{{Short description|New Zealand politician (1866–1958)}} {{Distinguish|William Montgomery (New Zealand politician)}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true|align=right}} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1893}} |end = 1896 |term = 12th |electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Ellesmere}} |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1896}} |end = 1899 |term = 13th |electorate = Ellesmere |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{End}} thumb|right|William Montgomery Jr. '''William Hugh Montgomery''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE}} (14 September 1866 – 27 July 1958) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party, from the Canterbury region.
Born in Opawa, Christchurch in 1866, he was the eldest son of William Montgomery, who had represented the Akaroa electorate.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=28 July 1958 |title=Obituary : Mr W. H. Montgomery of Little RIver |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19580728.2.146 |work=The Press |pages=12 |via=Papers Past}}</ref> Montgomery attended primary school at French Farm, and his high school education was at Christ's College and then Christchurch Boys' High School—he was the first day pupil to enrol there, and is the first name on the school roll.<ref name=":1" /> He graduated with a BA from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1887, gaining first-class honours in jurispridence. He was then admitted to the bar in London, before returning to Christchurch in 1890 to practice for a short time at the firm of Garrick, Cowlishaw and Fisher, and being admitted as barrister and solicitor to the Supreme Court of New Zealand.<ref name=":1" /> Soon afterwards he took over managing his father's farm ''Wairewa'' in Little River, Banks Peninsula, and remained there the rest of his life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=22 May 1954 |title=Old parliamentarian looks back 60 years |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19540522.2.39 |work=The Press |pages=3 |via=Papers Past}}</ref>
When John Hall retired from the {{NZ electorate link|Ellesmere}} at the {{NZ election link|1893}}, Montgomery stood as a Liberal and defeated the senior politician William Rolleston.<ref>{{cite web |title=The General Election, 1893 |year=1894 |publisher=National Library |url= http://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1894-I.2.3.2.21 |access-date=19 November 2013 |page=2}}</ref> Montgomery represented the electorate in the 12th and 13th parliaments under Prime Minister Richard Seddon, defeating Frederick Anson in 1896 and speaking extensively in support of the Liberal government's Old-age Pensions Bill that passed in 1898.<ref name=":0" /> He was defeated by 104 votes in 1899 by Conservative Heaton Rhodes.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= Jim | author-link=Jim Wilson (librarian) |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103 |page=221}}</ref>
Montgomery founded the Banks Peninsula Agricultural and Pastoral Association in 1909, and was president until 1913.<ref name=":1" /> He was appointed Metropolitan Commissioner of Boy Scouts in 1930, and founded the Little River Show.<ref name=":1" /> He served on the North Canterbury Hospital Board, and the Board of Governors of Canterbury College.<ref name=":1" /> In the 1919 King's Birthday Honours Montgomery was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services as assistant director of the Base Records Office during World War I.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31422 |date=27 June 1919 | page=8088}}</ref>
Montgomery maintained a strong interest in tree planting and the preservation of native forest. As a Wairewa County Councillor from 1910 until 1944 he supervised the planting of a memorial avenue of lime trees in Cooptown to commemorate the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.<ref name=":0" /> As chair of the Little River Domain Board he organised the extensive tree planting around Awa Iti Domain.<ref name=":1" /> In 1941 Montgomery gifted 40 acres of native bush, containing mature tōtara and mataī trees, to Wairewa County Council, who named it Montgomery Park; it is now Montgomery Park Scenic Reserve.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 January 1941 |title=Gift to Wairewa County: native bush reserve at hilltop |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19410102.2.39 |work=The Press |pages=5 |via=Papers Past}}</ref> Montgomery donated £1000 in 1955 to enable a youth hostel to be built in the reserve.<ref name=":1" />
Montgomery married Edina Mary Allen, daughter of James Allen, in 1902 and had two daughters, Hilda and Iris.<ref name=":1" /> He died at his home'' Waiwera'' in 1958, aged 91 years, at that time New Zealand's oldest former Parliamentarian.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 1958 |title=A Long Life, Well Lived |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19580729.2.70 |work=The Press |pages=10 |via=Papers Past}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19580728.2.2.3?end_date=29-07-1958&items_per_page=10&query=Montgomery&snippet=true&start_date=25-07-1958&type=ARTICLE |title= Deaths |publisher= Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand ) |date= 1958 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last=Montgomery |first=William Hugh |author-link=William Montgomery Jr. |title=Notes on My Life |year=1995 |publisher=Shoal Bay Press |isbn=0908704356}}
{{s-start}} {{S-par | nz}} {{s-bef | before = John Hall}} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Ellesmere | years=1893–1899}} {{S-aft | after = Heaton Rhodes}} {{end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, William Jr}} Category:New Zealand Liberal Party MPs Category:1866 births Category:1958 deaths Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:19th-century New Zealand politicians Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives