John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich

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The 4th Earl of Sandwich by Thomas Gainsborough
Secretary of State for the Northern Department
In office 19 December 1770 – 12 January 1771
Prime Minister	Lord North
Preceded by	The Earl of Rochdale
Succeeded by	The Earl of Halifax
In office 9 September 1763 – 10 July 1765
Prime Minister	George Grenville
Preceded by	The Earl of Halifax
Succeeded by	The Duke of Grafton
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 1771–1782
Prime Minister	Lord North
Preceded by	Sir Edward Hawke
Succeeded by	The Viscount Keppel
In office 1763–1763
Prime Minister	The Earl of Bute
Preceded by	George Grenville
Succeeded by	The Earl of Egmont
In office 1748–1751
Prime Minister	Henry Pelham
Preceded by	The Duke of Bedford
Succeeded by	The Lord Anson
Postmaster General
In office 1768–1771
Prime Minister	The Duke of Grafton Lord North
Preceded by	The Marquess of Downshire
Succeeded by	Henry Carteret
Personal details
Born	(1718-11-13)13 November 1718
Died	30 April 1792(1792-04-30) (aged 73) Chiswick, Middlesex, England
Resting place	All Saints' Church, Barnwell
Spouse	Dorothy Fane
Domestic partner	Martha Ray
Children	by Dorothy: John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich by Martha: at least five and perhaps as many as nine children, including Basil Montagu
Parents	Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke Elizabeth Popham
Alma mater	Eton College, Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession	Statesman

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich,

John Montagu was born in 1718, the son of Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke. His father died when John was four, leaving him as his heir. His mother soon remarried and he had little further contact with her.^[2] He succeeded his grandfather as Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge,^[3] and spent some time travelling, initially going on the Grand Tour around Continental Europe before visiting the more unusual destinations of Greece, Turkey, and Egypt which were then part of the Ottoman Empire.^[4] This led him later to found a number of Orientalist societies.^[5]

On his return to England in 1739, Montagu took his seat in the

In 1746 he was sent as a plenipotentiary to the Congress of Breda, and he continued to take part in the negotiations for peace until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was concluded in 1748. Sandwich was also made ambassador to the Dutch Republic during the talks. Using the resources of the British secret service, Sandwich was able to outmanoeuvre his French counterpart by intercepting the latter's secret correspondence.^[11] His service at Breda drew him to the attention of the influential Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who lobbied for him to be given high office when he returned home.

It is possible that during his time at Breda, he played a role in the

In February 1748 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, retaining this post until June 1751. By 1751 Newcastle, who had previously admired Sandwich for his forthright and hardline views, had increasingly begun to distrust him and his relationship with the Duke of Bedford whom Newcastle regarded as a rival. Newcastle engineered the dismissal of both of them, by sacking Sandwich. Bedford resigned in protest, as Newcastle had calculated, allowing him to replace them with men he considered more loyal personally to him.

For the next few years Sandwich spent time at his country estate, largely avoiding politics, though he kept in close contact with both Bedford and Anson and with Britain's participation in the Seven Years' War. Partly thanks to naval reforms pioneered by Anson and Sandwich, the Royal Navy enjoyed a series of successes and was able to blockade much of the French fleet in port.

In 1763 he returned to the Admiralty in the government of

Northern Secretary

In August 1763 Sandwich became Secretary of State for the Northern Department, in the government of George Grenville who had replaced Bute. While filling this office he took a leading part in the successful prosecution of the radical MP John Wilkes for obscene libel. Although he had been allegedly associated with Wilkes in the notorious Hellfire Club (also known as the Monks of Medmenham), recent scholarship has suggested that the two had a more distant but cordial relationship than the friendship which was popularly portrayed at the time.^[12] John Gay's The Beggar's Opera was played in Covent Garden shortly thereafter, and the similarity of Sandwich's conduct to that of Jemmy Twitcher, betrayer of Macheath in that play, permanently attached to him that appellation. Wilkes was eventually expelled from the House of Commons.

He held the post of Northern Secretary until July 1765. His departure from the post coincided with the end of George Grenville's term as prime minister. He hoped to return to office swiftly, provided a united opposition could be formed.^[13]

Sandwich was

First Lord of the Admiralty (third spell)

Sandwich served again as First Lord of the Admiralty in Lord North's administration from 1771 to 1782. He replaced the distinguished Admiral

Prior to 1778 Keppel failed to persuade Sandwich to ignore technical difficulties and "copper sheath only a few ships"; he was later possibly unfairly to make political capital out of this in The London Magazine, March 1781. He had remarked that coppering "gave additional strength to the navy" and he reproached Lord Sandwich with having "refused to sheath only a few ships with copper" at his request, when he had since ordered the whole navy to be sheathed. The lack of coppering the navy was one of the key reasons leading to Britain losing the Thirteen Colonies.^[20]

In 1778 the new Navy Board Controller Charles Middleton, who had the major problem at the time with supplying over 100 ships for the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), compounded that year by French opportunism in declaring war on Britain to support the American rebels, effectively turned what was a local civil war into a global conflict. Others followed: Spain in 1779 and the Netherlands in 1780. Middleton took the view that Britain was "outnumbered at every station", and the navy was required to "extricate us from present danger". He understood that coppering allowed the navy to stay at sea for much longer without the need for cleaning and repairs to the underwater hull, making it a very attractive, if expensive, proposition. On 21 January 1779 he wrote to the Admiralty, and petitioned King George directly. The King backed him for what was an expensive process for an untested technology, and in May 1779 he placed orders at the Portsmouth Docks for coppering a total 51 ships within a year.

During 1779 a combined Franco-Spanish fleet was able to sail into the English Channel to threaten the coast of Cornwall in the initial stage of a Franco-Spanish invasion of Britain. Sandwich was criticised for the failure of the smaller British Channel Fleet to prevent this, although the invasion never materialised.

After 1778, the primary objective in the war was maintaining control over the

By the time Sandwich's administration ended, he would take full credit for coppering the fleet as one of his great achievements when defending his record in office in January 1782.[22]

Personal life

For several years Sandwich had as a mistress Fanny Murray, the subject of John Wilkes' An Essay on Woman (1763), but he eventually married Dorothy Fane,^[23] daughter of the 1st Viscount Fane, by whom he had a son, John, Viscount Hinchingbrooke (1743–1814), who later succeeded as 5th Earl. Sandwich's first personal tragedy was his wife's deteriorating health and eventual insanity. During his wife's decline, Sandwich started an affair with a singer named Martha Ray. During their relationship, Ray bore him at least five, and perhaps as many as nine, children, including Basil Montagu (1770–1851), writer, jurist and philanthropist.^[24] According to several sources, Sandwich was unable to provide adequately and permanently for his mistress and their children; she therefore encouraged the suit of then captain James Hackman (who in March 1779 exchanged the army for the clergy).^{[citation needed]} In April 1779, Ray was killed by a shot to the head in the foyer of the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) at the hands of Hackman, Rector of Wiveton.^[25]

Sandwich never recovered from his grief. The events surrounding Ray's murder were depicted in the popular novel Love and Madness (1780) by Herbert Croft.

In a famous exchange with the actor Samuel Foote, Sandwich declared, "Foote, I have often wondered what catastrophe would bring you to your end; but I think, that you must either die of the pox, or the halter." "My lord", replied Foote instantaneously, "that will depend upon one of two contingencies; – whether I embrace your lordship's mistress, or your lordship's principles."^[26] This retort is often misattributed to John Wilkes.

Sandwich retired from public duty in 1782, and lived another ten years in retirement at what was then the family seat, Hinchingbrooke House, Huntingdonshire, dying on 30 April 1792. His title of Earl of Sandwich passed to his eldest son, John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich, who was 48 years old at the time.^{[citation needed]}

Sandwich was buried in All Saints' Church in Barnwell, Northamptonshire, of which only the chancel survives, kept to preserve the Montagu tombs.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Sandwich retired in 1782. Despite holding a number of important posts during his career, Sandwich's incompetence and corruption were legendary, inspiring the saying: "Seldom has any man held so many offices and accomplished so little."^[27]

Some historians have suggested that Lord Sandwich was not perhaps as incompetent as suggested, but that previous historians have placed too much emphasis on sources from his political enemies.^[28]

The sandwich

The modern

Lord Sandwich was a great supporter of Captain

After his naval career, Sandwich turned his energy toward music. He became a great proponent of "ancient music" (defined by him as music more than two decades old). He was the patron of the Italian violinist Felice Giardini, and created a "Catch Club", where professional singers would sing "ancient" and modern catches, glees, and madrigals. He also put on performances of George Frideric Handel's oratorios, masques, and odes at his estate. Sandwich was instrumental in putting together the Concert of Ancient Music, the first public concert to showcase a canonic repertory of old works.^[1]

Chronology

• 1718: The 4th Earl of Sandwich is born on 13 November 1718
• 1729: Succeeds his grandfather, Edward Montague, 3rd Earl of Sandwich, in the earldom
• 1729: Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge
• 1740/41 (old style/new style), 14 March:^{[clarification needed]} marries The Hon. Dorothy Fane at St James's, Westminster
• 1746: Sent as plenipotentiary to the congress at Breda, and continues to take part in the negotiations for peace until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle is signed in 1748
• 1748–1751: First term as First Lord of the Admiralty
• 1749–1756: Bailiff of the Bedford Level Corporation
• 1763: Becomes one of the principal secretaries of state^[vague]
• 1763: Second term as First Lord of the Admiralty
• 1768: Appointed Postmaster General
• 1770: Becomes Secretary of State
• 1771–1782: Third and last term as First Lord of the Admiralty (during this term: the American Revolutionary War, 1775–1783)
• 1779: His mistress Martha Ray, mother of five of his children, murdered by her admirer James Hackman in Covent Garden
• 1782: Retires in March
• 1792: Dies on 30 April

In literature and popular media

A plate of Sir Peter Lely's 1666 portrait of the 1st Earl appeared in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837, together with a facsimile signature and a poetical illustration The Earl of Sandwich. by Letitia Elizabeth Landon, which actually relates to the 4th Earl (the islands being so-called in his honour).^[40]

Actor

• Secretary of State (England)
• Secretary of State for the Northern Department
• List of first lords of the Admiralty
• Postmaster General of the United Kingdom

References

Bibliography

• Baker-Smith, Veronica (2008). Royal Discord: The Family of George III. Athena Press. pp. 232 pages.
  ISBN 978-1-84748-067-5
  .
• Black, Jeremy (2005) [1962]. The Continental Commitment: Britain, Hanover and Interventionism, 1714–1793. Routledge. pp. 292 pages.
• Levy, Martin (January 2005). Love & Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of Sandwich Paperback. Harper Perennial. pp. 240 pages.
  ISBN 0-06-055975-6
  .
• Longmate, Norman (2001). Island Fortress: The Defence of Great Britain, 1603–1945. Pimlico.
• Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens.
  ISBN 978-1-900592-52-9
  .
• Quanchi, Max (2005). Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands. The Scarecrow Press.
  ISBN 0-8108-5395-7
  .
• ISBN 0-393-03587-5
  .
• Syrett, David (1998). The Royal Navy in European Waters During the American Revolutionary War. University of South Carolina.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
• Whiteley, Peter (1996). Lord North: The Prime Minister Who Lost America. Hambledon Press.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sandwich, John Montagu, 4th Earl of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Rodger, N. A. M. "Montagu, John, fourth earl of Sandwich (1718–1792)".
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19026. (Subscription or UK public library membership
  required.)
• "Montagu, John, 4th Earl of Sandwich (MNTG735J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

External links

• "Montague family history page". Archived from the original on 18 May 2000.
• Guide to the papers of Lord Sandwich, 1718–1792 held and digitised by the National Library of Australia
• Smithsonian Magazine article on the Earl's Love Triangle Archived 29 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
• The Lives & Times of the Hell-Fire Club

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Political offices
Preceded by The Duke of Bedford	First Lord of the Admiralty 1748–1751	Succeeded by The Lord Anson
Preceded by George Grenville	First Lord of the Admiralty 1763	Succeeded by The Earl of Egmont
Preceded by The Earl of Halifax	Northern Secretary 1763–1765	Succeeded by The Duke of Grafton
Preceded by The Earl of Rochford	Northern Secretary 1770–1771	Succeeded by The Earl of Halifax
Preceded by Sir Edward Hawke	First Lord of the Admiralty 1771–1782	Succeeded by The Viscount Keppel
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Duke of Queensberry and Dover	Senior Privy Counsellor 1778–1792	Succeeded by The Marquess of Downshire
Peerage of England
Preceded by Edward Montagu	Earl of Sandwich 1729–1792	Succeeded by John Montagu