Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd

Hugh John Massingberd (30 December 1946 – 25 December 2007), also known as Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, was an English journalist and genealogist.

Sometimes called the father of the modern obituary, Massingberd was most revered for his work as obituaries editor for The Daily Telegraph of London from 1986 to 1994, during which time he drastically altered the style of the modern British obituary from a dry recital of biographical data to an often sly, witty, yet deadpan narrative on the deceased person's life.

Massingberd was born Hugh John Montgomery at Cookham Dean, Berkshire, England, in 1946. His father, John Michael Montgomery, was a member of the Colonial Service. His mother, Marsali Seal de Winlaw, was a schoolmistress who married John Montgomery after her first husband Roger de Winton Kelsall Winlaw died in 1942 in the service of the Royal Air Force. Hugh was the first child of her union with John Montgomery. Through his father, Hugh Massingberd was the great great grandson of Charlotte Langton (née Wedgwood), she being sister of Emma Darwin (Charles Darwin's wife) and granddaughter of the potter and philanthropist Josiah Wedgwood I.

His boyhood enthusiasms included cricket, literature, horse-racing and showbusiness.

John and Hugh Montgomery, to inherit the estate of John's aunt and uncle (John was the son of Diana's sister and Archibald's brother) Diana née Langton Massingberd and her husband Field Marshal Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd of Gunby, East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, were obliged to hyphenate their surnames, becoming in 1963, John Montgomery-Massingberd and Hugh John Montgomery-Massingberd. Hugh later dropped his original surname in 1992, and was known simply as Hugh Massingberd.

After leaving school, he worked for three years as an articled law clerk, before gaining a place at Cambridge University to read history. He then "drifted into publishing and journalism".

He was extremely proud of his reputation as a gourmand and a trencherman, posing at one time for a portrait with a garland of sausages. Often retold was the story of his having eaten the largest breakfast ever served at the Connaught Hotel in 1972; the head waiter reported to his table that the previous record holder had been King Farouk I of Egypt.

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