Montagu, John

John Montagu (1718-1795), naval officer, governor, was born in Lackham, Wiltshire, the son of James Montague and a great-great-grandson of the first Earl of Manchester. Montagu married Sophia Wroughton of Wilcot, Wiltshire in 1748. They were the parents of one daughter and four sons. The three younger sons, George (1750-1829), James (1752-94) and Edward (1755-99) all followed their father into the service, George reaching the rank of admiral, James captain in the navy and Edward lieutenant-colonel in the army. George served as flag-captain to his father during the latter's last year at Newfoundland. Montagu retired to Fareham in Hampshire, where he died on 7 September 1795.

Montagu entered the Royal Academy at Portsmouth on 14 August 1733 and served on board a number of vessels during the next seven years. He was promoted to lieutenant on 22 December 1740 and assigned to the Buckingham the following February. He attained the rank of commander in March 1744/5, and was made captain in January 1745/6 on board the 40-gun ship Ambuscade, seeing action at Cape Finistre the following May. He saw limited command in the eight years between 1748-56, during which time he served as Member of Parliament for Huntington.

Montagu returned to active duty in 1757 as captain of the Monarque. One of his first responsibilities was to carry out the sentence of the court martial of Admiral John Byng (Governor of Newfoundland 1742) who had been found guilty of negligence for his decision to retreat from the French forces at Minorca the previous year. Byng was shot by firing squad on the quarter-deck of the Monarque on 14 March.

Montagu saw battle in various European engagements during the Seven Years' War (1756-63). In 1770 he was made Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron and the following year, Commander-in-Chief of the North American station, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to Florida and the Bahamas, a position he held until 1776 when he was made Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Newfoundland. In February of that year he was raised to Vice Admiral of the Blue.

While in charge of the Newfoundland station, Montagu was mainly concerned with the protection of the coast and the fishing fleet from American privateers. With the outbreak of renewed hostilities with France in 1778, he ordered the capture of St. Pierre and Miquelon, had the town burned, and the 1392 residents sent back to France.

Montagu's tour of duty in Newfoundland ended in 1778 and he returned to England. From 1783-86 he served as Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth and rose through the admiralty ranks, being made Admiral of the White Squadron on 24 September 1787.