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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Mr. David Somers Montagu
Mr. David Somers Montagu , who was for a time one of the Trustees of the Oamaru Hospital, was born in London in 1842. After completing his studies at the City of London School and privately, he was brought up to mercantile life, and came out to Auckland in 1864, by the ship “Amersham.” Mr. Montagu entered the Bank of New Zealand as ledger-keeper, and shortly afterwards was sent to the West Coast goldfields, and reached Hokitika by the steamer “Nelson,” the first vessel to enter the river. He was subsequently stationed in Greymouth, and afterwards in Nelson till 1869, when he became accountant at Invercargill. Four years later Mr. Montagu was sent to open the Rangiora branch of the bank, and in the following year he was transferred to Southbridge. Subsequently he was for a short time in the Christchurch office, and then he became acting accountant at Dunedin. In 1875 he resigned his position in the bank, and took a trip to England, and on his return to the Colony in the following year, he declined to accept office as accountant in the bank, as he preferred to settle in Oamaru, where he became accountant to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, and held that position until 1889. In the following year he joined Mr. G. R. Hislop in business under the style of Hislop and Montagu, but a year later he retired from the firm and has since conducted business on his own account. He was for several years a member of the Waitaki High School Board of Governors, page 513 and has been connected with the local school committees. Mr. Montagu was married in 1881 to a daughter of the late Mr. Edward Gifford, of Oamaru, the well-known artist, and gold medallist of the Royal Academy.