Montagu, Edward, 2nd Earl of Manchester

Person

Montagu, Edward, 2nd Earl of Manchester

1602 – 5 May 1671

Eldest son of Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester by his first wife, Catherine Spencer, daughter of Sir William Spencer of Yarnton, Oxfordshire. Educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. MP for Huntingdonshire, 1623-1626. Accompanied Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles I) to Spain in 1623 on his mission to marry the Infanta of Spain. In May 1626 he received the barony of Kimbolton and in the same year was styled Viscount Mandeville when his father was created Earl of Manchester. He inherited his father's title in 1642. A commander of Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War, in August 1643 he was made Major-General of forces in the eastern counties and in July 1644 was in general control as field officer at the Battle of Marston Moor. However, possibly a result of the carnage he witnessed at that battle, from November 1644 he opposed continuing the War and in April 1645 resigned his command. He took part in negotiations with Charles I and opposed his trial. He was made Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in March 1649 but was dismissed in 1651 for refusing to take the vow of loyalty to the Commonwealth. Having retired from public life during the Commonwealth, he facilitated the Restoration of the Monarchy; as Speaker of the House of Lords he welcomed the King in 1660. He received many honours from the monarch, including being reinstated as Chancellor of Cambridge and being made lord chamberlain of the King's household. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1661 and a General, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1667. He was married five times and had four children.

Ian J Gentles, 'Montagu, Edward, 2nd Earl of Manchester', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/19009.