312 Cummings, A biographical sketch of Col. George Montagu. 



THE FACTS OP HIS LIFE. 



The life of Montagu was not altogether a long and delec- 

 table picnic. 



He was born at Lackham House, Wilts, probably in 1755 

 (Cunnington) though the Dictionary of National Biography gives 

 the year as 175 1. He had 12 brothers and sisters^ the children 

 of James Montagu, of Lackham and Elinor, the sole surviving 

 daughter of William Hedges, of Alderton. His mother was the 

 grand daughter of Sir Chas. Hedges, Queen Anne's Secretary, while 

 his father was descended from James Montagu, the third son of 

 Sir Henry Montagu, 1st. Earl of Manchester. Lackham House, 

 the fine old family mansion, has since been destroyed by fire but 

 it w^as at the time full of interesting curiosities. Nothing of his 

 childhood is known but at the age of ló Montagu entered the 

 army and subsequently started for America when he was 19 years 

 old to fight in the war of the American Colonies. He was 

 promoted to be Captain in the 15 th. Regt, of Foot. It was in 

 America, where he probably remained no longer than 12 months, 

 that he first began to shoot and collect birds, a few of which 

 he prepared with his own hands though with no further inten- 

 tion than that of presenting them to his wife when he returned 

 home. He had, when he was only 18, married Anne, the eldest 

 daughter of William Courtenay and Lady Jane, his wife, who was 

 one of the sisters of the Earl of Bute, Prime Minister to George III. 

 He had four sons and two daughters (Cunnington). The 

 Dictionary of National Biography states that there were only 

 two sons and two daughters. Three of his sons died abroad, 

 James became a prisoner of war in France, John (in the Royal 

 Navy) was killed while on active service and Frederick fell at 

 Albuera. The later years of his life were much overcast by the 

 loss of his sons. He erected in the Parish Church of Lacock a 

 tablet inscribed with a touching epitaph written, I should think by 

 himself, in memory of his son Frederick's worth and his father's grief. 



It ran: — 



"To Frederick Augustus Courtenay Montagu, Capt. of the 

 23 rd. Regt, of Royal Welsh Fusiliers and Major in the Portu- 

 guese service. Adorned with the choicest gifts of Heaven, 

 Nature had wreathed the olive branch that so conspicuously flour- 

 ished on his brow as emblematic of his amiable and affectionate 



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