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MONTAGU, Francis Wortley (c.1676-1702), of Wortley, Yorks.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. c.1676, 1st s. of Hon. Sidney Wortley Montagu*; and bro. of Edward Wortley Montagu*. educ. Westminster (Dr Busby); Trinity Coll. Camb. adm. 2 Aug. 1693, aged 17; Padua 1697. unm.
Offices Held
Recorder, Huntingdon by 1701–d.1
Biography
Wortley Montagu was returned for Huntingdon at a by-election in 1697 upon the interest of his father, who administered the Earl of Sandwich’s estates, and was again successful in 1698, being classed as a Court supporter in a comparison of the old and new Commons. An inactive Member, in early 1700 he was classed as a follower of his kinsman Charles Montagu*, and in the first election of 1701 retained his seat despite the candidacy of Hon. Charles Boyle II* on the interest of the Tory Lady Sandwich. The animosity generated by this contest extended beyond the poll, for in March he fought and badly wounded Boyle in a duel in Hyde Park, though in his memoirs Boyle claimed that he had emerged victorious. Returned unopposed in December 1701, Wortly Montagu was classed as a Whig in an analysis of the new House by Robert Harley*. However, in 1702 he was defeated at Huntingdon by Boyle and Anthony Hammond, both of whom had stood on the interest of Lady Sandwich. In September 1702 he died of smallpox.2