George Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, KG

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

 PC, FRS

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

 (26 July 1712 – 23 May 1790) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 peer

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

.

He was born George Brudenell in 1712 at Cardigan House, Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...

, in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, the son of the 3rd Earl of Cardigan and his wife, the former Lady Elizabeth Bruce. Lady Cardigan's parents were the 2nd Earl of Ailesbury and 3rd Earl of Elgin

Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury

Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury and 3rd Earl of Elgin was the son of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin and Lady Diana Grey. His maternal grandparents were Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford and Lady Anne Cecil, daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter...

 and the former Lady Elizabeth Seymour, granddaughter of the 2nd Duke of Somerset

William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset

Sir William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, KG was an English nobleman and Royalist commander in the English Civil War....

. As his father's eldest son and heir apparent he was styled Lord Brudenell from birth.

He was baptised on 1 August 1712 at St Giles-in-the-Fields. He married Lady Mary Montagu, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Montagu

John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu

John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu, KG, KB, PC , styled Viscount Monthermer until 1705 and Marquess of Monthermer between 1705 and 1709, was a British peer...

 (of the first creation), on 7 July 1730 in the aforementioned church.

He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford on 1 July 1726 and graduated from there on 31 January 1729 with a Master of Arts

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 degree. He succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Cardigan in 1732. He had two children who survived infancy:

• John Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton and Marquess of Monthermer (18 March 1735–11 April 1770)
• Lady Elizabeth Montagu (29 May 1743– 21 November 1827), who married Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch
  Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch
  Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch and 5th Duke of Queensberry KG KT FRSE was a Scottish nobleman and long-time friend of the notable Sir Walter Scott...
  
   and had issue.

He inherited the estates of his father-in-law, the Duke of Montagu, on his death in 1749, and assumed the surname "Montagu" for himself and his children on 15 July 1749. In 1752 he was made a Knight of the Garter, and in 1766 he was created Duke of Montagu and Marquess of Monthermer. His son (who by now was styled Marquess of Monthermer) had been created a peer in his own right in 1762 as Baron Montagu, but died unmarried in 1770, and, with no male heirs, Montagu was created Baron Montagu, of Boughton in the County of Northampton

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, with a special remainder to the younger sons of his daughter, who had married Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch

Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch

Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch and 5th Duke of Queensberry KG KT FRSE was a Scottish nobleman and long-time friend of the notable Sir Walter Scott...

.

From 1789 to 1790, he was Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire

Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire

This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire. Huntingdonshire became part of Huntingdon and Peterborough in 1965; see Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough...

.

He died in 1790 aged 77, without surviving male issue. The Dukedom of Montagu and Marquessate of Monthermer became extinct, the Earldom of Cardigan and its associated titles passed to his brother, and the Barony of Montagu passed to his grandson, Lord Henry Scott (who assumed the surname "Montagu-Scott", and on whose death the Barony became extinct).