Montgomerys of Ballydrain, Dunmurry
by Gavin Bamford
Hugh Montgomery (1743-1832) of Glenarm and Benvarden, Co. Antrim was one of the original founders or partners of the private bank, ‘H Montgomery & Company’ that was formed in Belfast in 1809. Around 1815 it became known as Northern Bank. He retired as a partner in 1822. His son, another Hugh Montgomery (1794-1867) succeeded his father in the partnership.
Montgomery’s private bank was incorporated in 1824 as the first ‘joint stock bank’ in Ireland, becoming the ‘Northern Banking Company’. Hugh Montgomery became one of its directors.
Hugh’s son, James C Montgomery was appointed as an additional Director in 1860. His health did not allow him to take up his duties and he resigned in 1862. He died abroad, in 1870 aged 34.
Another son, Thomas Montgomery (1837-1909) had joined the bank early in life and was appointed to the board on the death of his father in 1867. He served as a Senior Director until 1905 and died at Ballydrain, Dunmurry in 1907.
The Montgomery family plot is one of the principal graves situated at the back of Drumbeg Parish Church.
Close by, nearer to Belfast on the Upper Malone Road is Ballydrain House and estate. ‘Ballydrain Estate, Dunmurry’ was purchased by Montgomery in 1834 for £13,500 (2024 £1.46m) with the present house being completed a few years later. The house and estate left the Montgomery family in 1920. In 1960, Malone Golf Club purchased the entire property and greatly extended the club house together with building the golf course.
Malone Golf Club (Ballydrain House) October 2023 – Northern bank Pensioners Luncheon
On Sunday 12th October 1919, the new War Memorial Organ in the church was used for the first time in public worship. In his address, Dr Park referred to the 555 men from the congregation and Sabbath School who had served in the Great war, 86 of whom had made the supreme sacrifice. The following Sunday, Mrs John Sinclair unveiled a brass tablet which had been erected by the afternoon Sabbath School in memory of the members of the congregation and school who fell in the Great War. The newspaper article on the unveiling reported that the tablet was attached to the front of the pulpit and recorded the names of the 86 fatalities. The church was not rebuilt and the congregation amalgamated with Ekenhead Memorial Presbyterian Church at its new site on the North Circular Road, adopting the name Rosemary Presbyterian Church. A history of the congregation by J W Kernahan includes a photograph of the War Memorial Organ, and the plaque on the front of the pulpit is visible. 
On Sunday 25th April 1920, two memorials were unveiled at the church by the Right Reverend Doctor John Morrow Simms, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, who had served as Senior Chaplain to the Ulster Division during the war. One of the mural tablets was erected inside the church and commemorated fourteen men from the congregation who died during the war. The second mural tablet was erected by 33rd Company Boy Scouts and was placed on external wall of the church at the junction of York Street and Earl Street. This memorial tablet recorded the names of 132 men from Earl Street and District who served in the Great War, 36 of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice. Newspaper articles about the unveilings recorded the names of those commemorated on the two tablets, although none of the fatalities named on the congregational tablet are named on the district tablet. In essence, the external tablet probably represented service and sacrifice by people who lived in the streets between Gallaher’s Tobacco factory and the York Street Flax Spinning mill. To the best of my knowledge, no photographs of either memorial tablet have survived, although there is a newspaper photograph of the unveiling of the district memorial. The church was not rebuilt, and the congregation merged with Castleton Presbyterian Church on York Road, the amalgamated congregation adopting the name of Alexandra Presbyterian Church.
On 9th May 1920, the Very Reverend Thomas Gibson George Collins, Dean of Belfast dedicated memorials commemorating the service and sacrifice by men from the parish. Choir stalls and a bronze mural tablet, on which the names of thirty fatalities were recorded, was erected by congregational subscription. Mr Andrew Alexander Clendinning, a linen merchant, gifted the Roll of Honour tablet which recorded the names of 156 men who served and survived. Mrs Mary Kathleen Watson gifted a prayer desk in memory of her husband, the Reverend John Edmund Malone Watson MC, who was a chaplain to the forces and died of wounds on 10th April 1918, aged 31. In the 1943 Belfast Street Directory, the site was recorded as “Vacant” and the church was restored by 1947.
This church was located on the corner of Oldpark Road and Ardoyne Avenue and was built in 1901. On Sunday 30th May 1920, the Right Reverend Doctor Charles Thornton Primrose Grierson (Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore) dedicated a new pulpit in the church as a memorial to those from the parish who had died in the Great War. The pulpit of white oak was manufactured by Purdy and Millard of Howard Street and a brass plate on the front panel named thirty fatalities, under the headings Navy and Army. On the base of the pulpit were carved the words of His Majesty King George V, “The men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.” The memorial was unveiled by Mr James Barlowe and Mr James Bustard, two former churchwardens who had both lost their only sons in the war. In his address, the Lord Bishop stated that 160 men from the church had volunteered for service in the Great War. The memorial cost £150, which equates to approximately £5,500 in current terms. Newspaper reports on the unveiling ceremony recorded the names of the fatalities and a photograph of the memorial pulpit was published in the Belfast Telegraph. The 1951 and 1955 street directories record that the site for the replacement church was located at the junction of Cliftonville Road and Cardigan Drive, and the new church was completed in 1958.
On Sunday 19th September 1920 a reading desk was dedicated as a memorial in this mission hall, which was associated with Donegall Street Congregational Church. The desk was unveiled by Captain William Reid and the names of fourteen fatalities from the congregation are recorded on the front of the desk. The newspaper coverage of the unveiling service included a photograph of the memorial and the hall had been re-opened by 1945.
On 7th April 1925, Sir William Turner JP, Lord Mayor of Belfast, unveiled a polished marble tablet which recorded and the names of the fourteen members of the congregation who died and the names of a further 100 people who served in the Great War. The memorial was the work of Thompson & Sons of Limestone Road and the embellishment at the top of the tablet features crossed flag and the Dove of Peace under a Crown. A photograph of the memorial was published in the Belfast Telegraph in April 1925 and a fine photograph of the memorial can be found online. The church was never rebuilt, and the congregation merged with Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church. 
After the German air raid on the night of 15th/16th April 1941, Antrim Road residents raised concerns that dangerous animals might escape during air raids. The account in Scott Edgar’s 
In essence, when articles were compiled this century, the researchers knew there was an elephant called Sheila at the zoo in 1938 and that an elephant called Sheila died at the zoo in 1965. Unfortunately, they made the assumption that the elephant that died in 1965 was the elephant who had arrived in 1938.