Editing Bernard Montgomery (section)

==Early life==
Montgomery was born in [[Kennington]], Surrey, in 1887, the fourth child of nine, to a [[Church of Ireland]] minister, [[Henry Montgomery (bishop)|Henry Montgomery]], and his wife Maud (''née'' Farrar).{{sfn|Hamilton|1981|pp=3, 12}} The Montgomerys, an [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster Scots]] '[[Protestant Ascendancy|Ascendancy]]' [[gentry]] family, were the [[County Donegal]] branch of the [[Clan Montgomery]]. [[The Reverend|The Rev.]] Henry Montgomery, at that time [[Vicar]] of [[St Mark's Church, Kennington|St Mark's Church]], Kennington, was the second son of [[Sir Robert Montgomery]], a native of [[Inishowen]] in County Donegal in the north-west of [[Ulster]],{{sfn|Hamilton|1981|pp=13–15}} and a noted colonial administrator in [[British India]]. Sir Robert died a month after his grandson's birth.{{sfn|Hamilton|1894|p=324}} He was probably a descendant of [[Alexander Montgomery (1686–1729)|Colonel Alexander Montgomery]]. Bernard's mother, Maud, was the daughter of [[Frederic William Farrar|Frederic William Canon Farrar]], the famous preacher, and was eighteen years younger than her husband.{{sfn|Hamilton|1981|p=3}}

After the death of Sir Robert Montgomery, Henry inherited the Montgomery ancestral estate of New Park in [[Moville, County Donegal|Moville]], a small town in Inishowen in the north of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern [[Provinces of Ireland|province]] in [[Ireland]]. There was still £13,000 to pay on a [[Mortgage loan|mortgage]], a large debt in the 1880s (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|13000|1887|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}){{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} and Henry was at the time still only an [[Anglican]] vicar. Despite selling off all the farms that were in the [[townland]] of Ballynally, on the north-western shores of [[Lough Foyle]],<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Townlands.ie|title=Ballynally Townland, Co. Donegal. |url=https://www.townlands.ie/donegal/inishowen-east/moville-lower/moville/ballynally/|access-date=17 May 2023}}</ref> "there was barely enough to keep up New Park and pay for the blasted summer holiday" (i.e., at New Park).{{sfn|Montgomery|1933|loc=[http://anglicanhistory.org/england/hhmontgomery1933/05.html Chapter V]}}

It was a financial relief of some magnitude when, in 1889, Henry was made [[Anglican Bishop of Tasmania|Bishop of Tasmania]], then still a [[British colony]], and Bernard spent his formative years there. [[Bishop]] Montgomery considered it his duty to spend as much time as possible in the rural areas of [[Colony of Tasmania|Tasmania]] and was away for up to six months at a time. While he was away, his wife, still in her mid-twenties, gave her children "constant" beatings,{{sfn|Hamilton|1981|p=31}} then ignored them most of the time. Of Bernard's siblings, Sibyl died prematurely in Tasmania, and Harold, Donald and Una all emigrated.{{sfn|Hamilton|1981|p=5}} Maud Montgomery took little active interest in the education of her young children other than to have them taught by tutors brought from Britain, although he briefly attended the then coeducational [[St Michael's Collegiate School]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/people/who-was-field-marshall-bernard-law-montgomery-7062734|title=The Suffolk nun charged with teaching one of the world's most controversial military leaders|date=11 March 2020|newspaper=The Great British Life|access-date=29 August 2022}}</ref> The loveless environment made Bernard something of a bully, as he himself recalled: "I was a dreadful little boy. I don't suppose anybody would put up with my sort of behaviour these days."{{sfn|Chalfont|1976|p=[https://archive.org/details/montgomeryofalam00chal/page/29 29]}} Later in life Montgomery refused to allow his son [[David Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|David]] to have anything to do with his grandmother, and refused to attend her funeral in 1949.<ref name="biermansmith"/>

The family returned to England once for a [[Lambeth Conference]] in 1897, and Bernard and his brother Harold were educated at [[The King's School, Canterbury]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hamilton|1981|p=36}}</ref> In 1901, Bishop Montgomery became secretary of the [[Society for the Propagation of the Gospel]], and the family returned to London. Montgomery attended [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]] and then the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], from which he was almost expelled for rowdiness and violence.<ref name=heath213>{{harvnb|Heathcote|1999|p=213}}</ref> On graduation in September 1908 he was commissioned into the 1st Battalion the [[Royal Warwickshire Regiment]] as a [[second lieutenant]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28178 |page=6762 |date=18 September 1908}}</ref> and first saw overseas service later that year in India.<ref name=heath213/> He was promoted to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] in 1910,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28382 |page=3996 |date=7 June 1910}}</ref> and in 1912 became adjutant of the 1st Battalion of his regiment at [[Shorncliffe Army Camp]].<ref name=heath213/>