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Victor Montagu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Victor Edward Paulet Montagu, 10th Earl of Sandwich (22 May 1906–25 February 1995), disclaimed the title Earl of Sandwich and known from birth until 1962 as Viscount Hinchingbrooke, was a Conservative Member of Parliament and right-wing politician.
Montagu was the eldest son of the 9th Earl of Sandwich, was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1926, he joined the 5th (Huntingdonshire) Battalion of The Northamptonshire Regiment as a Lieutenant. He then joined the Conservatives and was Private Secretary to the Lord President of the Council, Stanley Baldwin, from 1932 to 1934 and Treasurer of the Junior Imperial League from 1934 to 1935.
He briefly served in France during World War II in 1940. A year later, he was elected MP for South Dorset, replacing Viscount Cranborne, who was called up to the House of Lords. A radical backbencher, Montagu setup the Tory Reform Committee in 1943, and was its founding chairman until a year later. It was at this time he wrote Essays in Tory Reform, a response to the party's moves toward liberalism.
Montagu was elected in the following five general election, and continued as MP for South Dorset until 1962 when his father died. Montagu succeeded to his titles and could no longer sit in the Commons. Lord Sandwich did dislaim his peerage in 1964, however, under the Peerage Act, which was passed a year earlier. Although he did not sit in the Commons again, Montagu was President of the Anti-Common Market League from 1962–84; he also joined the Conservative Monday Club in 1964 and wrote The Conservative Dilemma in 1970.
On 27 July 1934, Montagu had married Rosemary Peto, a goddaughter of Queen Maud of Norway and the only daughter of Maj. Ralph Peto. They divorced in 1958 after having seven children and Montagu then married Lady Anne Holland-Martin, the youngest daughter of the 9th Duke of Devonshire and widow of Christopher Holland-Martin MP; their marriage was annulled in 1965.
Montagu died in 1995, aged 88 and his eldest son, John, reclaimed his former earldom.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Viscount Cranborne |
Member of Parliament for South Dorset 1941–1962 |
Succeeded by Guy Barnett |
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by George Montagu |
Earl of Sandwich (disclaimed) 1962–1964 |
Succeeded by John Montagu |