Montie Porch:
a charmed life
The Glastonbury man who married Winston Churchill’s mother
by Roger Parsons
Copyright ©2012, 2019 by Roger Parsons. Published in print and web form by Abbey Press Glastonbury.Sources and acknowledgements
Publications
- Lady Randolph Churchill by Ralph G. Martin (Cassell, 1971)
- A Life in Archaeology by Margaret S. Drower (Gollancz, 1985)
- The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill by Anita Leslie, Jennie Churchill’s great-niece (Hutchinson, 1969)
- Jennie — Lady Randolph Churchill: a portrait with letters by Julian Mitchell & Peregrine Churchill, Winston’s nephew, (Collins, 1974)
- Jennie Churchill: Winston’s American mother by Anne Sebba (John Murray, 2007)
- Dark Lady — Winston Churchill’s Mother and her World by Charles Higham (Virgin Books, 2006)
- Last Act: Montagu Porch, an article by A. R. Allen (on the Churchill Centre website, winstonchurchill.org)
- The Central Somerset Gazette, via the Somerset County Record Office.
Other sources
- The National Archives, Kew
- The Flinders Petrie Museum, University of London.
Invaluable help has also been given by:
- Robin Darwall-Smith, Magdalen College archivist
- Jane Hill, Weston-super-Mare Museum
- David Orchard, Glastonbury Antiquarian Society
- Paul Ashdown, Pat Benham and Tim Hopkinson-Ball
- Ron Treloggan, Glastonbury Cemetery
- The Clive family, recently of Abbey Grange
- Kim Woolmer, St Mary’s RC Church, Glastonbury
- Roger Leeks
- Viscount Asquith of Mells Manor
- Susanna van Rose
- Dr Dick Shilton, Millfield Senior School archivist
- Neill and Dawn Bonham, who searched for Montie in Italy
- Brian and Anna Martin, who did likewise with me and my wife Ann in the summer of 2010
- Richard J. Porch, great-grandson of Albert, the last Squire of Edgarley, who constantly encouraged and supported
- Barbara M. Patrizi, Giulia’s great-great niece — my thanks for her continuing research and support.
And most importantly I thank:
- Sally Melia, whose many photos of her great-uncle Montie, particularly in his youth, have been essential, not only for this short biography but also for my booklet History of Victorian Edgarley: the fall of the House of Porch
- Peter Phillips, and the late Jill and Roy Cleave and Glenys and George Phillips, all of the Hucker family, for sharing memories and memorabilia
- Diana Miller, for some fascinating items of Montie’s, salvaged long ago.
— Roger Parsons, Glastonbury, 2019
