Charles Montagu (of Boughton)

For other people named Charles Montagu, see Charles Montagu (disambiguation).

Painting of Sir Charles Montagu of Cranbrook. His quartered arms are impaled with those of his first wife Lettice, daughter of Henry Clifford of Keystone
Mural monument to Sir Charles Montagu St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex. His quartered arms at top impale Vert fretty or (Whitmore, for his wife)
Arms of Sir Charles Montagu, as seen on his monument, Montagu of Boughton (Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, differenced by a bordure sable[1]) quartering Monthermer

Sir Charles Montagu (c. 1564 – 11 September 1625) of Cranbrook Hall[2] in the parish of Barking, Essex, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1614 to 1625.

Montagu was one of the eight sons of Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton House in Northamptonshire by his wife Elizabeth Harington, a daughter of James Harington of Exton, Rutland and Lucy Sidney.[3] Among his brothers were Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton, ancestor of Montagu, Dukes of Montagu; Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester, ancestor of Montagu, Dukes of Manchester and Montagu, Earls of Halifax and Sir Sidney Montagu, ancestor of Montagu, Earls of Sandwich. He was knighted at York or at Grimston Park on 18 April 1603.[4][5]

He was elected as a Member of Parliament for Harwich in 1614, after Sir Robert Mansell was elected for two constituencies, and chose to sit for another. Montagu sat until 1620.[6]

In 1621, he was elected as an MP for Higham Ferrers. He was re-elected MP for Higham Ferrers in 1624 and 1625.[7]

Montagu died at the age of 61 and was buried in St Margaret's Church, Barking where survives his mural monument depicting a small effigy of Sir Charles fully armed, sitting in a military tent during a campaign.[8][9] Inscribed as follows:

Heere lieth the body of ye worthy knight Sr Charles Montagu who died at his house at Cranbrook in Essex in the parish of Barking the 11th of September in ye yeere of our Lorde God 1625 being of ye age of 61 yeares who gave to ye poore of Barking forty pounds[10]
  1. ^ The pedigree claims descent from that family but is unproven. The bordure for difference appears to acknowledge an illegitimate descent, as is suggested in Collins Peerage
  2. ^ Residence stated on inscription on his monument in St Margaret's Church, Barking
  3. ^ T.G. Smollett, 'A Genealogical Account of Montagu, Duke of Manchester', The British Magazine, or, Monthly Repository for Gentlemen & Ladies, Vol. II (James Payne, London 1761), pp. 576-83, at p. 579 (Google).
  4. ^ W.A. Shaw, Knights of England, 2 vols (Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906), II, p. 101 (Hathi Trust).
  5. ^ Henry Ellis, Original Letters, 1st series vol. 3 (London, 1824), p. 75.
  6. ^ V.C.D. Moseley and R. Sgroi, 'Montagu, Sir Charles (1567-1625), of Lombard Street, London and Cranbrook, Barking, Essex', in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (Cambridge University Press 2010), History of Parliament Online.
  7. ^ Browne Willis, Notitia Parliamentaria, or, An History of the Counties, Cities, and Boroughs in England and Wales: ...The whole extracted from MSS and printed evidences (Author, London 1750), pp. 176-239 (Google).
  8. ^ See image (zoomable)
  9. ^ T. Cromwell, Excursions in the county of Essex, 2 vols (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London 1818), II, p. 179 (Google).
  10. ^ See zoomable image