• 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

Details of Hugh's family with Elizabeth Shaw