sporting and Rural Records of the Cheveley Estate. 77 



John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, succeeded his grand- Cheveley. 

 father, the 3rd Earl, in 1722. He was educated at Eton, and ~, £, 1 c 

 entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in April, 1735. He was a Sandwich, 

 diplomatist and statesman, and assisted at the Congress of 

 Aix-la-Chapelle in 1 748. For some time prior to playing so 

 prominent a part in this great cricket match. Lord Sandwich was 

 officially connected with the Admiralty, and took great interest in 

 the business of that department, of which, in the absence of the 

 Duke of Bedford, he was the nominal head, and subsequently 

 became first lord. During his administration he detected gross 

 abuses in the dockyards, and introduced beneficial reforms 

 throughout the naval establishments. Owing, nevertheless, to the 

 jealousy which prevailed at the time between the Duke of Bedford 

 and the Duke of Newcastle, the latter succeeded in dismissing 

 Lord Sandwich from the Admiralty on the 12th June, 1751, 

 consequently, he was at liberty to give his attention, untrammeled 

 by the cares of State, to this remarkable cricket match, in which 

 he played a fortnight after his dismissal from office. His friend- 

 ship and associations with the Duke of Bedford continued to run 

 most cordially, and was conspicuously identified with cricket and 

 rural sports. Walpole, writing of this period, tells us that 

 " Sandwich had drawn a great concourse of young men of fashion 

 to Huntingdon races, and then carried them to Woburn to cricket 

 matches, made there for the entertainment of the Duke." (The 

 Duke referred to by Walpole was William, second son of George IL, 

 and Duke of Cumberland). Unfortunately, no trace is to be 

 found of the return match between All England and Eton, which 

 was announced to be played at Woburn Abbey later on in that 

 year. Four years elapsed before Lord Sandwich was again in 

 office. From that time onward he played a prominent part in the 

 troubled affairs of State prevailing in those days. He was a good 

 all-round sportsman, and in society was reputed to have a singular 

 charm of manner. The musical entertainments at Hinchinbroke 

 had a great reputation, where theatricals were likewise remarkable, 



