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administra ...

in 1842. His second son was Henry Hutchinson Montgomery, father of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

The 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. Henry inherited the family estate in Ireland after his father's death.

Eponyms

* The city of Sahiwal, Pakistan, founded in 1865, was formerly named "Montgomery", after Sir Robert Montgomery.''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' * The district of Montgomery in Punjab.

References

;Attribution *