MONTAGU, Hon. Richard (c.1670-97), of St. Anne’s, Westminster

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1690 - 19 Apr. 1697

Family and Education

b. c.1670, 2nd s. of Edward Montagu†, 2nd Earl of Sandwich, by Lady Anne, da. of Richard Boyle†, 2nd Earl of Cork [I] and 1st Earl of Burlington, sis. of Charles Boyle†, Lord Clifford.  educ. Eton 1682–5; Trinity Coll. Camb. adm. 19 Jan. 1686, aged 15.  unm.1

Offices Held

Biography

Montagu was returned for Huntingdon on his family’s interest in 1690. In the new Parliament he was classed as a Whig by the Marquess of Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†), and in 1691 as a Country supporter by Robert Harley*. He was an early investor in the Bank of England, possessing between £500 and £2,000 worth of stock in July 1694. Re-elected in 1695, he was forecast on 31 Jan. 1696 as likely to oppose the government in the divisions on the proposed council of trade, signed the Association and voted against fixing the price of guineas at 22s. On 14 Jan. 1696 he was ordered to draft a bill for a new commission of public accounts, which he presented on the 17th. On 14 Mar. he reported from a committee on a petition of carriers and waggoners relating to ‘northern’ roads, which led to his appointment to a committee to draft a bill to explain the Acts relating to highways. He duly presented the bill on the 21st. Montagu died at Kensington on 19 Apr. 1697, aged 26. Eight days later his body was carried through the City ‘in great state’ on the way to its interment in Northamptonshire. In his will, made shortly before his death, he left fee farm rents worth £540 p.a. to his brother the 3rd Earl of Sandwich, and appointed his uncle Hon. Sidney Wortley Montagu* as his executor.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

  • 1. Collins, Peerage, iii. 468.
  • 2. DZA, Bonet despatch 6/16 July 1694; Luttrell, Brief Relation, iv. 217; PCC 86 Pyne.