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Henry Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Beaulieu

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The Lord Montagu of Beaulieu
Scott as caricatured by Théobald Chartran in Vanity Fair, September 1881
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
29 December 1885 – 4 November 1905
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byPeerage created
Succeeded byThe 2nd Lord Montagu of Beaulieu
Member of Parliament
for South Hampshire
In office
7 December 1868 – 23 June 1884
Preceded byHenry Hamlyn-Fane
Succeeded bySir Frederick Fitzwygram Bt.
Member of Parliament
for Selkirkshire
In office
1 August 1861 – 7 December 1868
Preceded byAllan Eliott-Lockhart
Succeeded byconstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Henry John Montagu Douglas Scott

(1832-11-05)5 November 1832
Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland
Died4 November 1905(1905-11-04) (aged 72)
Beaulieu, Hampshire
Political partyConservative
SpouseCecily Susan Montagu-Stuart-Wortley
Children3, including the 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu
Parents

Henry John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Beaulieu JP, DL (5 November 1832 – 4 November 1905), styled Lord Henry Scott until 1885, was a British Conservative Party politician and aristocrat.[1]

Background and education

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Montagu was born at Dalkeith Palace in Midlothian,[2] the second son of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch and Lady Charlotte Anne Thynne, daughter of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath.

He suffered from severe asthma.[a] He was educated at Eton but was forced to leave after a few years, as it was recommended by physicians he spend the cold British winters in a warmer climate. Accordingly, at 15, he and his tutor, the Rev Henry Stobart, travelled overseas each winter. These trips became longer and took them further afield. Madeira, Egypt, the West Indies, Turkey, Greece, South Africa, and the Pacific Islands were visited over the next 14 years.

In March 1853, he and his friend,Lord Schomberg Kerr and their tutor arrived at Sydney. Young British aristocrats were rare visitors to New South Wales, and Sydney matrons with unmarried daughters ensured they did not lack invitations to dinners, balls and other social events. Lord Henry made many sketches and paintings in the colony, some of which are now held by the Mitchell Library and John Oxley Library in Australia.[3]

He was especially interested in Egypt and before he was 40 had been up and down the Nile seven times. When he got married in 1865, his father gifted him Beaulieu Palace House.[1]

Political career

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Montagu sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Selkirkshire from 1861 to 1868[4] and for South Hampshire from 1868 to 1884.[5] He was a strong advocate of commoners' rights and helped pass the New Forest Act, 1877 on behalf of the New Forest commoners.[1] He was official Verderer of the New Forest from 1890 to 1892, and Honorary Colonel of the 4th Hampshire Rifle Volunteers from 1885. In 1885, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, in the County of Southampton.

Personal life

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Lord Montagu of Beaulieu married Hon. Cecily Susan Stuart-Wortley, daughter of John Stuart-Wortley, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe, in 1865. In 1899, Lady Montagu gave £1 to the Women's Suffrage Auxiliary Fund of the Englishwoman's Review.[6] They had two sons and one daughter, the Honourable Rachel Cecily Montagu-Scott, wife of Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster.

He died in 1905 at Beaulieu Palace House in Beaulieu, Hampshire, one day prior to his 73rd birthday. The cause of death was heart failure blamed on his lifelong poor health.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ He was likely born premature or in frail health, as his birth was not announced for 10 days, which is atypical practice for the era.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Lord Montagu". The Times. 4 November 1905.
  2. ^ "Births". Perthshire Courier. 15 November 1832. p. 2. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  3. ^ Suzanna de Vries Evans (1983), Historic Sydney as seen by early artists, Sydney, Angus & Robertson, pp. 140–1. ISBN 0207156204
  4. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 2)
  5. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)
  6. ^ Boucherett, Jessie (16 January 1899). "The Women's Suffrage Auxiliary Fund". The Englishwoman's Review. 30: 29–30 – via HathiTrust.
[edit]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Selkirkshire
1861 – 1868
Constituency abolished
Preceded by Member of Parliament for South Hampshire
1868 – 1884
With: Hon. William Cowper to 1880
Francis Compton from 1880
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Montagu of Beaulieu
1885 – 1905
Succeeded by