When a war hero came to Frome … twice

Exactly 50 years ago this month, in June 1968, Frome welcomed back a bona fide war hero, who had last visited the town during the darkest days of World War Two.

The return visit of Field-Marshall Viscount Montgomery – victor of El Alamein – was as guest of honour at a luncheon given by Frome printers Butler and Tanner Ltd.

The occasion was the publication of the Field-Marshall’s book ‘A History of Warfare’, which the renowned firm had been responsible for producing.

A tour of the firm’s printing works at Adderwell was conducted before the acclaimed warrior was taken to the Portway Hotel for the honorary luncheon.

During the event, Montgomery was presented with a hand-tooled copy of the new book by Butler and Tanner’s managing director,  Joseph R. Tanner.

The deliberate choice of venue no doubt stirred up potent memories for the Field-Marshall, as this had been his temporary headquarters 28 years earlier.

The story began with Dunkirk, in May 1940, when the British Expeditionary Force, which included Montgomery’s 3rd Division, had been evacuated back to England

Once back on British soil, his battered and scattered division was to reform in Frome, where Montgomery had decided to base his headquarters at the Portway Hotel.

The Portway had been built as a residential house around 1800, but had been converted into a hotel in 1934, six years before the War Office requisitioned it.

Although still a hotel in 1968 – during his return visit – the Portway closed in the late 1980s and according to the book ‘The Historic Inns of Frome’, is today retirement flats, known as Montgomery Court.

Back in 1940, and before Montgomery’s re-equipped division could head back across the channel, France fell, and he was reassigned to the south coast.

Once there, the Major-General, as he was ranked at that time, and his men began to prepare the coastal defences against an expected German invasion.

A plaque to commemorate Montgomery’s brief tenure in 1940 Frome, along with his wider war contribution, was unveiled in May 1947 on the Portway’s outside wall.

It was designed by H.E. Stanton, a former headmaster of the Frome School of Art and Science and made by the Frome Art Metal Workers’ Guild.

A more detailed account of Field-Marshall Montgomery’s stay in Frome, during the Second World War, will be included in ‘Frome at War 1939-45’, due out in 2019.

Written by Mick Davis and David Lassman