George Victor Drogo Montagu, "Kim", 8th Duke of Manchester ( Kimbolton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, 17 June 1853 –

Tandragee Castle Tandragee Castle, Tandragee, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was built in 1837 by The 6th Duke of Manchester as the family's Irish home. The Duke of Manchester acquired the estate through his marriage to Millicent Sparrow (1798–1848). Histo ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

, 18 August 1892), styled Lord Kimbolton from 1853 to 1855 and Viscount Mandeville from 1855 to 1890, was a British peer and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Background

Montagu was the eldest of the five children of

William Drogo Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester William Drogo Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester KP (Kimbolton Castle, 15 October 1823 – 22Sometimes appears 21. March 1890), known as Lord Kimbolton from 1823 to 1843 and as Viscount Mandeville from 1843 to 1855, was a British peer and Conserva ...

, and Countess Louise von Alten. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

Political and military career

In 1877 Montagu was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

, a seat he held until 1880. He was also a lieutenant in the Huntingdon Militia. He was Worshipful Master freemason of Union Lodge No. 105 in 1879. During the

Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coup ...

1879 he was appointed Aide de Camp to Sir Garnet Wolseley and according to a report in the Newsletter on one occasion "he was assegaied by a Zulu running amok and shot him". Apart from his political career he also achieved the rank of captain in the Royal Irish Fusiliers. In 1890 he succeeded his father in the dukedom and took his seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. He was declared bankrupt the same year.

Family

On 22 May 1876 at Grace Church,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York,

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York, Mandeville married Consuelo Yznaga, the daughter of a wealthy Cuban plantation owner and a renowned beauty. Her older brother was New York banker

Fernando Yznaga Fernando Alfonso Yznaga del Valle (October 16, 1850 – March 6, 1901) was a Cuban American banker who was one of the best-known men of New York and foreign society and club life. Described as "one of the most entertaining of men, very clever at e ...

. It was widely accepted that he had married her for her $6 million dowry and she him for his titles. One of Consuelo Yznaga's closest friends, Edith Wharton, was said to have incorporated certain aspects of her friend's marriage in her unfinished novel, '' The Buccaneers''. Their union produced a son and twin daughters: *

William Montagu, 9th Duke of Manchester William Angus Drogo Montagu, 9th Duke of Manchester PC (Kimbolton Castle, 3 March 1877 – Seaford, 9 February 1947), styled Lord Kimbolton from 1877 to 1890 and Viscount Mandeville from 1890 to 1892, was a British peer and Liberal politician ...

(3 March 1877 – 9 February 1947) * Lady Jaqueline Mary Alva Montagu (27 November 1879 – 15 March 1895) * Lady Alice Eleanor Louise Montagu (27 November 1879 – 10 January 1900), who died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

Personal life and death

Prior to his marriage, Mandeville had been considered an inebriate, and was shunned by respectable society.Some English Lords, South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Australia), 24 Feb 1886, Page

/ref> His circle of closest friends in Ireland included Edward Russell, 24th

Baron de Clifford Baron de Clifford is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1299 for Robert de Clifford (''c.''1274–1314), feudal baron of Clifford in Herefordshire, feudal baron of Skipton in Yorkshire and feudal baron of Appleby in Westmo ...

;

Derrick Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore Derrick Warner William Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore (7 February 1853, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland – 31 January 1921, Rossmore Park, County Monaghan, Ireland), known as The Hon. Derrick Westenra until March 1874, was an Anglo-Irish noble, sold ...

and

Francis Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey (2 August 1842 – 28 July 1915), styled Viscount Newry from 1851 to 1880, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Conservative Member of Parliament. Background and education Kilmorey was the eldest son of Fr ...

. By 1882 Mandeville had spent so much of his wife's dowry on gambling and mistresses, that his father the 7th Duke, banished the couple to Tandragee Castle. After one year, he was back with his mistress music-hall singer

Bessie Bellwood Bessie Bellwood (born Catherine Mahoney; 30 March 1856 – 24 September 1896) was a popular music hall performer of the Victorian era noted for her singing of 'Coster' songs, including "What Cheer Ria". Her onstage persona was that of an abra ...

, and the couple was living apart in London. Mandeville cut all his ties with Bellwood in 1890. Manchester died in August 1892 of

cirrhosis of the liver Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

aged only 39, and was succeeded in his titles by his son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester, George Montagu, 8th Duke Of 1853 births 1892 deaths George 3 Royal Irish Fusiliers officers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1874–1880 Manchester, D8 George Montagu, 08th Duke of Manchester