Montagu, by his first wife, the Countess of Northumberland. In 1705, he
married Lady Mary Churchill, youngest daughter, and co-heiress of the
Duke of Marlborough, by Sarah Jennings, his wife, by whom he had several
sons, who all died in their childhood, as did one of his daughters;
but two survived him, Lady Isabella, married to the Duke of Manchester,
and Lady Mary, to the Earl of Cardigan. He was Lord High Constable of
England, at the coronation of George I., Knight of the Garter, and one
of the first Knights of the Bath, as well as Great Master of that new
Order, with several other honours. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, in
her unpublished volume of remarks and axioms, (which does her little
honour) is very hard upon her son-in-law. She declares he had no just
claim for place, or favour on the Government, on account of services,
by sea, or land; but this statement is emphatically contradicted,
in a marginal note, stating that Montagu had served under the great
Duke of Marlborough himself. He seems by all accounts, to have been
a kind hearted, and benevolent man, but undoubtedly whimsical, and
eccentric; witness an anecdote told of him in one of the periodicals
of the day. In his walks in St. James’s Park, he was attracted by the
daily sight of an old gentleman, of military aspect, but shabby, and
poverty stricken in his dress, who usually sat, and sunned himself,
on one of the benches in the avenue. The Duke sent his servant, one
day to the old soldier, and asked him, to come and visit him. Nothing
loth, but much bewildered, the stranger followed the lacquey, through
the corridors, and well furnished rooms, to the ducal presence. Here
he was asked, and had to tell, his sorrowful tale. He had served his
country, but had no pension; he had married a wife without a dowry, and
she and her children were half starving, down in Wales, while he had
come to London on the sad, and hopeless errand, of getting something,
to live upon. He had a wretched room, where he slept, and spent most
of his time, on a bench, in the Park. The Duke listened, and fed him,
gave him a trifling sum, and said he hoped to see him again, ere very
long. Accordingly, some time afterwards, the old man received a letter
from the Duke, begging him to come to dinner, telling him that he had a
most mysterious, and confidential communication, to make. The soldier,
to whom his whole acquaintance with Montagu appeared like a fairy tale,
brushed up his thread-bare suit, and presented himself to the Duke, who
in a most private, and mysterious manner, assured him, that there was a
certain lady, who admired him very much, and who had earnestly desired
an interview with him; indeed, the Duke went on to say, so entirely was
her heart set on the meeting, that he had consented to be the go-between.
More bewildered than ever, the soldier pleaded his wrinkled face, his
scanty grey hairs, and, above all, his allegiance to the poor wife,
far away among the Welsh mountains. The Duke was jocose, treated the
matter with levity, and gave his arm to lead the astonished guest to
the hospitable board, where the lady would be seated; and there indeed,
smiling amid her tears, sate his wife, and her children, and after a
sumptuous repast, the happy couple left the ducal roof, with their
pockets sufficiently well lined (with the addition of a small pension
also promised by their noble friend), to keep the wolf from their humble
door. Such whimsical fancies as these, would not have suited the stern
and economical Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.
John, Duke of Montagu, died at Montagu House, Whitehall, in the
sixty-eighth year of his age, when his title became extinct.
_John, Fourth Earl of Sandwich_:
BY ZOFFANY.
SMALL FULL-LENGTH.
(Seated near a Table, on which he rests his Left Arm. Crimson
and Gold Court Dress.)
_Miss Margaret Ray_:
BY GAINSBOROUGH.
HALF-LENGTH.
(Blue Dress.)
Born, 1742, Murdered, 1779.—Some say the daughter of a stay-maker in
Covent Garden, others that she was born at Elstree, in Herts, where
her father was a labourer. In early life, she was apprenticed to a
dressmaker in Clerkenwell, but her first meeting with John, fourth Earl
of Sandwich, was at a shop in Tavistock-street, where he was buying some
neck-cloths. Struck with her extreme beauty, his lordship took her under
his protection, established her at Hinchingbrook, and superintended her
education. Margaret repaid the pains that were bestowed on her, but
her especial talent was for music, and under the tuition of Mr. Bates,
(afterwards secretary to Lord Sandwich) and Signor Giardini, her sweet
and powerful voice, was fully developed, and she sang to perfection,
in the Oratorio of “Jephthah,” in Italian bravuras, and in the catches
and glees, which so often formed part of the varied entertainments, at
Hinchingbrook. Every Christmas, indeed, Lord Sandwich caused an oratorio
to be performed, at his country house, where Miss Ray was the principal
attraction, although she had several rivals in musical talent, both
professional, and amateur. On one occasion Mr. Cradock, an intimate
friend of Lord Sandwich’s, tells us that he accompanied his lordship, Mr.
Bates, Miss Ray and another lady, to Vauxhall, where some musical friends
met them, and they sang catches, and glees, in the box, to the delight
of the audience, who greatly admired the beauty and vocal powers, of the
fair (to them) unknown performer.
Miss Ray was remarkable, while under Lord Sandwich’s roof, for her
discreet and circumspect conduct, in a most equivocal position; and his
lordship appears to have been very strict, lest anyone, as he expressed
himself, “should exceed the boundary line,” that he had drawn. For
example, at the oratorios where she shone so conspicuously, the society
were not expected to notice her, and she herself was sadly embarrassed
one evening, when Lady Blake advanced between the scenes to converse
with her, the singer well knowing such a step would arouse the noble
host’s displeasure; a well grounded suspicion as he went so far as to say
“such a trespass might occasion the overthrow of our music meetings.”
The Bishop of Lincoln’s wife pays this tribute to Margaret: “She was so
assiduous to please, so excellent and unassuming, I felt it cruel to sit
directly opposite to her, and yet find it impossible to notice her.”
At these oratorios, the Duke of Manchester’s band generally attended,
and Lord Sandwich took the direction of the kettledrums, as, indeed, he
sometimes did at public music meetings, at Leicester (and elsewhere),
where Mr. Cradock says: “The Earl and the Otaheitan, Omai, (whom he had
brought with him) divided public attention.”
Mr. Cradock was with Lord Sandwich, when he first became acquainted
with Hackman. My Lord had taken Mr. Cradock to Cambridge, to vote for a
candidate for a professorship in whom he was interested, and brought his
friend back with him, in his chaise to Hinchingbrook. Under the gateway
they met a neighbour, Major Reynolds, with a brother officer, who was
presented as Captain Hackman. Lord Sandwich, with his usual hospitality,
invited the two officers to a family dinner, and in the evening, he and
Miss Ray encountered Major Reynolds, and Mr. Cradock at whist, Captain
Hackman preferring to overlook the game. There can be little doubt that
Miss Ray inspired the young soldier with love, at first sight. Hackman at
that time was on a recruiting party at Huntingdon; he became a constant
visitor at Hinchingbrook, and it seems that whenever Miss Ray drove out,
he constantly waylaid her, bowing low as she passed. There was evidently
a great difference of opinion as to Miss Ray’s feelings, with regard to
her new admirer. One account of the transaction affirms that she was
not insensible to his devotion, and that the black servant, believing
she was false, imparted his suspicions to Lord Sandwich. The same
authority states that his Lordship taxed his beautiful companion with her
inconstancy, and either through his influence, or that of Major Reynolds,
Hackman obtained a recommendation to Sir John Swaine, Adjutant-general
in Ireland, where he remained nearly two years. But he never forgot
the beautiful Margaret, and leaving the army, he entered the Church,
obtained a living in Norfolk, and wrote her a passionate love letter, in
which he proposed marriage, and went so far as to promise tenderness,
and protection for her children by Lord Sandwich. This offer was refused
with decision, whether from fidelity to her protector, anxiety for her
children’s welfare, or indifference to her adorer, we cannot say. Her
situation was certainly not one of calm enjoyment. One evening at the
Admiralty she complained to Mr. Cradock, that she did not believe either
Lord Sandwich, or herself was safe to go out, from the fury of the mob,
and that coarse ballads, and libels were sung under the windows, which
looked upon the Park. Bursting into tears, she besought Mr. Cradock to
intercede with Lord Sandwich, to make some settlement on her, not from
mercenary motives, but because she wished to relieve my Lord from greater
expense, and to go on the stage. Her voice was at its best, Italian music
her forte, and she was sure that through her friend Signor Giardini,
and Mr. Cradock’s friends Mrs. Brooke and Mrs. Yates, she could secure
an advantageous engagement. As might have been supposed, Mr. Cradock
declined to interfere, and the matter dropped.
In the meantime, Hackman, on the receipt of Miss Ray’s letter, which
put a stop to his long cherished hopes, stung to the quick, and in such
distress of mind, as brought him to the verge of madness, rushed up to
London. He strove to effect an interview with the singing master, Signor
Galli, but this was prevented by the vigilance of Lord Sandwich, who
entrusted the Italian with the task of informing Mr. Hackman that Miss
Ray would have no more communication with him. He took a lodging in
Duke’s Court, St. Martin’s Lane, and on the 7th of April, 1779, he passed
the morning in reading Blair’s Sermons, and dined with his sister, and
her husband, a newly married couple. He then went out, proceeded to the
Admiralty, and seeing Lord Sandwich’s coach at the door, he imagined
it likely that Miss Ray might be going in it, to call on her friend
Signora Galli, at her lodgings in the Haymarket. Thence he walked to
the Cannon Coffee-house, Charing Cross, and watching the carriage pass,
he followed it in time to see Miss Ray, and Signora Galli enter Covent
Garden Theatre. On going in, he was distracted with jealousy at seeing
her addressed by “a gentleman of genteel and handsome appearance,” whom
he afterwards found to be Lord Coleraine. The performance was “Love
in a Village.” He went out, furnished himself with a brace of loaded
pistols, and returned to Covent Garden. When the play was over, he kept
Miss Ray with her two companions in view, through the lobby, where there
was a great crowd, until she was under the piazza, and her coach was
called, in the name of Lady Sandwich. He was pushed down by a chairman,
running suddenly against him, but recovered himself in time to pursue his
victim to her coach, in which Signora Galli had already taken her place.
Stepping between Miss Ray, who had accepted the arm of Mr. McNamara (of
Lincoln’s Inn Fields), and the coach, he discharged his right hand pistol
at her, and his left at himself. The beautiful and unfortunate woman,
raised her hand to her head, and dropped down dead at his feet. Hackman
fell at the same moment, but finding that he was still alive, he beat
himself about the head, with the pistol, crying to the bystanders to kill
him. The murderer, and the victim, were both carried to the Shakespeare
Tavern; the corpse lay in one room, while the wounded man was attended
to, in another. He enquired for her, and declared he only meant to kill
himself, and had failed in his object. He was taken before Sir John
Fielding, who committed him to Tothill Fields Bridewell, and afterwards
to Newgate, where he was constantly watched to prevent his making away,
with himself. He was attended on his trial by a friend, and on first
entering the court, was much agitated, sighing, and weeping while the
evidence was being given, yet at the same time showing a courageous, and
even noble deportment as concerned his own fate. He made a most pathetic
speech, in which he confessed his guilt, but attributed it to sudden
phrensy, as regarded murder. The suicide, he said, was premeditated. He
had no wish to avoid punishment; he was too unhappy to care for life,
now she was gone, and he submitted himself to the judgment of Almighty
God. A letter found in his pocket, to his brother-in-law, taking leave of
him, and speaking in the most affectionate terms of his “beloved woman,”
seemed to bear out his testimony. His hearers were much affected, but on
his return to the cell he became composed, and said he was rejoiced to
think, his time on earth was so short. After his sentence was passed, he
received the following letter in prison:
“If the murderer of Miss —— wishes to live, the man he has most
injured, will use all his interest to procure his life.”
The prisoner’s reply was as follows:
“Condemned Cell, Newgate.
“The murderer of her, whom he preferred, far preferred to life,
suspects the hand from which he has just received, such an
offer as he neither desires, nor deserves. His wishes are for
death, not life. One wish he has: Could he be pardoned in this
world, by the man he has most injured? Oh, my Lord, when I meet
her in another world, enable me to tell her—if departed spirits
are not ignorant of earthly things—that you forgive us both,
and that you will be a father to her dear children.”
He suffered death calmly, and thus ended the career of a man, who seemed
formed for better things.
Mr. Cradock, who was sincerely attached both to Lord Sandwich, and the
unfortunate cause of so much sorrow, tells us that on the day following
the murder, he went to the Admiralty, and saw old James, the black
servant, whom he found overwhelmed with grief. It was he who began to
break the terrible news to his master, when Lord Sandwich interrupted
him, by bidding him “allude no more to the ballads and libels, of which
he had heard enough.” “Alas,” said the faithful old man, “it is something
more terrible than that.” Others then came in from the theatre and
related the dreadful intelligence. Lord Sandwich, stood for awhile
transfixed with horror, then raising his hand exclaimed, “I could have
borne anything but this,” and rushed upstairs, desiring that no one
should follow him. He shunned society, for a long time after the dreadful
catastrophe, and his friend Cradock tells us, that he went to see him,
and found him terribly depressed one day, sitting under the portrait of
Miss Ray, “a speaking likeness;” doubtless the one in question.
By Miss Ray, Lord Sandwich had four children, viz., Admiral Montagu,
Basil Montagu, Q.C., John Montagu, and Augusta, married to the Comte de
Viry, of Savoy, an Admiral in the Sardinian Navy.
This beautiful portrait by Gainsborough, belonged to Admiral Montagu, and
was purchased by John, seventh Earl of Sandwich, in 1857, of a picture
dealer, at the instigation of Mr. Green, of Evans’s Rooms, who told him
he much wished to possess it himself, having a collection of portraits of
celebrities, but the price was beyond his mark.
_Lady Louisa Corry, Afterwards Countess of Sandwich_:
BY HAMILTON.
SMALL HALF-LENGTH.
_John William, Seventh Earl of Sandwich_:
BY THE HON. HENRY GRAVES.
HALF-LENGTH.
(Peer’s Coronation Robes, over Lord Lieutenant’s Uniform.)
_Mary, Countess of Sandwich_:
BY THE HON. HENRY GRAVES.
OVAL.
(Leaning on her Hand.)
Born, 1812. Died, 1859.—She was the youngest daughter of the first
Marquis of Anglesey, by his second wife, Lady Emily Cadogan, (whose
first husband was Lord Cowley.) Lady Mary Paget was married in 1838, to
John William, seventh Earl of Sandwich, and died, universally regretted,
on the 20th of February, 1859, in Curzon Street, Mayfair.
_Edward George Henry, Viscount Hinchingbrook, and his Brother, The Hon.
Victor Alexander Montagu_:
BY HURLSTONE.
(Children of the Seventh Earl of Sandwich.)
Lord Hinchingbrook was born in London on July 13, 1839. Educated at
Eton. Joined the Second Battalion Grenadier Guards, December 18, 1857.
Lieutenant and Captain, May, 1862. Adjutant, 1864. Captain and
Lieut-Colonel, July, 1870. Has been employed as Commandant of a
School of Instruction of the Reserve Forces, and Military Secretary at
Gibraltar. Was attached to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe’s special Embassy
to Constantinople, 1858. Accompanied H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to
North America, 1860. Attached to Lord Breadalbane’s Mission, (to confer
the Order of the Garter on the King of Prussia) 1861, and in the same
year to Lord Clarendon’s Embassy, when the King of Prussia was crowned
at Königsberg. On the occasion of the marriage of H.R.H. the Duke of
Edinburgh, when Lord Sydney represented the Queen of England at the
Court of St. Petersburg, Lord Hinchingbrook accompanied his uncle to the
Russian capital; and in 1875 he went with Sir John Drummond Hay, K.C.B.
to the Court of the Sultan of Morocco. Was elected M.P. for Huntingdon,
February, 1876.
The Hon. Victor Montagu was born in 1841. Entered the Royal Navy in 1853,
as naval cadet on board H.M.S. “Princess Royal,” Captain Lord Clarence
Paget (his uncle). On the declaration of war with Russia, in 1854, he
proceeded to the Baltic, with the Fleet under Sir Charles Napier. Early
in 1855 he went to the Black Sea, and remained on that station till the
fall of Sebastopol. In 1856 he sailed to China, under Admiral Keppel in
the “Raleigh,” 50 guns, (which vessel was lost off Macao, in April,
1857,) and in the Chinese War, he served in a gun-boat at the operations
up the Canton River. On the news of the Mutiny in India, in 1857, Victor
Montagu was ordered to join the “Pearl” at Hong-kong, and left in company
with the “Shannon” for Calcutta, where he landed with the Naval Brigade,
and joined the field force under Brigadier Rowcroft, and Sir Hope Grant,
with which he was employed until February, 1859.
In the Oude and Goruckpore districts, he was in seventeen out of
twenty-six engagements; and in 1859 he returned to England, having
seen four campaigns before he was eighteen years of age. He afterwards
served as lieutenant in the Channel, and Mediterranean Fleets, and in
1864, was appointed to H.M.S. “Racoon,” in which vessel H.R.H. Prince
Alfred was also serving as lieutenant. In 1866, he was Flag-Lieutenant
to Lord Clarence Paget, Commander in Chief in the Mediterranean; and in
the autumn of the same year commanded the “Tyrian” gun-boat on the same
station. In 1867, he was promoted, returned to England, and has since
commanded the “Rapid” steam sloop in the Mediterranean.
In 1867, Victor Montagu married Lady Agneta Harriet Yorke, youngest
daughter of the fourth Earl of Hardwicke, by the daughter of the first
Lord Ravensworth, by whom he has two daughters, Mary Sophie, and Olga
Blanche, and one son, George Charles.
_The Honourable Oliver George Powlett Montagu_:
BY THE HON. HENRY GRAVES.
Born, 1844. Youngest son of the seventh Earl of Sandwich. Educated at
Eton. Appointed lieutenant in the Huntingdon Rifle Regiment of Militia,
in 1862; cornet in the Ninth Lancers, in 1863; exchanged into the Royal
Horse Guards, in 1865.
_Portrait of a Lady, supposed to be Lady Rochester_:
BY SIR PETER LELY.
HALF-LENGTH.
(Blue Dress with Pearls.)
_CORRIDOR—DOWNSTAIRS._
_Edward, Viscount Hinchingbrook_:
BY KNELLER.
THREE-QUARTER LENGTH: OVAL.
(Red Jacket with Frogs. Blue Cap.)
Born, 1692. Died, 1722.—The eldest son of Edward, third Earl of Sandwich,
by the daughter of the Earl of Rochester. Member for the Town, and
subsequently for the County of Huntingdon; also Lord Lieutenant, and
Custos Rotulorum; was in the army. Noble says his unfortunate father
“became so much a cypher, that all the duties of his station devolved
on Lord Hinchingbrook, who was an amiable, active and spirited young
man.” He married Elizabeth, only daughter of Alexander Popham, Esq., of
Littlecote, Wilts, by Lady Anne Montagu, (afterwards Harvey) daughter of
Ralph, Duke of Montagu. His portrait and that of his wife, are alluded to
by Noble.
Lord Hinchingbrook, in his early youth, appears to have been a great
swain, if we can trust the bantering style of the _Tatler_, in the pages
of which, he figures constantly under the _soubriquet_ of Cynthio. In a
paper dated White’s Chocolate House, North Side of Russell Street, Covent
Garden, he comes in, and gives an elaborate lecture on the art of ogling.
He says: “Twenty men can speak eloquently, and fight manfully, and a
thousand can dress genteelly at a mistress, who cannot gaze skilfully.”
He gives the benefit of his experience, on the subject at some length;
speaks of the late fallings off in the passion of love, boasting that he
himself is the only man who is true to the cause. One day, while cleaning
his teeth at the window of a tavern, he caught sight of a beautiful face,
looking from the window of a coach, and he followed the fair object up,
and down the town—a long time, indeed, without success; but this incident
is proof of his zeal. There is a ludicrous account of his (imaginary)
death from a broken heart; his companions had hoped, that good October
and fox hunting would have averted this catastrophe. They propose to
erect a monument to his memory, with a very long inscription. The paper
is signed by the witty, and mirth-loving Dick Steele. Collins says Lord
Hinchingbrook died much regretted: “He had a martial spirit, tempered
with fine breeding, which made his company much coveted, and gained him
great ascendancy in the House of Commons.” He was a strenuous upholder of
the Protestant Succession, and of the rights and liberty of the subject.
By his wife he had two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and a son who
succeeded his grandfather in the Earldom of Sandwich.
_Lady Anne Montagu_:
BY KNELLER.
THREE-QUARTER LENGTH.
(Blue Satin Gown. Rows of Pearls round the Waist. A Scarf over
the Shoulder, a long White Glove in Left Hand.)
Born, 1674. Died, 1742.—The only surviving daughter of Ralph, first
Duke of Montagu, by his first wife, the Countess of Northumberland.
Lady Anne’s delicate health in her childhood, seems to have given
great uneasiness, to her mother. Lady Rachel Russell often mentions the
little fair, pale girl. She married; first, Alexander Popham, Esq.,
of Littlecote, in Wiltshire, (by whom she had Elizabeth, Viscountess
Hinchingbrook); and secondly, Daniel Harvey, of Combe, in Surrey. The
parents were friends, and cousins, and Lady Northumberland often visited
at Combe. By her second marriage, she had no children.
St. Evremond constantly corresponded with Lady Anne, who was a friend of
the Duchesse de Mazarin, and an _habituée_ of her salon at Chelsea. He
writes a poetical epistle complaining of the cold of this miserable bit
of a room, where all the doors were left open, and where the beautiful
hostess occasionally cheated at cards. All this, however, is couched
in most flattering language, extolling the charms, moral (query) and
physical, of the lovely gambler. “Prenez garde à Madame,” he goes on to
say, after describing his losses at Ombre, for she will cheat you “avec
la plus belle main du monde.”
La Fontaine dedicated one of his Fables, to Lady Anne Harvey, who had a
great admiration for his talent. St. Evremond says: “L’estime que M.
de la Fontaine s’est acquis en Angleterre étoit si grand, que Madame
Harvey, et quelques autres personnes d’un très grand mérite, ayant su,
qu’il ne vivoit pas commodément à Paris, résolurent de l’attirer auprès
d’elles, oû rien ne lui auroit manqué.” La Fontaine was grateful to his
English friends, but declined, on the plea of being too old, to seek a
strange country. Lady Anne, or Madame Harvey, as the Abbé calls her, is
constantly mentioned in the letters of St. Evremond.
_Elizabeth, Third Countess of Sandwich_:
BY KNELLER.
THREE-QUARTER LENGTH.
(Seated. Resting on her Left Arm. Right Hand holding Flowers.
Loose Coloured Déshabille.)
_General Daniel Harvey_:
BY KNELLER.
THREE-QUARTER LENGTH.
(In Armour, with a Blue Scarf. Right Hand resting on Hip; Left
on the Hilt of Sword.)
Born, ——. Died, 1732.—The youngest son of Sir Edward Harvey, of Combe,
near Kingston-on-Thames, by Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Francis,
first Earl of Bradford. In 1712, he was appointed Lieutenant-governor
of Guernsey, which office he held till 1726. He married his cousin,
Lady Anne, daughter of Ralph, Duke of Montagu, by the Countess of
Northumberland, relict of Alexander Popham, of Littlecote, Wilts, by
whom he had no issue. General Harvey died at Mitcham, in Surrey, and was
buried within the rails of the altar, in that church.
_Captain the Hon. William Montagu_:
BY T. HIGHMORE.
THREE-QUARTER LENGTH.
(In a Brown and Red Uniform laced with Gold. Pointing to a Ship
with his Right Hand; holding a Telescope in his Left.)