A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Montagu, William Augustus
MONTAGU, Kt., C.B., K.C.H. (Rear-Admiral of the White, 1841. f-p., 23; h-p., 28.)
Sir William Augustus Montagu entered the Navy, 4 Sept. 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Glatton 50, Capt. Henry Trollope; under whom he continued employed on the Home station, as Midshipman, in the Russell 74 (part of the victorious fleet in the action off Camperdown 11 Oct. 1797), and Juste 80, until transferred, about the close of 1800, to the Sirius 36, Capt. Sir Rich. King. In that ship he witnessed, 27 Jan. 1801, the surrender of the French 36-gun frigate La Dédaigneuse. After a servitude of four years in the East Indies on board the Dasher, of which sloop (commanded at first by Capt. Delafons) he was successively confirmed Lieutenant and Commander by commissions dated 14 Nov. 1804 and 31 Oct. 1805, he was there nominated, 8 June, 1807, Acting-Captain of the Terpsichore frigate – an appointment sanctioned, 8 Dec. following, by the approval of the Admiralty. In March of the following year Capt. Montagu, whose ship mounted but 28 guns and had only 180 men on board, fell in with, fought, and (with a loss to himself of 21 men killed and 22 wounded) fairly beat off the French frigate Sémillante of 40 guns and a crew of at least 300 men. Being soon afterwards appointed to the Cornwallis of 50 guns and 335 men, he assisted, in the early part of 1810, at the reduction of the island of Amboyna, where he elicited from Capt. Edw. Tucker, the senior officer present, the greatest praise for the able nature of his support in the different actions with the enemy’s batteries and forts, and for the judgment he displayed in the navigation of his ship amidst baffling winds and strong currents.[1] About the same period Capt. Montagu succeeded in effecting the capture of the Dutch corvettes Mandarin and De Ruyter. In the following Nov. he was intrusted with the command of the naval brigade landed to assist at the reduction of the Isle of France; during the operations connected with which, particularly on the occasion of the defeat of the French troops before St. Louis, 1 Dec, his zeal and exertions were such as to call forth the sincere acknowledgments of Major-General Abercromby. His last appointments were – 8 Sept. 1812, to the Niobe 40, employed until June, 1814, on the Channel, American, and Lisbon stations – 29 Oct. 1819, to the Phaeton 46, which ship he commanded on service at Halifax until put out of commission in Sept. 1822 – and 25 July, 1834, to the Malabar 74, fitting for the Mediterranean, where, and off Lisbon, he continued until ordered home at the close of 1837 for the purpose of being paid off. He attained Flag-rank 23 Nov. 1841.
The Rear-Admiral (a Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Huntingdon) was nominated a C.B. 8 Dec. 1815; a K.H. 5 Oct. 1830; and a K.C.H. (accompanied with the honour of Knighthood) in Jan. 1832. He married, 26 Aug. 1823, Anne, third daughter of the late Sir Geo. Wm. Leeds, Bart., of Croxton Park, Cambridgeshire.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1482.