Edward Montagu (1692–1776)

Memorial to Edward and Elizabeth Montagu, and their infant son John, in the North Aisle of Winchester Cathedral.

Edward Montagu (1692–1776) was a wealthy English landowner, who owned numerous coal mines and had several rents and estates in Northumberland. He was the son of Hon. Charles Montagu and Sarah Rogers and the grandson of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich. He married Elizabeth Robinson^[1] (despite her seeing marriage as a rational and expedient convention rather than something done out of love) in 1742. At that date, she was twenty-two and he was fifty years old. The marriage was advantageous, but it was apparently not very passionate. All the same, she bore a son, John, the next year, and she loved her child immensely. When John died unexpectedly in 1744, Elizabeth was devastated and, though the couple remained friendly throughout their remaining time together, there were no more children or pregnancies. In 1745 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.^[2]

Beginning in 1750, he and Elizabeth established a routine where they would winter in London in Mayfair and then, in the spring, go to Sandleford Priory in Berkshire. He would then go on to Northumberland and Yorkshire to manage his holdings, while she would occasionally accompany him. In the late 1760s, he fell ill, and his wife took care of him, although she resented giving up her freedom. He died on 20 May 1776, in his eighty-fourth year,^[3] bequeathing her all his wealth and property.

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