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FIELD MARSHAL BERNARD LAW MONTGOMERY AMESBURY SCHOOL Field Marshal Montgomery(Monty)’s association with Amesbury school is well known to pupils and former pupils who receive a Monty bear on graduation, but it is less well known elsewhere in Haslemere and the full story has never before been told. The story begins with Monty’s son, David. David returned to the UK with his mother in 1935 on an evacuation ship following a severe earthquake in Quetta in today’s Pakistan, where Monty was serving. In January 1936, aged 8, he was sent to Amesbury and his mother returned to India. Betty tragically died after returning to the UK the following year. She developed septicaemia after being stung by an unknown insect on a beach near Portsmouth. With Monty on active duty, David’s subsequent school holidays were mainly spent with friends and relatives and in 1941 the house in Portsmouth that Monty and Betty had bought shortly before her death was bombed and totally destroyed. |
Monty in 1943
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On 2 May 1942 David entered Winchester College. The following day, Monty wrote to Phyllis Reynolds, wife of Amesbury headmaster Major Tom Reynolds, thanking them both for their pastoral care of David and asking if they could continue ‘to be a base to which he could return ...while he is not at Winchester”.
Matters became more pressing when in August 1942, Monty was sent to North Africa at extremely short notice on the death of General Gott. On 8 August he wrote to Major Reynolds:
“Will you and your lady wife take charge of David for me until I return? …..I am anticipating your acceptance of this request…so long as I am out of England”.
Having no other home, on his first return to England in May 1943, Monty spent 10 days at the school where a room was made available for his private use. In this way, Amesbury became his home and remained so until 1948 when he moved to his own home, a converted mill in Isington in Hampshire. Of course, he was frequently away, but it is clear from his letters that he saw the school as a sanctuary where he could recuperate. After the war, three of his caravans were parked in the grounds and used by him as his private office.
His discussions with generals concerning the forthcoming Sicily campaign are commemorated with a plaque on the small pavilion in the school grounds.
During his May 1943 visit, he gave an account of his North African campaign which was widely reported in the press.
The first months of 1944 as he prepared for D Day gave him the opportunity to visit frequently as did the period after June 1946 when he was Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
In March 1944 he is reported as telling the boys
‘Amesbury was his home. He had no other home, and he could not have a better one. He and his boy David were taken in there at a very awkward time, and it had been his home ever since. ‘
An alumnus shares the recollection that Major Reynolds had maps of the 8th Army positions on the walls in the school that were updated daily and that Monty kept one of his caravans in the school grounds to which he repaired for solitude and work during his visits to the school.
One of the richest sources of insight into Monty’s thoughts during his campaigns from 1942-45 is his correspondence with Major Tom Reynolds and his wife Phyllis, which are in the custody of The Imperial War Museum.
Between May 1942 and July 1945 he wrote 162 letters.
It was the tragic death of Monty’s wife, Betty, that led to his close association with Amesbury. The consequent support given by The Reynolds and the school enabled him to focus with single minded dedication on the task of leading the armies that defeated the Axis Powers in The Second World War. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to them all.
The importance of Amesbury to Monty is beautifully summed up in his letter of 29 March 1948, as he left Amesbury for the last time to take up residence at Isington mill. Read this letter, together with a more detailed account of Monty’s life and career, and his association with Amesbury, by downloading the pamphlet here >> DOWNLOAD Monty's Pamphlet << .
Matters became more pressing when in August 1942, Monty was sent to North Africa at extremely short notice on the death of General Gott. On 8 August he wrote to Major Reynolds:
“Will you and your lady wife take charge of David for me until I return? …..I am anticipating your acceptance of this request…so long as I am out of England”.
Having no other home, on his first return to England in May 1943, Monty spent 10 days at the school where a room was made available for his private use. In this way, Amesbury became his home and remained so until 1948 when he moved to his own home, a converted mill in Isington in Hampshire. Of course, he was frequently away, but it is clear from his letters that he saw the school as a sanctuary where he could recuperate. After the war, three of his caravans were parked in the grounds and used by him as his private office.
His discussions with generals concerning the forthcoming Sicily campaign are commemorated with a plaque on the small pavilion in the school grounds.
During his May 1943 visit, he gave an account of his North African campaign which was widely reported in the press.
The first months of 1944 as he prepared for D Day gave him the opportunity to visit frequently as did the period after June 1946 when he was Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
In March 1944 he is reported as telling the boys
‘Amesbury was his home. He had no other home, and he could not have a better one. He and his boy David were taken in there at a very awkward time, and it had been his home ever since. ‘
An alumnus shares the recollection that Major Reynolds had maps of the 8th Army positions on the walls in the school that were updated daily and that Monty kept one of his caravans in the school grounds to which he repaired for solitude and work during his visits to the school.
One of the richest sources of insight into Monty’s thoughts during his campaigns from 1942-45 is his correspondence with Major Tom Reynolds and his wife Phyllis, which are in the custody of The Imperial War Museum.
Between May 1942 and July 1945 he wrote 162 letters.
It was the tragic death of Monty’s wife, Betty, that led to his close association with Amesbury. The consequent support given by The Reynolds and the school enabled him to focus with single minded dedication on the task of leading the armies that defeated the Axis Powers in The Second World War. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to them all.
The importance of Amesbury to Monty is beautifully summed up in his letter of 29 March 1948, as he left Amesbury for the last time to take up residence at Isington mill. Read this letter, together with a more detailed account of Monty’s life and career, and his association with Amesbury, by downloading the pamphlet here >> DOWNLOAD Monty's Pamphlet << .