John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich

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John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), played an important role in the history of the Royal Navy from 1744 to 1782, which included the American War of Independence and the discovery of Australia and islands of the Pacific Ocean. He supported Captain Cook's exploratory voyages and, in return, Cook named the Sandwich Islands for him. Montagu worked extremely long hours in his various government posts and often ate salted beef between toast at his desk, thus giving birth to the sandwich.

Born into a position of nobility, John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich was not handed an ideal life. He was born on November 13, 1718, to Edward Richard Montagu, viscount Hinchinbroke and Elizabeth Popham Montagu. His father died when he was four years old. His grandfather, the third earl, was feebleminded and eventually confined to the Yorkshire home of his uncle, Wortley Montagu, to whom he had mortgaged his estates. His mother appears to have abandoned John and sent him to Eton at the age of seven. She remarried when he was nine and he and his brother William became wards of the Court of Chancery. His grandfather died just before his eleventh birthday. He became the fourth Earl of Sandwich at age ten but had little money to back up the title. His younger brother William was sent to sea at the age of eleven. His grandmother, the countess, had gone to Paris to support the exiled Stuart dynasty and taken what was left of the family's money. His grandmother threatened to disinherit him if he supported King George II, and his friends were suspicious of him because of his connections to the exiled Stuarts.

Schooling and Travel

Public schools in the eighteenth century were not bastions of learning. Montagu proved to be the exception. He had a first class mind and emerged as head of the fifth form in 1732. When he left Eton he had a thorough knowledge of Latin and a working knowledge of Greek. He attributed his success to his tutor Dr. Summer. In April 1735 Montagu entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he remained for two years. He left without a degree and began a grand tour of Europe. He spent a year in France and then proceeded to Italy, Greece, the Greek islands, Turkey, Smyrna, Egypt, Malta, Spain, and Gibraltar. This journey was quite impressive, as most English nobles did not venture much beyond France and Italy at that time. Seven years after his death a book which may have been his journal was published under the title A Voyage Performed by the LateEarl of Sandwich Round the Mediterranean in the Years 1738 and 1739.

Montagu met Dorothy Fane while he was in Florence, Italy, in 1737 through her brother the Honorable Charles Fane, the British minister at the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. They were married on March 3, 1741, in St. Margaret's, Westminster. Friends and acquaintances declared that they were an admirable pair who lived modestly and avoided the temptations of the fashionable world. The couple had five children. Their eldest child, John, was born in 1742 and died soon afterward. His second son and heir, also John, was born in 1744, Edward was born in June 1745, Mary in February 1748, and William Agustus in February 1752. After this Lady Sandwich's mind began to decline and ultimately the two separated in 1755. She was declared insane by the Court of Chancery and became a ward of the court.

Joined House of Lords

Montagu joined the House of Lords in 1739 upon his return to England from his European travels and threw himself into party politics. He became a friend of the Duke of Bedford who appointed him a lord commissioner of the admiralty. In August of 1745 Montagu was sent to Holland on a mission, and soon was appointed captain in the Duke of Bedford's regiment. He became an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Bedford on September 27 and a colonel in the army on October 4, all in the same year. He also became a second colonel in the Duke of Montagu's foot regiment on November 22, 1745. By the time of his death he was a senior general on the list. It is probable that his military service was nominal as he was frequently absent from England on diplomatic missions and was involved with the admiralty. He had a capacity for hard work and ran the admiralty with efficiency in the absence of the Duke of Bedford. In July 1746 Montagu was nominated plenipotentiary at the conferences at Breda and continued in that post until 1748 when the treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle was completed. The French thought they could take advantage of him because of his youth, but he was smart and represented his country well.

When the Duke of Bedford was promoted to the post of secretary of state, Montagu became first lord of the admiralty. He delegated his duties to Lord George Anson who proceeded to clean up the dockyards and naval establishments. Anson also regulated the discipline of the navy with the support of Montagu. His career at the admiralty was derailed when Bedford got into a political fight with the Duke of Newcastle. King George II notified Montagu that his services were no longer needed and he returned to his home on June 12, 1751, and was out of political life until 1755 when he was appointed joint vice-treasurer of Ireland, along with two others. He held this office until 1763.

Invented the Sandwich

After Montagu separated from his mentally ill wife, his reputation was sullied. A story was spread in Grosley's Tour of London that a minister of state gambled for twenty-four hours with only a piece of beef between two slices of toasted bread. The new dish was named after the minister who invented it. There is no evidence that Montagu engaged in heavy gambling. He did bet on cricket and a few other sports, but there is no record anywhere of excessive betting. The truth is that he was extremely fond of salt beef. He worked long hours when he was a cabinet minister in 1765 and often missed dinner, which at that time was served at 4:00 p.m., but there is no doubt that he did invent the sandwich.

John Wilkes also attempted to destroy Montagu's reputation with lies and half truths about a club that they belonged to called the Medmenham along with the Earl of March, Sir Francis Dashwood, and others. Apparently the men engaged in some scandalous behavior involving women, offensive poetry, and blasphemy. Wilkes was eventually prosecuted and convicted of blasphemy, but Montagu's name never quite recovered from the scandal. He was even immortalized in the play The Beggar's Opera as Jemmy Twitcher. He was considered sinful, greedy, ambitious, and vain. This depiction of his character did not seem to bother Montagu in the least. He continued to live his life as he pleased. The men who counted were pleased with his defense against Wilkes and welcomed him back into politics after an absence of twelve years.

A more balanced picture of Montagu may have been given by an old friend of his, Lady Mary Fitzgerald. According to her, Montagu needed ambition and vanity in order to succeed. He had a penetrating intelligence, a good understanding of character, and the ability to work with those around him. He had excellent judgment and the ability to foresee difficulties. He liked to be flattered but understood it for what it was. He tended to be either too formal or too familiar. He was happiest when his head ruled his heart. Physically, as shown in the famous Gainsborough painting, Montagu was a big tall man who was somewhat awkward. He had a reputation for breaking china and had a shambling gait that made it appear that he was walking down both sides of the road at once.

Montagu loved classical music, especially Handel, and played the drums in the Hinchingbrooke Orchestra. He founded the Noblemen and Gentlemen's Catch Club, a group that promoted the writing of cannons, catches, and rounds and which continues to exist. He was considered the most important and influential amateur musician of eighteenth-century England. Through his interest in music, he met his longtime mistress, Martha Ray, when she was a seventeen-year-old milliner's apprentice. She had an excellent voice that he proceeded to have trained by the best teachers of the day. She sang most of the female solos in his orchestra. She also bore him five children. Divorce was not allowed in the eighteenth century except by a private act of parliament, and Montagu did not have the money and was concerned about public opinion. The two lived together for seventeen years as man and wife and Montagu's life was happy and stable. However, Martha Ray wanted Montagu to make a settlement on her and her children so that they would be protected if he died. He did not have the money, so she may have had an affair with James Hackman, who wanted to marry her. She refused and he shot her in the head on the steps of Covent Garden in 1779. Montagu was devastated and did not appear at social events for a long time.

Returned to the Admiralty

Under the Duke of Grafton, Montagu accepted the office of postmaster-general in January 1768 where he served alternate months with Lord de Spencer. Between them they increased the efficiency of the post office. In December 1770 he became one of Lord North's secretary of states. On January 12, 1771, Montagu returned to the admiralty as first lord where he remained for eleven years. He returned to an admiralty in chaos. The dockyards were in disrepair, the ships were suffering from dry rot, and there was not enough English wood to make repairs. The English were embarking on the American war at this time and did not have enough good ships to fight America and her European allies. The most important decision Montagu made in his career in the admiralty was to hire Captain Charles Middleton to reform the navy. During Montagu's tenure at the admiralty a great deal of bribery and stealing apparently occurred, but modern research has proved that Montagu was not personally involved and probably had little knowledge of these events. The American War for Independence was lost partly due to an inefficient navy under his watch, but it is also true that Canada, India, and the West Indies would not have remained in the English sphere without Montagu's work in rebuilding the English fleet.

Supported Captain Cook's Explorations

During Montagu's tenure at the admiralty, England became interested in all things below the equator. Montagu was especially interested in the Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook. When Cook proposed a voyage to discover whether Terra Australis existed, Montagu supported him and helped get his ships outfitted in 1778. Cook named the Sandwich Islands after him.

After the fall of North as prime minister, Montagu returned to private life. He continued to promote ancient music and entertain at Hinchingbrooke. Lack of money and bills to pay followed him until his death in 1792. His lasting contribution to England was the reform of naval administration which enabled England to rule the seas for the next hundred years.

Books

The Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee, Oxford University Press, 1960.

Rodger, N. A. M., Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich 1717-1792, W.W. Norton and Company, 1993.

Sandwich, John Montagu, 4th earl of (1718-92). A politician of considerable achievements and a discerning patron of the arts, particularly music, Lord Sandwich is most frequently recalled as the inventor of the sandwich—popularly supposed to have sustained him during lengthy spells at the gaming table. Sandwich's political ambitions were focused on the Admiralty, where he thrice served as 1st lord (1748-51, 1763, 1771-82), demonstrating administrative ability. He was unjustly blamed for the failings in naval preparedness revealed by the American War of Independence.

British baron who, in the later years of a life spent in diplomatic service, was prominent before the public because he claimed to be able to cure both organic diseases and functional derangement by prayer and the laying on of hands. In June 1912 he testified before the clerical and medical committee of inquiry into spiritual, faith, and mental healing, over which the Dean of Westminster presided, that his power was a divine gift that he was unable to explain. He never accepted money for his services.

Accounts of many of his cases, with letters of gratitude, are published in his autobiography.

Sources:

Erskine, Steuart Memoirs of Edward, Eighth Earl of Sandwich, 1839-1916. London, N.p., 1919.

Sandwich, The Earl of [Edward George Henry Montague]. My Experiences in Spiritual Healing. London, N.p., 1915.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007)

The Earl of Sandwich
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 1748 – 1751
Prime Minister	Henry Pelham
Preceded by	John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford)
Succeeded by	George Anson, 1st Baron Anson
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 1763 – 1763
Prime Minister	George Grenville
Preceded by	George Grenville)
Succeeded by	John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont
Southern Secretary
In office 1763 – 1765
Prime Minister	George Grenville
Preceded by	Earl of Halifax
Succeeded by	Duke of Grafton
Born	November 3, 1718(1718-11-03)
Died	April 30, 1792 (aged 73) Chiswick, England
Spouse(s)	Dorothy Montagu, Countess of Sandwich Martha Ray
Profession	Statesman
Religion	Anglican

For other persons of the same name, see John Montagu.

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS (3 November 1718 – 30 April 1792)^[1] succeeded his grandfather, the 3rd Earl, in 1729, at the age of ten. During his life he held various military and political offices (such as Postmaster General and First Lord of the Admiralty), but is perhaps most well-known for being claimed to have originated the modern concept of the sandwich.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Political career 1.3 Congress of Breda 1.4 First Lord of the Admiralty (first and second spells) 1.5 Secretary of State 1.6 First Lord of the Admiralty (third spell) 1.7 Personal life 2 The Sandwich 3 Sandwich Islands 4 Music 5 Chronology 6 Notes 7 References 8 External links

Biography

Early years

Educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge,^[2] Montagu spent some time in travelling, and on his return to England in 1739 he took his seat in the House of Lords as a follower of the Duke of Bedford. He became a Patriot Whig and one of the sharpest critics of the Walpole government.

Political career

He was soon appointed one of the Commissioners of the Admiralty under Bedford and a Colonel in the Army.

Congress of Breda

Main article: Congress of Breda

In 1746 he was sent as a plenipotentiary to the congress at Breda, and he continued to take part in the negotiations for peace until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was concluded in 1748. Sandwich was also made British Ambassador to the Dutch Republic during the talks. Using the resources of the British Secret Service, Sandwich was able to outmanouvre his French opposite number, by interecepting his secret correspondence.^[3] His service at Breda drew him to the attention of the influential Duke of Newcastle, who lobbied for him to be given high office when he returned home.

First Lord of the Admiralty (first and second spells)

Further information: First Lord of the Admiralty

In February 1748 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, retaining this post until June 1751. By 1751 Newcastle, who had previously admired Sandwich for his forthright and hardline views, had increasingly begun to distrust him and his relationship with Bedford. Newcastle engineered the dismissal of both of them, by sacking Sandwich. Bedford resigned in protest, as Newcastle had calculated, allowing him to replace them with men he considered more loyal personally to him.

The Duke of Bedford was a long-standing patron of Sandwich, and his support helped him further his career.

For the next few years Sandwich spent time at his country estate, largely avoiding politics, though he kept in close contact with both Bedford and Anson and Britain's participation in the Seven Years War. In 1763 he returned to the Admiralty in the government of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, and encouraged a major rebuilding programme for the Royal Navy. It was during this time that he first met Martha Ray who became his long-standing mistress. He was soon dismissed from the office, but was offered the influential Ambassador to Madrid.

Secretary of State

In August 1763 Sandwich became one of the principal Secretaries of State, and while filling this office he took a leading part in the prosecution of John Wilkes for obscene libel although he had been allegedly associated with Wilkes in the notorious Hellfire Club (also known as the Monks of Medmenham). Recent scholarship has suggested that the two had a more distant but cordial relationship than the friendship which was popually portrayed at the time. ^[4]

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera was played in Covent Garden shortly thereafter, and the similarity of Sandwich's conduct to that of Jemmy Twitcher, betrayer of Macheath in that play, permanently attached to him that appellation.

In The State Tinkers (1780), James Gillray caricatured Sandwich (on left) and his political allies as incompetent tinkers.

Lord Sandwich was Postmaster General in 1768, Secretary of State again in 1770.

First Lord of the Admiralty (third spell)

Further information: North Ministry

Sandwich served again as First Lord of the Admiralty in Lord North's administration from 1771 to March 1783. He replaced the distinguished Admiral Edward Hawke in the post.^[5] Despite the number of important posts that he held during his career, Sandwich's incompetence and corruptness inspired the suggestion that his epitaph should read: "Seldom has any man held so many offices and accomplished so little."

His incompetence in the Admiralty was said to have undermined the seaworthy efforts in the American War of Independence.^[6] Recently some historians have begun to suggest that Lord Sandwich was not perhaps as incompetent as suggested, but that previous historians have placed too much emphasis on sources from his political enemies. ^[7]

Personal life

Sandwich married Dorothy Fane, daughter of the 1st Viscount Fane, by whom he had a son, John, Viscount Hinchingbrooke (1743 – 1814), who later succeeded as 5th Earl. Sandwich's first personal tragedy was his wife's deteriorating health and eventual insanity. Later Sandwich found 16 years of happiness with the talented opera singer Martha Ray, who bore him about nine children of whom Basil Montagu (1770 – 1851), writer, jurist and philanthropist, was one.^[8] Tragedy was to strike again in April 1779 when Ray was murdered in the foyer of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden by a jealous suitor, James Hackman, Rector of Wiveton. Sandwich never recovered from his grief.

In a famous exchange with Samuel Foote, Sandwich declared, "Foote, I have often wondered what catastrophe would bring you to your end; but I think, that you must either die of the p-x, or the halter." "My lord", replied Foote instantaneously, "that will depend upon one of two contingencies; -- whether I embrace your lordship's mistress, or your lordship's principles."^[9] This retort is often misattributed to John Wilkes.

Sandwich retired from public duty in 1782, and lived another ten years, dying on 30 April 1792. His title of Earl of Sandwich passed to his eldest son, John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich, who was 48 at the time.

A mezzotint print of the noble earl engraved by Valentine Green, after Johann Zoffany, published 30 August 1774

The Sandwich

The modern sandwich is possibly named after Lord Sandwich but not invented by him. It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread. Because Montagu also happened to be the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, others began to order "the same as Sandwich!" ^[10] However, the exact circumstances of the invention are still the subject of debate. A rumour in a contemporary travel book called Tour to London (although not confirmed) by Pierre Jean Grosley formed the popular myth that bread and meat sustained Lord Sandwich at the gambling table^[11]. The sober alternative is provided by Sandwich's biographer, N. A. M. Rodger, who suggests Sandwich's commitments to the navy, to politics and the arts mean the first sandwich was more likely to have been consumed at his desk.

It is also possible that Sandwich's Grisons Republic born brother-in-law, Jerome de Salis, taught him about sandwiches. The Grisons is known for its dried meat, Bündnerfleisch, while its then subject territory the Valtelline, where De Salis also grew up, is known for Bresaola.

Sandwich Islands

Sandwich was a great supporter of Cook’s Pacific exploration, and supplied Admiralty funds for the purchase and fit-out of the Resolution, Adventure and Discovery. Captain James Cook named the Sandwich Islands, (now Hawaii), which were discovered in 1778, after him, as well as the South Sandwich Islands, and also Montague Island in Alaska.^[12]

Music

After his Naval career, Sandwich turned his energy toward music. He became a great proponent of "Ancient music" (defined by him as music more than two decades old). He was the patron of the Italian violinist Felice Giardini, and created a "Catch Club", where professional singers would sing "ancient" and modern catches, glees, and madrigals. He also put on performances of George Frideric Handel's oratorios, masques, and odes at his estate. Sandwich was instrumental in putting together the Concert of Ancient Music, the first public concert to showcase a canonic repertory of old works.^[1]

Chronology

• 1718 The 4th Earl of Sandwich is born on November 3, 1718
• 1729 Succeeds his grandfather, Edward the 3rd Earl, in the earldom
• 1729 Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge
• 1740/41 (old style/new style), March 14, marries The Hon. Dorothy Fane at St. James's, Westminster
• 1746 Sent as plenipotentiary to the congress at Breda, and continues to take part in the negotiations for peace until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle is signed in 1748
• 1748 Becomes First Lord of the Admiralty
• 1763 Becomes one of the principal secretaries of state
• 1768 Appointed Postmaster General
• 1770 Becomes Secretary of State
• 1771–1782 Becomes First Lord of the Admiralty again during the American War of Independence
• 1779 His mistress Martha Ray, mother of five of his children, murdered by her admirer James Hackman in Covent Garden
• 1782 Retires in March
• 1792 Dies on April 30

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} William Weber. "4th Earl of Sandwich", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed December 2, 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
2. ^ Montagu, John in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
3. ^ Baker-Smith p.144
4. ^ Rodger p.99-100
5. ^ Whiteley p.85
6. ^ National Register of Historic Places Application for HMS Culloden
7. ^ [C., Wilkinson, The British Navy and the state in the eighteenth century (Woodbridge 2004)
8. ^ 'Covent Garden : Part 2 of 3', Old and New London: Volume 3 (1878), pp. 255-269. "Miss Ray had borne to Lord Sandwich no less than nine children, five of whom were then living. One of these afterwards attained distinction, Mr. Basil Montague, Q.C., eminent both as a lawyer and as a man of letters, who died in 1851.." According to several sources, Sandwich was unable to provide adequately and permanently for his mistress and their children; she therefore encouraged the suit of Captain James Hackman, who later exchanged the army for the clergy. Date accessed: 14 October 2008
9. ^ Yale University Press: Yale Book of Quotations (2007)
10. ^ Sandwiches, History of Sandwiches
11. ^ Hexmaster's Factoids: Sandwich
12. ^ etymonline.com

References

• N. A. M. Rodger, The Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich (London: Harper Collins, 1993)
• Baker-Smith Royal Discord: The Family of George III. Athena Press, 2008.
• Whiteley, Peter. Lord North: The Prime Minister Who Lost America. Hambledon Press, 1996.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

• Montague family history page
• Guide to the papers of Lord Sandwich, 1718–1792 held and digitised by the National Library of Australia
• Smithsonian Magazine article on the Earl's Love Triangle
• The Lives & Times of the Hell-Fire Club

Political offices
Preceded by The Duke of Bedford	First Lord of the Admiralty 1748–1751	Succeeded by The Lord Anson
Preceded by George Grenville	First Lord of the Admiralty 1763	Succeeded by The Earl of Egmont
Preceded by The Earl of Halifax	Northern Secretary 1763–1765	Succeeded by The Duke of Grafton
Preceded by The Earl of Rochford	Northern Secretary 1770–1771	Succeeded by The Earl of Halifax
Preceded by Sir Edward Hawke	First Lord of the Admiralty 1771–1782	Succeeded by The Viscount Keppel
Peerage of England
Preceded by Edward Montagu	Earl of Sandwich 1729–1792	Succeeded by John Montagu

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