The band was formed in 1946 shortly after the end of World War II by young Northern Irish war veterans in the townland of Drumalig, near Carryduff on the outskirts of Belfast. (The tartan worn by the band, created especially by R.G. Hardie & Co. Ltd. for the band and introduced in 2007, is named the Drumalig tartan) On settling on the name of the band the founding members wrote to Field Marshal Montgomery himself requesting permission to use his name. As well as answering in the affirmative Montgomery sent the band a donation of 10 shillings for band funds! The original piping instructor was William Wood and the first drumming instructor was Kit Reynolds. Present band President Billy Maxwell was the original Pipe Major while Donald McKay was the first Drum Sergeant

Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band is the most successful pipe band ever to come out of Northern Ireland. Having been promoted to Grade One in 1985 the band has since been crowned World Champions at the World Pipe Band Championships in the years 1992, 1993, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

The present Pipe Major Richard Parkes MBE (awarded in 2004), inherited the 'top job' in 1981 from P/M Rickey Newall (PM 1975 - 1981) and the current Leading Drummer, Keith Orr joined in 2002 replacing Andrew Scullion (1998 - 2002). Previous Drum Sergeants were Jim McMinn, Bill Russell, Jackson Shaw, Harry Russell, Richie Coffey(1975 - 1979) and Gordon Parkes(1979 - 1998).

The membership of the band is drawn from all over Ireland and the UK, as well as from mainland Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.