Robert Leaming Montgomery (1879-1949)

Colonel Robert Leaming Montgomery, Founder of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Associated Houses

Ardrossan Mansion

Villanova

He was born at Radnor in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. After serving in the Spanish–American War, he took it upon himself to replenish the family coffers and embarked on a financial career, co-founding the investment firm known today as Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. In 1913, he built Ardrossan on the Main Line, an estate of 800-acres where he was a conservationist and a dairy farmer with a prized herd of Ayrshire Cattle. He kept a pack of foxhounds and hunted with the Radnor Hunt. In later life, he developed a passion for aviation, helping to pioneer the autogyro. His wife was also his second cousin, both being great-grandchildren of the distinguished lawyer, Horace Binney. Their daughter, Hope Scott, was the inspiration for the character Tracy Samantha Lord in The Philadelphia Story and High Society.
Contributed by Mark Meredith on 02/02/2019 and last updated on 27/01/2021.