Jump to content

Sidney Montagu (MP, died 1644)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir
Sidney Montagu
JP, KG, PC, FRS
Montagu family home, Hinchingbrooke House
Member of Parliament
for Huntingdonshire
In office
November 1640 – December 1642 (suspended)
Member of Parliament
for Wells
In office
April 1614 – June 1614
Member of Parliament
for Malmesbury
In office
October 1601 – December 1601
Member of Parliament
for Brackley
In office
February 1593 – April 1593
Personal details
Bornc. 1572
Boughton, Northamptonshire
Died25 September 1644(1644-09-25) (aged 72)
Hinchingbrooke House
NationalityEnglish
Spouse(s)(1) Paulina Pepys (1619-1638)
(2) Anne Isham (1642-his death)
Children(1) Edward (1625-1672)
Elizabeth
Parent(s)Sir Edward Montagu
Elizabeth Harington
ResidenceHinchingbrooke House
Alma materChrist's College, Cambridge
OccupationLandowner and lawyer

Sir Sidney Montagu (died 25 February 1644) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1593 and 1642. He supported the Royalist cause in the First English Civil War.

Montagu was one of the younger of the eight sons of the judge Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton and Elizabeth Harington. He was the grandson of another judge Sir Edward Montagu and his third wife Helen or Eleanor Roper. He matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge in December 1588 and was admitted at Middle Temple on 11 May 1593.[1]

In 1593, Montagu was elected Member of Parliament for Brackley. He was elected MP for Malmesbury in 1601 and for Wells in 1614.[2] He became Master of Requests to King Charles I[1] and was knighted on 28 July 1616.[3]

In November 1640, Montagu was elected MP for Huntingdonshire in the Long Parliament.[2] Since he was reputed to be a man of great wealth, the Commons at the outset of the Civil War were infuriated by his refusal of their request to contribute £2000 to their cause. He was expelled from the Commons and committed to the Tower of London in 1642 as a known Royalist. He was released two weeks later after promising to contribute £1000 to the Parliamentary cause, although it seems that he only paid £200. He spent his remaining years in retirement.

Family

[edit]

Montagu lived at Hinchingbrooke House, Huntingdonshire, England. He married firstly in 1619 Paulina Pepys, daughter of John Pepys, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, England and sister of Richard Pepys and Thomas Pepys, grandfather of Samuel Pepys. It is often suggested that it was a love match, as Paulina had no fortune and was not her husband's social equal. Their only surviving son Edward was created Earl of Sandwich in 1660. They also had a daughter Elizabeth who married Sir Gilbert Pickering, 1st Baronet and had twelve children, including Elizabeth Creed.

Paulina died in 1638. In 1642 Sidney remarried Anne Isham, daughter of Gregory Isham of Northamptonshire, and widow of John Pay of Westminster. The marriage was very happy: in his will he praised her as a "religious, virtuous woman, as loving and contenting to me as my heart can desire", and left her generously provided for. She died in 1676.

His brothers included Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton, Sir Walter Montagu, Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester, Sir Charles Montagu and James Montagu, Bishop of Winchester.

Samuel Pepys, as he admitted, owed his start in life to the "chance without merit" which made his great-aunt Paulina the mother of the first Earl of Sandwich.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Montagu, Sidney (MNTG588S)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ a b Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
  3. ^ Knights of England
Parliament of England
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Brackley
1593
With: Richard Bowle
Succeeded by
Richard Spencer
Randall Crew
Preceded by
Sir Henry Knevett
Thomas Estcourt
Member of Parliament for Malmesbury
1601
With: Sir William Mounson
Succeeded by
Sir Roger Dalyson
Sir Thomas Dalyson
Preceded by
James Kirton
Member of Parliament for Wells
1614
With: Thomas Southworth
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire
1640–1642
With: Valentine Walton
Succeeded by