Jessie Anne Douglas Montgomery (1851–1918), known as Jessie Montgomery, was an English educational administrator, activist and suffragist associated with women's formal education in the Exeter area.Profile, devonhistorysociety.org.uk. Accessed 2 August 2023.
Early life Montgomery was born on 6 August 1851 in London to the Rev. Robert Montgomery (1807–1855) and his wife Rachel Catherine Andrews McKenzie (1814−1882).GRO: Marriages Dec 1843 (>99%) McKenzie Rachel Catherine Andrews St George Hanover Square 1 3 Montgomery Robert St Geo Han Sq 1 3 On Robert's death, his widow and daughter moved to Exeter, where they lived in the Cathedral Close with Rachel's sister, Jessie Barbara Cook (1811–1899), and her husband, Rev. Frederic Charles Cook (1805–1889), Canon of Exeter Cathedral.
After her mother's death in 1882,GRO: Deaths Sep 1882 (>99%) Montgomery Rachel 67 Exeter 5b 51 Montgomery moved to a large house in Baring Crescent, Exeter.
Education career Despite limited opportunities for her own education, Montgomery became an activist over several decades for women's education in the Exeter area. Having successfully completed several courses at the Exeter Museum Centre, she became joint secretary to the University Extension Centre,University of Exeter website, Exeter University Club: Exeter Branch, Newsletter Number 33, December 2017, page 11 and convenor of the Ladies' Students' Association. She became a governor of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum College, which became the Royal Albert Memorial College, the forerunner of both the University College of the South-West and then the University of Exeter.
Suffragist Montgomery inaugurated the Exeter Branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and became its first secretary (1909–1911). Despite her organisation, activism and public speaking for women's suffrage, she did not survive long enough to cast a vote.
Death and legacy
On 13 October 1918, aged 67, Montgomery died in hospital in Southampton during an operation.GRO: Deaths Dec 1918 (>99%) Montgomery Jessie D 63 [sic] Southampton 2c 138
She is commemorated by a memorial in the Exeter Cathedral.Woman and Her Sphere website, Suffrage Stories: Devon Suffragists, March 26, 2013
A house in the University of Exeter former Duryard Halls of Residence was named "Jessie Montgomery" in her honour. A Common Room at Duryard Hall was previously named after her.University of Exeter website, Special Collections Archive, Jessie Montgomery common room, Duryard Halls
A primary school in St Thomas, Exeter, built in the 1930s, was named Montgomery Primary School in her honour.
External links Special Collections - Jessie Montgomery Montgomery, Jessie – Virtues of the Dead
References