George Montgomery (bishop)

The Rt Rev. Dr George Montgomery (1562–1621) (alias Montgomerie) was a Scottish protestant cleric, promoted by King James VI and I to various Irish bishoprics. He held the offices of Rector of Chedzoy, Somerset; Dean of Norwich (1603); Bishop of Raphoe, Bishop of Clogher, Bishop of Derry (1605); Bishop of Meath (1610).

He was born in North Ayrshire, the younger son of Adam Montgomery, 5th Laird of Braidstane, and brother of The 1st Viscount Montgomery, who used his influence on George's behalf. Their mother was a Montgomery cousin. After James I had made him Dean of Norwich in 1603, he was appointed the first Protestant Bishop of Raphoe, in 1605. There he began the construction of The Cathedral Church of St. Eunan. At the same time he was made Bishop of Clogher and Bishop of Derry; and in 1607 lobbied Lord Salisbury for the establishment of free schools in Ulster.

In 1608 when O'Doherty's Rebellion broke out, the settlement of Derry was captured and burnt by the rebels led by Sir Cahir O'Doherty. Although Montgomery and O'Doherty had been on good terms before the rising, (both had quarreled with Sir George Paulet, the Governor of Derry, wh is often blamed for provoking the rebellion), the rebels burnt the Bishop's house and his library of two thousand books because of their deemed heretical content. The Bishop's wife and sister were taken as hostages by the rebels, but were eventually freed by Crown forces.

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