90 Memoir of George Montagu. 
for his works on those subjects, usually occupied a considerable 
portion of his time. Indeed, these removals rather facilitated his 
object, by enabling him to collect more extensively and in greater 
variety, from the several localities where he was from time to time 
stationed. 
Although the family estates were large, Colonel Montagu being 
a younger son, had only the limited allowance and prospects which 
usually belong to that position. But the cares and anxieties 
naturally attendant upon an increasing family were greatly alleviated 
by the kindness of his maternal uncle, Thomas Hedges, Esq., of 
Alderton House, (now destroyed,) who, dying in 1782, left him by 
will a perpetual rent-charge of £200 per annum out of the Alderton 
Estate. 
Colonel Montagu resided for some time at Easton Grey, near 
Malmesbury, where the last of his children was born. After the 
death of Mr. Hedges he removed with his family to Alderton 
House, where Mrs. Montagu’s mother, Lady Jane Courtenay, joined 
their domestic circle. The estate of Alderton, with that of Surrendell 
in the parish of Hullavington, and some lands in Grittleton and 
elsewhere, had been for several centuries in the possession of the 
family of Gore, and came to that of Hedges in 1714, by the marriage 
of William Hedges, Esq., with Miss Elizabeth Gore, the sole heiress 
of that family. 
After Colonel Montagu had resided for some time with his family 
at Alderton House, he was induced by the additional income which 
he derived from the death of his brother James (who died unmarried,) 
to resign his commission in the Wiltshire Militia, that he might 
be enabled to devote himself entirely to his favourite pursuits. He 
then took up his abode at Knowle, near Kingsbridge, in the county 
of Devon, which being at no great distance from the sea, gave him 
ample opportunities for following out his researches in the natural 
history of the marine Molluses. Here he continued to reside (with 
oceasional visits to the family seat at Lackham) up to the time of 
his death. i 
Seldom has there been known a more remarkable instance of the 
mutability of fortune than in the family of the Montagus at 
a ee —— 
