Robin Montgomerie-Charrington

Robin (born Robert Victor Campbell Montgomerie), popularly known as 'Monty' was born in June 1915, at Hunsdon House, Hertfordshire, home of the Charrington brewing family. Robin's great grandfather was Spencer Charrington, a noted MP, and his grandmother had married RearAdmiral Montgomerie, losing the family name in the process. Robin's father restored the name in 1923 - rather impressively requiring His Majesty's assent, rather than just completing a deed poll down the town hall.

It was probably around the same time that he gained the nickname Robin, as his parent's had given him the exact same name as his father. It is not clear whether either were actively involved in the family business. Robin had already served and retired from the Army before the Second World War, and reading between the lines, it appears that after his father died in 1939, he was tasked with finding himself a wife (who would also play a small part in the 500 story).

Marsyl Stokes was born in Washington DC of East Coast socialite parents, educated in England, and earned her wifely credentials by being selected Newport (Rhode Island) deb of the year, 1939. Details are sketchy but intriguing - they married in 1940 (in Cairo), settled in America and had a son (Robert S). Robin returned to the UK in 1949, sparking a manhunt as he seems to have failed to inform his wife that he was bringing his son, but clearly by 1950 this little matter had been sorted and both were back at Hunsdon.

Robin took up Formula 3 in 1950, with a Cooper Mk IV-JAP, winning a heat at Brands Hatch in July, finishing third in the Junior Race at Brands Hatch in September. In October, he managed a third place in his heat for the Open Challenge race.

At that same meeting Marsyl would take part in the Ladies Race (it would take many years to correctly identify her name, as every single record of the meeting studiously referred to her as "Mrs. Montgomerie-Charrington")

In 1951, he travelled to Germany and achieved a fifth place at the Grand Prix meeting at the Nürburgring in July now in a Cooper Mk V and then a fourth at Grenzlandring in September

For 1952, he went into partnership with Bill Aston and purchased an Aston-Butterworth, he fared no better than Aston during the machines' short racing history, his only result of note being third place in the Grand Prix des Frontières at Chimay.

By the end of the 1952 season,  'Monty' had abandoned racing. He and Marsyl would eventually divorce. Marsyl would go on to be a successful breeder of racing horses, first in the UK, then back in Virginia (where she married Ogden Hammond). She died in 2002. Details of Robin's life after motor racing are very limited. He is believed to have emigrated to the USA after 1954, and he died in 2007.

Mrs Montgomerie-Charrington at the Brands Hatch Ladies race in 1950.

Monty in the Aston-Butterworth

If you know more, please get in touch