John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu

Wikipedia Biographical Profile

John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu, KG, KB, PC (1690 – 5 July 1749), styled Viscount Monthermer until 1705 and Marquess of Monthermer between 1705 and 1709, was a British peer. In 1745, he raised a cavalry regiment known as Montagu's Carabineers, which, however, was disbanded after the Battle of Culloden.

He was a son of Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu and his first wife Elizabeth Wriothesley. His maternal grandparents were Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton and his first wife Rachel de Massue.

On 17 March 1705, John was married to Lady Mary Churchill, daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.

He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1719, and was a fellow of the Royal Society and a Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. In 1739 the country's first home for abandoned children, the Foundling Hospital was created in London. Montagu was a supporter of this effort and was one of the charity's founding governors. He also financed the education of two notable Black British figures of the age, Ignatius Sancho and Francis Williams, sending the latter to Cambridge University.

He was a notorious practical joker, his mother-in-law writing of him that "All his talents lie in things only natural in boys of fifteen years old, and he is about two and fifty; to get people into his garden and wet them with squirts, and to invite people to his country houses and put things in beds to make them itch, and twenty such pretty fancies as these."[1]

He is said to have once dunked the political philosopher Montesquieu in a tub of cold water as a joke.[2]

Montagu and his wife Lady Margaret Churchill were parents to five children:

• John Montagu. Died young.
• George Montagu. Died young.
• Elizabeth Montagu(1710-1789)
• Margaret Montagu (c. 1711 - 1 May 1775). Married George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan.
• Anne Countess of Beaulieu (d. 20 December 1786). Married first William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester and secondly Edward Hussey-Montagu, 1st Earl of Beaulieu.

As none of his two sons survived Montagu himself, the title became extinct at his death in 1749. But his eldest living daughter Elizabeth was married to George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan (1712–1790), who on his father-in-law's death assumed the name and arms of Montagu, and in 1766 was created 1st Duke of Montagu (second creation).

On Cardigan's death in 1790, this second creation dukedom of Montagu also became extinct; his only son, who had been created Baron Montagu of Boughton, having predeceased him. His daughter Elizabeth married Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, 5th Duke of Queensberry who thus acquired all the unentailed property of the Dukes of Montagu, the entailed portion passing to the Earls of Cardigan.

The Lordship of Bowland, one of northern England's most powerful lordships had been inherited by the 2nd Duke from his stepmother, Elizabeth Monck, widow of the 2nd Duke of Albemarle. On his death in 1749, the Lordship of Bowland had passed to his son-in-law, the 4th Earl of Cardigan, later 1st Duke of Montagu (second creation), later 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton. It finally passed to the 3rd Duke of Buccleuch in 1802 having been held from 1790 by the 1st Earl of Beaulieu, a son-in-law of the 2nd Duke of Montagu.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• 1.^ quoted in Martin C. Battestin's "General Introduction" to Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews. Middleton, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1967: xxvin. Montagu is believed by some literary critics to be the model for Fielding's "roasting squire," the vicious squire who plays practical jokes.
• 2.^ Battestin, xxivn.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_2nd_Duke_of_Montagu

The Peerage Biographical Profile

John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu was born in 1690. He was the son of Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu.1 He married Lady Mary Churchill, daughter of Sir John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Sarah Jenyns, on 17 March 1705.1,3 He died on 5 July 1749.

John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu gained the title of 2nd Duke of Montagu.

Children of John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu and Lady Mary Churchill

Lady Isabella Montagu+ d. 20 Dec 1786.4

Lady Mary Montagu+ b. c 1711, d. 1 May 1775.5

Citations

[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VIII, page 494. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.

[S3409] Caroline Maubois, "re: Penancoet Family," e-mail message from unknown author e-mail (France) to Darryl Roger Lundy, 2 December 2008. Hereinafter cited as "re: Penancoet Family".

[S8] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 2, page 1867. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition.

[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume II, page 58.

[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume III, page 15.

From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p10560.htm#i105596

Other References

• Hogg, Bruce; Freemasons and the Royal Society ed 2; Library and Museum of Freemasonry; January 2012; page 80