SIR GEORGE MONTAGU,
Admiral of the Red; and a Knight Grand Cross of the most honorable Military Order of the Bath.
This officer, descended from Drago de Montacute, who came over to England with William the Conqueror, in 1066, and was the common ancestor of the Dukes of Montagu and Manchester, and the Earls of Sandwich and Halifax[1], is the second son of the late Admiral John Montagu, who served his country with zeal and fidelity for 63 years; commanded the squadron employed on the coast of North America previous to the colonial war; was afterwards appointed Governor of Newfoundland; and held the chief command at Portsmouth subsequent to the peace of 1783; by Charlotte, daughter and co-heir of George Wroughton, of Wilcot, co. Wilts, Esq.
Mr. George Montagu was born Dec. 12, 1750; went to the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth, in 1763; and from thence was discharged into the Preston, of 50 guns, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral William Parry, and commanded by
- ↑ Edward Montagu, the first Earl of Sandwich, and a K.G., held the chief command of the English navy, and had the address as well as the honor, of bringing the whole fleet to submit to King Charles II., who, in consideration of that important service, was pleased to create him Baron Montagu, Viscount Hinchinbrooke, and Earl of Sandwich; he was Lord High Admiral of England, and was killed in the great battle with the Dutch fleet off Southwold Bay, May 28, 1672. Sir George Montagu’s immediate ancestor was the Hon. James Montagu, of Lackam, in Wiltshire, third son of Henry, first Earl of Manchester.
bravery of the officers and men who had achieved this glorious and decisive victory; Sir George Rodney was created a Peer of Great Britain; Sir Samuel Hood, a Peer of Ireland; and Rear-Admiral Drake, and Commodore Affleck, were made Baronets of Great Britain; the thanks of both Houses of Parliament were unanimously voted to these, and the other officers, and the seamen and marines of the fleet; and on the 23d May, a vote of parliament was passed, by which a monument was ordered to be erected to the memory of Captains Bayne, Blair, and Lord Robert Manners, who had so bravely fallen in the defence of their King and Country. – (Campbell’s Lives, edit. 1813.)
