Born	1850
Died	1917
Daughter of Robert Montgomery and Rachel MacKenzie

Jessie Montgomery

From: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gomery/robmont.html accessed 4th September 2006 Jessie Douglas Montgomery The archives of the Janus Library, Cambridge hold the Montgomery Memorial Fund papers (BEMS 32: 1914-18). The Fund was established to erect a memorial tablet and fund a scholarship, in memory of Jessie Douglas Montgomery (died 1918), pioneer of adult education in Exeter. From the Exeter University Foundation website:- Benefactors of the Past - Jessie Douglas Montgomery A marble tablet in Exeter Cathedral bears witness to the tireless efforts of a woman who, until her death in 1918, strove to make available to others the opportunity to study. Although, as a woman, she could not herself obtain a degree, Miss Montgomery worked unceasingly for thirty years to bring university-level education to Exeter. She was granddaughter of a famous theatrical clown and daughter of an early Victorian poet but was raised in the household of her uncle, Canon Cook of Exeter Cathedral. In Victorian Britain, university education was a rare privilege available only at a tiny number of universities. In response to growing demand, Cambridge set up a Board of Extra-mural Studies. Exeter applied for its first course of lectures in 1886 and Jessie Montgomery was one of the small group to enter and pass the exams which followed. She became secretary of the Exeter University Extension Committee in 1888. Over the next five years, three Acts made available the 'penny-rate' and the 'whisky money' duty on beer and spirits for an expansion in education. Jessie Montgomery presented a scheme to develop Exeter's Schools of Art & Science together with the university extension courses into a University Extension College. Once it was successfully launched, she turned her attention to teacher training, the co-operative movement and social-welfare facilities for young women in the city and, during the First World War, for soldiers' families. Jessie Montgomery House, opened as a Hall of Residence in 1964, honours her memory. From Index of Wills Jessie Anne Douglas Montgomery of 10 Baring Crescent Heavitree, Exeter, spinster died 13th October 1918 at Grovesnor House, Southhampton. Probate Exeter 27th December 1918 to Herbert Louis Woollcombe and Gerald Douglas Woollcombe. Effects £12073 17s 6d Resworn £12033 4s From her death certificate: Died at 7 Grosvenor Square, Southampton. Aged 63 years. Spinster of 10 Barney Crescent, Exeter. Died while under an Anasthetic (to wit chloroform) properly adminstered by a duly qualified and competent medical practioner for a necesary operation. Note: If she was 63 years of age then she was born in 1855 not 1851. No birth certificate found at the Family Record Centre (7th September 2006) for the years 1850 - 1856. NW