John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu

The 2nd Duke of Montagu, Godfrey Kneller, 1709

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."

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

Children

Montagu and his wife Lady Mary Churchill were parents to six children

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

Succession

As none of his three sons survived Montagu himself, the title became extinct at his death in 1749. But his eldest living daughter Mary 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. 

External links

• John Montague, 2nd Duke of Montagu presenting the Roll of Constitutions and the compasses to Philip, Duke of Wharton

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Burlington	Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners 1734 – 1740	Succeeded by The Duke of Bolton
Court offices
Preceded by The Duke of Montagu	Master of the Great Wardrobe 1709 – 1749	Succeeded by Sir Thomas Robinson
Military offices
Preceded by The Lord Ashburnham	Captain and Colonel of His Majesty's Own Troop of Horse Guards 1715 – 1721	Succeeded by Lord Herbert
Preceded by The Earl of Westmorland	Captain and Colonel of His Majesty's Own Troop of Horse Guards 1737	Succeeded by The Lord De La Warr
Preceded by The Duke of Argyll	Master-General of the Ordnance 1740 – 1742	Succeeded by The Duke of Argyll
	Master-General of the Ordnance 1742 – 1749	Vacant Title next held by The Duke of Marlborough
Masonic offices
Preceded by George Payne	Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England 1721 – 1723	Succeeded by The Duke of Wharton
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Earl of Peterborough	Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire 1715 – 1749	Succeeded by The Earl of Halifax
Preceded by The Earl of Northampton	Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire 1715 – 1749	Succeeded by The Earl Brooke
New title	Great Master of the Order of the Bath 1725 – 1749	Vacant Title next held by Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
Preceded by The Earl of Macclesfield	Custos Rotulorum of Warwickshire 1728 – 1749	Succeeded by The Earl Brooke
Preceded by The Earl of Westmorland	Custos Rotulorum of Northamptonshire 1735 – 1749	Succeeded by The Earl of Halifax
Preceded by The Duke of Bolton	Governor of the Isle of Wight 1733 – 1734	Succeeded by John Wallop, 1st Earl of Portsmouth
Peerage of England
Preceded by Ralph Montagu	Duke of Montagu 1st creation 1709 – 1749	Extinct
	Baron Montagu of Boughton 1st creation 1709 – 1749