Edwin Montagu

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Edwin Montague.

The Viscount Peel
Personal details
Born(1879-02-06)6 February 1879
Died15 November 1924(1924-11-15) (aged 45)
NationalityBritish
Political partyLiberal
Spouse(s)Venetia Stanley
(1887–1948)
Alma materUniversity College London
Trinity College, Cambridge

Edwin Samuel Montagu

PC (6 February 1879 – 15 November 1924) was a British Liberal politician who served as Secretary of State for India between 1917 and 1922. Montagu was a "radical" Liberal[1] and the third practising Jew (after Sir Herbert Samuel and Sir Rufus Isaacs
) to serve in the British cabinet.

Background and education

Montagu was the second son and sixth child of

Cambridge University Liberal Club from 1902 to 1903.[5] In 1902, he was also president of the Cambridge Union
.

Political career

Edwin Montagu (left), Under-Secretary of State for India, with Reginald McKenna in 1911.

Montagu was elected Member of Parliament for

Privy Council. In 1916 he was promoted to Minister of Munitions
.

Montagu was a friend of Asquith,

Maurice Hankey and Duff Cooper, with whom he dined frequently. When Hankey was promoted to the newly created post of Cabinet Secretary, he recommended Montagu as Minister for National Service, for which he was considered in December 1916 (the job was given in the end to Neville Chamberlain). Instead he was initially left out of David Lloyd George's coalition government in December 1916, but in August 1917 he was appointed Secretary of State for India.[6]
Montagu was not initially part of Lloyd George's inner circle, when he became Prime Minister, but he remained in office until his resignation in March 1922.

As Secretary of State, Montagu represented the interests of the

Council of Four on 17 May 1919, he introduced representatives of Muslim India (including the Aga Khan) and urged that Muslim peoples were beginning to see the Conference as "taking sides against Islam".[8]

He was primarily responsible for the

dominion status
.

Anti-Zionism

The August 1917 memorandum by Edwin Montagu, the only Jew then in a senior British government position,[9]: 193  stating his opposition to the pro-Zionist Balfour Declaration, and that he viewed it as antisemitic[10]

Montagu was strongly

High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine
.

Family

World War I enlistment poster from Canada, with Jewish members of the British parliament, Montagu (extreme right).

In 1912, Montagu accompanied the prime minister on holiday in Sicily. H. H. Asquith brought along his daughter Violet, and she in turn brought her friend Venetia Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley. It appears that during this holiday, both men fell in love with Stanley.

During the next three years Asquith wrote more and more frequently to her, even during Cabinet meetings. At the same time, Montagu was attempting to court her, unsuccessfully proposing marriage in 1913. She liked him but did not reciprocate his love. Also, Montagu had to marry within his Jewish faith to keep his inheritance. Although Stanley was from a freethinking family and was not a devout Anglican, conversion to Judaism seemed too great a barrier. However, Asquith's epistolary obsession with Venetia and his constant demands for advice apparently became overwhelming even for this intelligent and well-read woman, keenly interested in politics as she was. As a result, she finally accepted Montagu's proposal on 28 April 1915. She converted to Judaism, and the couple were wed on 26 July 1915.

The marriage was unhappy and she had several affairs, including one with the press magnate Lord Beaverbrook.[citation needed] In 1923 a child was born: legally and socially Judith was Montagu's daughter, but she was probably fathered by William Humble Eric Ward.[citation needed] She grew up to befriend Princess Margaret during World War II and marry the American photographer Milton Gendel, with whom she created an artistic salon in Italy.[12] They had one child, Anna Mathias (née Gendel), the god-daughter of Princess Margaret.[13]

Despite his wife's affairs, Montagu's marriage lasted until his death in 1924. The cause of his physical deterioration and death at the age of 45 was unknown, but was thought to be either

blood poisoning or encephalitis.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Levine, Naomi. Politics, Religion, and Love: The Story of H.H. Asquith, Venetia Stanley, and Edwin Montagu, 1991, p. 83
  2. ^ "Politics, Religion and Love: The Story of H.H. Asquith, Venetia Stanley and Edwin Montagu" Levine,N.B. pp.29-31: New York; New York University Press; 1991
  3. ^ "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. pp168/9: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
  4. ^ "Montagu, Edwin Samuel (MNTG898ES)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ^ About Us, Keynes Society.
  6. ^ Note, memo, 13 Dec 1916, Milner Papers, box 123, folios 124-8, Roskill, I, p.344-45
  7. OCLC 176633240.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  8. ^ The Deliberations of the Council of Four: Notes of the Official Interpreter Paul Mantoux tr. A. S. Link (Princeton, 1992) vol. 2 p. 99.
  9. ISBN 978-1-400-06532-5 – via Internet Archive
    .
  10. ^ Klug, Brian (15 January 2004). "The myth of the new anti-Semitism: reflections on anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and the importance of making distinctions". The Nation.
  11. ^ Montagu, Edwin (23 August 1917). "Memorandum of Edwin Montagu on the Anti-Semitism of the Present (British) Government". Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  12. ^ "A Six-Decade Roman Holiday". Vanity Fair. November 2011.
  13. ^ "Montagu, Viscount". Debrett's Peerage (2010),
  14. ISBN 978-0-8147-5057-5
    .

Bibliography

External links

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Walter Raymond Greene
 Member of Parliament for Chesterton
1906–1918 		Constituency abolished
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1918–1922 		Succeeded by
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Political offices
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Preceded by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
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Preceded by
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1915–1916 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
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Preceded by Minister of Munitions
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