Family and Education

b. c.1713, 1st s. of Brig.-Gen. Edward Montagu. educ. Eton 1725-8; I. Temple 1729; Trinity, Camb. 1731; Grand Tour with George Selwyn 1739-44. unm.

Offices Held

Usher of the black rod [I] 1761-3; dep. ranger of Rockingham forest 1766-d.; private sec. to Lord North as chancellor of the Exchequer 1767-d.

Biography

George Montagu, Horace Walpole’s friend and correspondent, was returned for Northampton on the interest of his first cousin, the 2nd Earl of Halifax, then in opposition. He followed Halifax over to the Government at the end of 1744, voting for the Hanoverians in 1746, when he was classed by Newcastle as ‘New Ally’. Re-elected unopposed in 1747, he was classed as a government supporter, but gave up his seat in 1754. Thereafter, except for an interlude in Ireland during the vice-royalty of Lord Halifax, and a few excursions to town,

he remained ‘buried in squireland’ at the three houses he successively occupied, Roel, Greatworth, and Adderley, drinking port, nursing the gout and dozing over his fire in the company of his brother John, who, according to Sir Walter Scott, was still a midshipman at the age of 60.1

His attachment to Lord North, who as chancellor of the Exchequer made him his private secretary, an absolute sinecure, worth about £400 a year, eventually led to his estrangement from Horace Walpole. He died 9 May 1780.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

• 1. H. Walpole Corresp. (Yale ed.), ix. p. xxiv.