John Montagu or Mountague (1655 23 February 1728/29) was an English churchman and academic.

Life

He was the fourth son of Admiral Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, who was killed at the Battle of Solebay in 1672, and his wife Jemima Crew, daughter of

John Crew, 1st Baron Crew John Crew, 1st Baron Crew of Stene (1598 – 12 December 1679) was an English lawyer and politician, who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1660. He was a Puritan and sided with the Parliamentary cause during the Civi ...

. Together with his twin brother, Oliver, he was initially educated at Huntingdon Grammar School, from where they were summoned to meet Samuel Pepys (a family friend):

The two twins were sent for from schoole, at Mr. Taylor's, to come to see me, and I took them into the garden, and there, in one of the summer-houses, did examine them, and do find them so well advanced in their learning, that I was amazed at it: they repeating a whole ode without book out of Horace, and did give me a very good account of any thing almost, and did make me very readily very good Latin, and did give me good account of their Greek grammar, beyond all possible expectation; and so grave and manly as I never saw, I confess, nor could have believed; so that they will be fit to go to Cambridge in two years at most. They are both little, but very like one another, and well-looked children.

The boys transferred to Westminster School and thence to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where John entered as a fellow-commoner on 12 April 1672, proceeded MA. ''jure natalium'', 1673 and was elected a fellow in 1674. In 1680, Montagu was made master of Sherburn Hospital by his relative Bishop Crewe, and in 1683 a prebend of Durham. On 12 May 1683, King James also made him Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He may have been provided with the mastership as a reward for his father's service. On 27 September 1686, he was awarded a Doctorate by Royal mandate. He was promoted to Vice-chancellor in 1687. From 1695 to 1702, he was

Clerk of the Closet The College of Chaplains of the Ecclesiastical Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is under the Clerk of the Closet, an office dating from 1437. It is normally held by a diocesan bishop, who may, however, remain in office after leav ...

for William III. In either 1699 or 1700, he resigned the mastership of Trinity and became

Dean of Durham The Dean of Durham is the "head" (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the Chapter, the ruling body of Durham Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cu ...

, which he kept until his death in 1728. Montagu was admitted a member of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society on 22 August 1723. He died unmarried, at his house in Bedford Row, Holborn, London, on 23 February 1728, aged 73, and was interred at Barnwell, Northamptonshire, the burying-place of his family. Trinity College is said to have declined in numbers or reputation during Montagu's mastership, on account of the relaxation of discipline which his easy temper encouraged. He was a liberal benefactor to the college, subscribing £228 towards the cost of the new library, and allowing £170, due to him as master when he resigned, to be expended in purchasing furniture for the master's lodge. This sum had been claimed by his successor, Dr. Richard Bentley, and the above compromise was not effected until 1702, when the thanks of the society were given to Montagu, and his name inscribed in the register of benefactors by the master. In 1720, when Bentley was projecting an edition of the New Testament, Montagu lent him some manuscripts from the Chapter Library at Durham.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montagu, John 1650s births 1728 deaths John Montagu (Trinity) People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge Deans of Durham Younger sons of earls Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Clerks of the Closet English twins