Memorable Manitobans: John Percival “Price” Montague (1882-1966)

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John Percival “Price” Montague
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Lawyer, judge, soldier.

Born at Dunville, Ontario in 1882, son of Walter Humphries Montague and Angeline “Angie” Furry (1855-1945), he was educated at Upper Canada College, graduated from Osgoode Hall in 1905, and received a military commission the same year. He was called to the Ontario and Manitoba Bars in 1907. He joined the firm of Pitblado and Hoskin in 1913 and remained with it for 19 years, taking a leave of absence during the First World War.

Made a King’s Counsel in 1928, he was appointed to the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench in 1932. On the outbreak of the Second World War, he was posted to Canadian Military Headquarters in London serving first as Quartermaster-General then as Judge Advocate-General for the Canadian forces. He later succeeded to the appointment of Chief of Staff and attained the rank of Lieutenant-General, the highest ranking Manitoba serviceman in the Second World War. He returned to the Manitoba Bench in 1945 and was raised to the Court of Appeal in 1951, from which he retired in 1959.

He and wife Anne Isabel Fletcher (1885-1940) had two daughters: Eleanor Furry Montague (1908-2001, wife of Karl Fiset Wintemute) and Anne Isobel “Nancy” Montague (1911-2001, wife of Ernest Hutchison “Ernie” Moncrieff). He served as President of the St. Charles Country Club in 1927 and was a member of the Manitoba Club. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Manitoba in 1942.

He died at the Deer Lodge Military Hospital on 11 June 1966 and was buried with full military honours in the St. John's Cathedral Cemetery.

See also:

MHS Centennial Business: Pitblado LLP

Sources:

Birth registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Montague funeral at 2 p.m. Tuesday,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 June 1966, page 3.

Learned Friends, Reiminiscences - Pitblado & Hoskin 1882-1974 by Anna Tillenius, pages 89-90.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 19 October 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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