Mary_Montagu,_Duchess_of_Montagu_(1689–1751)

Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu (1689–1751)

Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu (1689–1751)

British court official and noble

Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu (15 July 1689 – 14 May 1751), formerly Lady Mary Churchill, was a British court official and noble, the wife of John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu. She was the youngest surviving daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and his wife, Sarah.[1]

Quick Facts Her Grace The Duchess of Montagu, Born ...

Life

Engraving by John Simon of Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu.

She married Montagu on 17 March 1705, when he was Earl of Montagu. They had five children:[2]

From 1714 to 1717, the Duchess was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Caroline of Ansbach,[3] then Princess of Wales. She was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller in 1740.[4] A portrait of her with her husband and daughter was painted in about 1729 by Gawen Hamilton.[5] The duchess is obliquely referred to in Delarivier Manley's 1709 satire, The New Atalantis.[6]

One of those who benefited from the duchess's will was Ignatius Sancho, an African slave whom she took on as a butler following her husband's death. She left him a pension, but, having failed to find an alternative career, he later returned to the service of the Montagu family.[7]

References

  1. [1]
    "Family Lineage: Duke of Marlborough". Burke's Peerage. August 2004. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
  2. [2]
    Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999.
  3. [3]
    "Household of Princess Caroline 1714-27". Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  4. [4]
    "Mary Montagu (née Churchill), Duchess of Montagu". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  5. [5]
    "John, 2nd Duke of Montagu (1690-1749), his wife Lady Mary Churchill, daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, and their youngest daughter, Lady Mary Montagu, c.1730 1730s". Historical Portraits Image Library. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  6. [6]
    Catherine Gallagher (28 December 1995). Nobody's Story: The Vanishing Acts of Women Writers in the Marketplace, 1670-1920. University of California Press. pp. 143–. ISBN 978-0-520-20338-9.
  7. [7]
    Markman Ellis (29 July 2004). The Politics of Sensibility: Race, Gender and Commerce in the Sentimental Novel. Cambridge University Press. pp. 57–. ISBN 978-0-521-60427-7.
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