A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Montagu, John William (a)
MONTAGU. (Captain, 1820. f-p., 18; h-p., 26.)
John William Montagu, born 18 Jan. 1790, is second son of the late Admiral Sir Geo. Montagu, G.C.B.,[1] by Charlotte, daughter and co-heir of Geo. Wroughton, Esq.; and grandson of Admiral John Montagu,[2] himself the great-grandson of Hon. Jas. Montagu, third son of Henry, first Earl of Manchester, ancestor of the present Duke of that name. He is brother of Lieut.-Colonel Geo. Wroughton Wroughton, of Wilcot, co. Wilts, and of Capt. Jas. Montagu, R.N.; and brother-in-law of the late Vice-Admiral Sir John Gore, K.C.B., by the marriage to that officer of his eldest sister, Georgiana, now a Bedchamber Woman to Queen Adelaide. One of his uncles, James, was killed in command of the Montagu 74 in the action of 1 June, 1794; and another, Edward, Lieut.-Colonel of Artillery, Hon.E.I.Co.’s service, fell at the storming of Seringapatam in 1799. Capt. Montagu is second-cousin of the present Lieut. E. P. Montagu, R.N.
This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy in 1803; and embarked, about 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Captain 74, Capt. Geo. Cockburn; in which ship, on 27 Sept. in that year, he witnessed the capture, in the Bay of Biscay, of the French frigate Le Président of 44 guns. In Feb. 1807 he became Master’s Mate of the Fame 74, Capt. Rich. Henry Alex. Bennett; and on 9 Oct. 1809, after having been employed off Cadiz and on boat-service at the defence of Rosas, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. His succeeding appointments were – 31 March, 1810, to the Standard 64, Capt. Aiskew Paffard Hollis, attached to the force in the Baltic – 29 Oct. following, to the Emerald 36, Capt. Fred. Lewis Maitland, under whom he served off the coast of Ireland and made a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope – and, 18 Dec. 1811, 14 June, 1812, and 29 March, 1814, to the Edinburgh 74, Capt. Robt. Rolles, Cerberus 32, Capt. Thos. Garth, and Revenge 74, flag-ship of Sir John Gore, all stationed in the Mediterranean. On 29 Jan. 1813 he commanded one of the boats of the Cerberus at the capture of a trabaccolo, armed with 2 guns, and deeply laden with corn and flour for the garrison of Corfu; he assisted, in the following May, in bringing out from under a martello tower, to the southward of Brindisi, a vessel mounting 1 6-poundcr, from Otranto bound to Ancona; and on 28 of the same month, taking charge of two boats belonging to the Cerberus, he participated, in conjunction with two others under the orders of Lieut. Wm. Henry Nares of the Apollo 38, in a most determined and gallant attack upon a convoy protected by 11 gun-boats near Otranto, where the cliffs were covered with French troops.[3] In the Revenge Lieut. Montagu served at the blockade of Venice and at the capture of Corfu. Attaining the rank of Commander 31 May, 1814, he was successively, 1 and 31 March, 1819, appointed in that capacity to the Cadmus and Brisk sloops; in the latter of which, until posted, 30 Nov. 1820, we find him actively employed in the suppression of smuggling. He assumed command, 7 June, 1828, of the Crocodile 28, fitting for the East Indies, whence he returned in the summer of 1832; and he was lastly, from 23 Nov. 1839 until March, 1841, employed in the Britannia 120 and Queen 110, as Flag-Captain to Sir Edw. Codrington, Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth. He accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Montagu married, 12 March, 1840, Isabella Elizabeth, daughter of Chas. Geo. Beauclerk, Esq., of St. Leonard’s Forest, Sussex, by whom he has issue.
- ↑ Sir Geo. Montagu was born 12 Dec. 1750; entered the R.N. Academy in 1763; and first went to sea in the President 50, Capt. (afterwards Lord) Gardner. He was promoted in 1770 to the rank of Lieutenant; was made Commander into the Kingfisher sloop; and in 1773 was posted into the Fowey 20. In that ship, during the first American war, he covered the retreat and embarkation of the army under Sir Wm. Howe, at the evacuation of Boston, and was present at the siege of New York. He subsequently, assuming command (after two years of servitude in the Romney 50, his father’s flag-ship) of the Pearl of 32 guns, 700 tons, and 220 men, effected the capture, Sept. 1799 [errata 1], of the Santa Monica of 32 guns, 900 tons, and 280 men, 38 of whom were killed and 45 wounded, with a loss to the British of 12 killed and 19 wounded. In Dec. of the same year he accompanied Sir Geo. Rodney to the relief of Gibraltar; and on 6 of the ensuing month he assisted at the capture of the Caraccas convoy, with which he returned to England in company with the Africa 64. On 30 Sept. in the latter year it was his fortune to make prize, after a long and obstinate battle (attended with a loss to the Pearl of 6 killed and 10 wounded, and to the enemy of 20 killed and 24 wounded), of L’Espérance, a French frigate of about equal force. On 16 March, 1781, he was in company with the squadron under Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot in a partial action fought with the French under M. de Ternay. The Pearl being paid off in 1782, Capt. Montagu, in 1790, obtained command of the Hector 74; in which ship, in June, 1793, he was employed, under Rear-Admiral Gardner, in the unsuccessful attack on Martinique. Attaining the rank of Rear-Admiral 12 April, 1794, he was ordered, in the early part of the following month, to escort the outward-bound East India fleet, and other convoys, amounting in the whole to about 800 sail, as far to the southward as Cape Finisterre. Immediately on the arrival of the intelligence of Lord Howe’s victory of 1 June, he was again ordered to sea in search of a valuable French convoy expected from America; and on 9 of that month, with eight 74-gun ships, one 64, and several frigates under his command, he fell in with the enemy’s fleet, consisting of 14 effective line-of-battle ships, and of 5 others which had been disabled in the recent battle. In the face of a force so superior the Rear-Admiral, of course, could only act on the defensive. After a few days’ further cruize he returned to Cadsand Bay and struck his flag. He was advanced to the rank of Vice-Admiral 1 June, 1790; and on 1 Jan. 1801 to that of full Admiral. From June, IS03, until Jan. 1809, he held the Office of Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth; and so highly did he acquire the respect and esteem of the Captains who during that period fitted out at the port, that in Aug. 18 10 he was presented, by a large body of them, with a superb piece of plate. He was nominated a G.C.B. in 1815; and died an Admiral of the Red in 1829.
- ↑ Admiral John Montagu served his country with zeal and fidelity for 63 years. He commanded the squadron employed on the coast of North America previous to the colonial war; was afterwards appointed Governor of Newfoundland; and held the chief command at Portsmouth subsequent to the peace of 1783. He died in 1795.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 1794.