Hugh Montgomery 
Hugh was born in 1560 in Braidstane, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland. Hugh's father was Adam Montgomery and his mother is Margaret Montgomery. His paternal grandparents were John Adam Montgomery and Elizabeth Colquhoun; his maternal grandfather was John Montgomery and his maternal grandmother is Margaret Fraser. He had a brother and a sister, named George and Margaret. He died at the age of 76 in 1636.General Notes
REFN: 10194AN
Hugh Montgomery – Aristocrat and Soldier
The Montgomeries were one of the most powerful families in Scotland, wi
th many titles and large estates dating back to the 1100s.
Adam Montgomery was the Fifth Laird of Braidstane, and his son, Hugh Montg
omery (1560 - 1636), was primarily an aristocrat and a soldier. He had be
en educated at Glasgow College and went to France where he spent some ti
me at the royal court. He then moved to Holland and became Captain of Fo
ot of a Scottish Regiment, under William 1 of Orange-Nassau (King Willi
am III’s great grandfather) fighting against the army of King Phil
ip II of Spain – whose troops included an Englishman called Guy Fawkes!
When his father died, Hugh returned to Scotland to become the Sixth Lai
rd of Braidstane and married Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of the Laird of Gree
nock. His fighting skills were used again when he became involved in the g
enerations-old feud between the Montgomeries and the Cunninghams (led by t
he Earl of Glencairn). Hugh Montgomery claimed that one of the Cunningha
ms had insulted him, and challenged him to a duel, but Cunningham fled - f
irst to London and then to Holland. Montgomery tracked him down to the Inn
er Court of the Palace at The Hague, drew his sword and with a single thru
st aimed to kill him. Luckily for Cunningham, the sword hit the buck
le of his belt and saved his life - but Montgomery, thinking he had kill
ed Cunningham, put away his sword and while he was leaving the Palace w
as arrested and imprisoned at Gevangenpoort in the Binnenhof.
Stationed there was a Scottish soldier - Sergeant Robert Montgomery - w
ho came
to visit Hugh in prison, and they came up with a jailbreak plan. Robert ar
rived at the prison dressed as a wealthy Laird with property in Scotlan
d, to court the daughter of the prison Marshall in order to get the k
ey to Hugh’s cell. The plan was so successful that within a few days th
ey were married in the prison, with Hugh Montgomery performing the ceremo
ny according to Scottish law. The wedding guests had drunk so much wine th
at Hugh, Robert and his new wife were able to slip away unnoticed to a pre
-arranged ship which took them to Leith, near Edinburgh.
Hugh’s return to Scotland saw him receive a severe reprimand from King Jam
es VI, but thanks to his own strong relationship with the King and the sup
port of his influential brother George Montgomery, Hugh was back in favou
r. George had left Scotland as a youth and had become Dean of Norwich in 1
602, a privileged position which he used to gather information about Engli
sh politics which he then passed back to King James’s court in Scotland.
So Hugh Montgomery also had considerable influence with King James VI, a
nd when Queen Elizabeth 1 died in the spring of 1603 he accompanied Jam
es to London for his coronation ceremony.
MISC
- Montgomery established the Donaghadee/Portpatrick trading route for t
he settlement, and in 1626 he attempted to rename the towns as Montgome
ry and PortMontgomery respectively. The new names didn’t catch on, but a d
atestone recording this event survives in a private collection in Donaghad
ee to this day.
- Hugh Montgomery was given what may have been a Scottish State funer
al in Newtownards on 8th September 1636. The funeral service was preach
ed by Bishop Leslie, the Bishop who had desposed the Presbyterian ministe
rs just a few weeks previously on 12th August. The morning after the funer
al, 9th September 1636, four of these ministers (Blair, Hamilton, McClella
nd and Livingstone)set sail from Groomsport Harbour on board the “Eagle Wi
ng”, bound for the New World with 136 other Ulster-Scots settlers.
- Montgomery gave each of his 6 churches (Donaghadee, Greyabbey, Comber, K
ilmore, Newtownards and Portpatrick) three gifts: a bell, a 1603 Geneva Bi
ble and a 1603 Common Prayer book, each with the Braidstane coat of ar
ms in gold leaf on the front cover. One of the bel
-
Ancestor Pedigree Chart
-
*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.~ 1446 in Eglinton Castle, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.1462 in Braidstane, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1446 in Loudoun, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1494 in Braidstane, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland d.< 1558 in Braidstane, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.1435 in Hailes Castle, Prestonkirk, East Lothian, Scotland d.1479
- b.~ 1465 in Hailes Castle, Prestonkirk, East Lothian, Scotland
- b.1436 in Home, Berwickshire, Scotland d.~ 1513 in Scotland
- b.~ 1516 in Braidstane, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland d.01 Dec 1576 in Braidstone, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1415 in Scotland
- b.1454 in Caldwell, Scotland d.09 Sep 1513 in Flodden Field, Northumberland
- b.~ 1420 in Scotland
- b.~ 1494 in Caldwell, Scotland
- b.~ 1430 in Scotland
- b.~ 1456 in Eliston, Linlithgow, Scotland
- b.~ 1440 in Haldhead, Renfrewshire, Scotland d.13 Nov 1495 in Scotland
- b.~ 1533 in Braidstane, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland d.05 May 1602
- b.~ 1410 in Luss, Dumbartonshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1450 in Luss, Dumbartonshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1475 in Luss, Dumbartonshire, Scotland d.1536
- b.~ 1405 in Mar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1448 in Mar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1418 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1516 in Luss, Dumbartonshire, Scotland d. in Kerry, Ireland
- b.1386 in Darnley, Renfrewshire, Scotland d.20 Sep 1439 in Scotland
- b.1428 in Darnley, Wigton, Renfrewshire, Scotland d.11 Sep 1495
- b.~ 1410 in Seton, East Lothian, Scotland d.07 Feb 1478 in Caerlaverock Castle, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1476 in Darnley, Renfrewshire, Scotland d. in Luss, Dumbartonshire, Scotland
- b.1385 in Eaglesham, Refrewshire, Scotland d.1470 in Scotland
- b.~ 1436 in Ardrossen, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1409 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d.>16 Sep 1453 in Eaglesham, Renfrewshire, Scotland
- b.1560 in Braidstane, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland d.1636
- b.1385 in Eaglesham, Refrewshire, Scotland d.1470 in Scotland
- b.~ 1425 in Eglinton Castle, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland d.~ 1452
- b.~ 1409 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d.>16 Sep 1453 in Eaglesham, Renfrewshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1450 in Eglinton Castle, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland d.> 1490 in Scotland
- b.~ 1382 in Hailes Castle, Prestonkirk, East Lothian, Scotland d.~ 1445 in Hailes Castle, Prestonkirk, East Lothian, Scotland
- b.~ 1424 in Hailes Castle, Prestonkirk, Midlothian, Scotland
- b.1384 in Lochorwart Castle, Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland
- b.1480 in Hessilhead, Ayrshire, Scotland d.04 Jan 1558
- b.~ 1455 in Scotland
- b.~ 1535 in Hessilhead, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.1436 in Lovat, Inverness, Scotland d.1500 in Lovat, Inverness, Scotland
- b.~ 1460 in Lovat, Inverness, Scotland
- b.1446 in Glamis, Scotland
- b.~ 1480 in Knock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1442 in Huntly, Scotland d.> 1462
- b.~ 1462 in Abergeldie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1445 in Mar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1500 in Knock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
- b.1428 in Darnley, Wigton, Renfrewshire, Scotland d.11 Sep 1495
- b.~ 1458 in Darnley, Renfrewshire, Scotland d. in Henriestoun, Scotland
- b.~ 1436 in Ardrossen, Ayrshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1480 in Darnley, Renfrewshire, Scotland
- b.~ 1430 in Scotland
- b.~ 1460 in Eliotstown, Linlithgow, Scotland
- b.~ 1440 in Haldhead, Renfrewshire, Scotland d.13 Nov 1495 in Scotland
-
They had a son named Hugh.
Family Notes
REFNMR6301
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