The Right Place: A Book of Pleasures By C. E. Montague

Charles Edward Montague was born in London in 1867, the son of an Irish Roman Catholic priest who had left his vocation to marry. Educated at the City of London School and Balliol College, Oxford where he gained a First in Classical Moderations and a Second in Literae Humaniores. In 1890 he was recruited by C. P. Scott to The Manchester Guardian, where he became a leader writer and critic. Montague was opposed to the First World War prior to its commencement, but once it started he believed that it was right to support it in the hope of a swift resolution. In 1914, Montague was 47, but in order to enlist he dyed his white hair black to enable him to fool the Army into accepting him. H. W. Nevinson would later write that “Montague is the only man I know whose white hair in a single night turned dark through courage.” He began as a grenadier-sergeant, and rose to lieutenant and then captain of intelligence in 1915. Later in the war, he became an armed escort for VIPs visiting the battlefield. He escorted such personalities as H.G. Wells and Bernard Shaw. After the end of World War I he wrote in a strong anti-war vein. He returned to The Manchester Guardian, but felt that his role was diminishing as the years passed. He finally retired in 1925, and settled down to become a full-time writer in the last years of his life. He died in 1928 at the age of 61. The Right Place is describes as ‘Travel Writing’