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MONTAGU, Edward I (c.1530-1602), of Boughton, Northants.
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Biography Detail
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. c.1530, 1st surv. s. of Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton by his 3rd w. Helen, da. of John Roper. m. 1557, Elizabeth, da. of James Harington I of Exton, Rutland, 8s. inc. Henry, Sidney and Edward Montagu II 4da. suc. fa. 1556. Kntd. bet. 1568 and 1570.
Offices Held
J.p. Northants, from c.1559, sheriff 1559-60, 1570-1, 1588-9, 1600-1, dep. lt. 1570; commr. to regulate ‘export’ of corn 1572, Peterborough cathedral lands 1574, religious ‘disorders’ Northampton 1579, recusancy 1590s.
Biography
Montagu’s father was a judge who speculated in monastic lands, acquiring in Northamptonshire alone ‘eleven manors, one castle (presumably Barnwell), one baronial residence’ and the patronage of eight livings. After receiving livery of his lands in June 1557 Montagu himself, who represented his shire once only, in the ill-reported 1559 Parliament, added to his Northamptonshire estates by a grant of concealed lands in the county, and bought the manor of Trafford and woods near Brigstock. He also purchased Bedfordshire property at Newton, Overdean and Woodhall. He was rich enough to give two of his daughters marriage portions of £3,000. The bishops’ letters to the Council in 1564 described him as an ‘earnest furtherer’ of religion; locally he was known as ‘the friend of Kettering’, and many of his contemporaries remarked on his piety and justice, his wisdom and service to the county. In August 1570, when the Earl of Sussex sent him his patent as deputy lieutenant, he added a note that he bestowed it ‘with as good a will as I would upon any man in England’. Montagu was one of those who attended the funeral of Mary Queen of Scots on 1 Aug. 1587. He died on 26 Jan. 1602.
C142/109/4, 269/91; Vis. Northants. (Harl. Soc. lxxxvii), 136; HMC Montagu, 6, 11; Bridges, Northants. ii. passim; C. Wise, Montagus of Boughton, 17-18; CPR, 1555-7, p. 321; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 35; APC, viii. 143, 323, 341; xi. 133, 159; xiii. 153; xiv. 140; xxi. passim; xxii. 52; CSP Dom. 1581-90, p. 330; HMC Bath, v. 83; PCC 1 Montagu.
