Norah Montgomerie
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Norah Montgomerie
| birth_name = Norah Mary Shargool
| birth_date = 6 April 1909
| birth_place = West Dulwich, London
| death_date = 19 February 1998
| death_place = Edinburgh
| nationality = British
| occupation = Folklorist, illustrator, writer
}}
Norah Montgomerie (6 April 1909 – 19 February 1998), born Norah Mary Shargool, was a British folklorist, illustrator and writer.
Early life
Norah Shargool was born in West Dulwich, London,{{Cite web|title=Norah Montgomerie|url=https://www.modernistarchives.com/person/norah-montgomerie|website=Modernist Archives Publishing Project|access-date=2020-05-13}} the daughter of Letitia Alexander Shirley Shargool (nee Sawyer), a seamstress, and John Shargool, an accountant.{{Cite book|last1=Ewan|first1=Elizabeth L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zs6qBgAAQBAJ&dq=Norah+Montgomerie&pg=PA270|title=Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women|last2=Innes|first2=Sue|last3=Reynolds|first3=Sian|last4=Pipes|first4=Rose|date=2007-06-27|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-2660-1|pages=270|language=en}} She was educated at a boarding school in Folkestone and then at art school in London. Montgomerie told a newspaper that she learned songs, stories and rhymes from her great-grandmother, and carried her foremother's advice, "Don't give children paps, give them something they can chew!" into her own work.{{Cite news|date=1963-04-06|title=For Young Readers "Give Them Something They Can Chew"|pages=20|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104248891|access-date=2020-05-14|via=Trove}}
Career
Norah Montgomerie moved to Dundee where she worked for the Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. She also worked in London as a magazine illustrator. In her work she promoted Scots language, traditional tales and poetry in general. With her husband, Montgomerie collected Scottish folk songs and nursery rhymes, and edited and illustrated collections of Scottish folk songs and rhymes for children,{{Citation|last=Royle|first=Trevor|chapter=I|date=1984|pages=150–151|publisher=Macmillan Education UK|isbn=9780333378717|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-07587-4_9|title=The Macmillan Companion to Scottish Literature}} including these titles:
- Sandy Candy and other Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1948){{Cite book|last1=Montgomerie|first1=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GngAAAAMAAJ|title=Sandy Candy: And Other Scottish Nursery Rhymes|last2=Montgomerie|first2=William|date=1948|publisher=Hogarth Press|language=en}}
- The Well at the World's End (1956){{Cite book|last1=Montgomerie|first1=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rduCAAAACAAJ|title=The Well at the World's End: Folk Tales of Scotland|last2=Montgomerie|first2=William|date=1993|publisher=Canongate Silkies|isbn=978-0-86241-462-7|language=en}}
- The Hogarth book of Scottish nursery rhymes (1964){{Cite book|last=Montgomerie|first=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jziwgEACAAJ|title=The Hogarth Book of Scottish Nursery Rhymes|date=1964|publisher=Hogarth Press|isbn=978-0-7012-0003-9|language=en}}
- From Time to Time: Selected Poems (1985)
In addition, she wrote and illustrated her own books, including The Merry Little Fox and Other Animal Tales (1959),{{Cite book|last=Montgomerie|first=Norah|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/215034315|title=The merry little fox, and other animal stories|date=1964|publisher=London; New York : Abelard-Schuman|language=en}} Twenty-five Fables (1962), To Read and to Tell (1964), This Little Pig Went to Market: Play rhymes for infants and young children (1966, with illustrator Margery Gill),{{Cite book|last1=Montgomerie|first1=Norah|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/15186373|title=This little pig went to market : play rhymes for infants and young children|last2=Gill|first2=Margery|date=1966|publisher=London : Bodley Head|isbn=978-0-370-01079-3|language=en}} and One, Two, Three: A Little Book of Counting Rhymes (1967).{{Cite book|last1=Montgomerie|first1=Norah|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/12562483|title=One, two, three : a little book of counting rhymes|last2=Montgomerie|first2=illus.), Nora|date=1967|publisher=Abelard-Schuman|isbn=978-0-200-71488-4|language=en}} In 2009, a collection of her manuscripts titled The Fantastical Feats of Finn MacCoul{{Cite book|last=Montgomerie|first=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YM8nAQAAIAAJ|title=The Fantastical Feats of Finn MacCoul|date=2009|publisher=Birlinn|isbn=978-1-84158-817-9|language=en}} was published by her grandson Julian Brooks.{{Cite book|title=The Edinburgh companion to Scottish traditional literatures|last=Dunnigan, Sarah M.|date=2013|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748645398|oclc=994773729}}
Personal life
In 1934, Norah Shargool married William Montgomerie, a Scottish poet and folklorist.{{Cite web|title=William Montgomerie {{!}} Poet|url=https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/william-montgomerie/|website=Scottish Poetry Library|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-13}} They had two children, Dian and Ian. Norah Montgomerie was widowed in 1994, and died in 1998, aged 88 years, in Edinburgh.
References
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