Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax
Mary II | |
---|---|
Preceded by | Thomas Pelham |
Succeeded by | John Smith and William Trumbull |
Personal details | |
Born | 16 April 1661 Horton, Northamptonshire Kingdom of England |
Died | 19 May 1715 | (aged 54)
Spouse(s) | The Dowager Countess of Manchester, née Anne Yelverton |
Relations | Fifth son of the 1st Earl of Manchester |
Profession | Politician, poet |
Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax,
Early life
Charles Montagu was born in
In 1679 Montagu was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge. At the time his relation, Dr. John Montagu, was Master of Trinity College and took him under his wing. While studying at Cambridge Montagu began a lasting association with Isaac Newton. He graduated with an MA in 1682 and became a Fellow of Trinity in 1683.[1]
Two portraits of Montagu by Godfrey Kneller are in the college collection.[2]
In 1685, Montagu's verses on the death of King Charles II made such an impression on the Earl of Dorset that he was invited to town and introduced to other entertainments. In 1687, Montagu joined with Matthew Prior in The City Mouse and the Country Mouse, a burlesque of John Dryden's The Hind and the Panther. Shortly before the Glorious Revolution, he married his cousin's widow, the Dowager Countess of Manchester. In the 1689 election, with the support of the Earl of Dorset and the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, the Earl of Oxford, he successfully contested the Maldon constituency against the Tory Sir John Bramston. Montagu sat for Maldon in the Convention Parliament of 1689.[3] He also purchased for £1,500 a position as Clerk of the Council, to which he was appointed on 21 February 1689. He was returned for Maldon again without a contest at the 1690 election.[4]
Political office
In 1691, having become a
After the House of Commons he rose quickly, becoming one of the
John Macky relates a short description of the circumstances leading up to Charles, Lord Halifax's impeachment, in the Secret Service Papers published by his son in 1733.
...But as all courtiers, who rise too quick, as he did, are envied, so his great Favour with the King, and powerful Interest in the House, raised a great Party against him, which he strengthened, by seeming to despise them. The Deficiency of Parliamentary Funds, and the growing Debts of the Nation, by the great Interest of Paper Credit, laid him but too much open to these Attacks, he having the whole Administration of the Revenue. When he saw the Party growing too strong for him in the House of Commons, he prudently got himself made a Lord; and as a Screen from all Objections against his Administration, quitted his Management of Commissioner, to serve as Auditor: But his Enemies did not quit him so, they followed him into the House of Peers with an Impeachment, and so left no Stone unturned, to get him out of his Employ, bespattering him every Day with Pamphlets.
- —Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky Esq., pp. 51–54.
On the accession of
Earl of Halifax
At the Queen's death Montagu was again appointed one of the regents. At the accession of
Halifax is reported to have left Catherine Barton, Newton's niece, a sizable inheritance for "her excellent conversation", as John Flamsteed wryly reported at the time.[5] Many of his possessions were auctioned by Christopher Cock on 25 March 1740 at his room in the Great Piazza, Covent Garden.[6]
Alexander Pope commemorated the Earl's death in his unpublished poem "Farewell to London in the Year 1715":
The love of arts lies cold and dead
In Halifax's urn,
And not one Muse of all he fed
Has yet the grace to mourn.
See also
Bibliography
- Cooper, C. H. (1861). Memoirs of Cambridge. London: Macmillan.
- Johnson, Samuel (2006). The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets. Roger Lonsdale, editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Thomson, A. T. (1871). The Wits and Beaux of Society. London: Routledge.
- Handley, Stuart (2004). "Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press online edn, Oct 2005.
References
- ^ "Montagu, Charles (MNTG679C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Trinity College, University of Cambridge". BBC Your Paintings. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014.
- ^ Hampson, Gillian (1983). "MONTAGU, Charles (1661–1715), of Jermyn Street, Westminster.". In Henning, B. D. (ed.). The House of Commons 1660-1690. The History of Parliament Trust.
- ^ a b Knights, Mark (2002). "MONTAGU, Charles (1661–1715), of Jermyn Street, Westminster, and Bushey Park, Hampton Court, Mdx.". In Hayton, David; Cruickshanks, Eveline; Handley, Stuart (eds.). The House of Commons 1690-1715. The History of Parliament Trust.
- ^ See Westfall, Life of Isaac Newton, p. 240
- ^ Cock, Christopher (1740). 1740.03 A catalogue of the valuable collection of prints, antient Greek and Roman medals, coins, &c. in gold, silver, and brass, of the Most Noble ... London: Christopher Cock.
External links
- Media related to Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by or about Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax at Wikisource