John Montagu: 4th Earl of Sandwhich & Avid Gambler

John Montagu was born on November 13^th, 1718 in Cheswick, England to Edward Richard Montagu and Elizabeth Popham Montagu. When he was only four years old, his father passed away unexpectedly.

His mother quickly remarried but refused to take her son with her; he ended up being raised by his grandparents. His grandfather died just before his eleventh birthday and his grandmother ran off to Paris with the remainder of the family’s money.

Although John had no money to his name, he became the 4^th Earl of Sandwich preceding his grandfather’s death.

He first attended Eton College where he studied the languages of both Latin and Greek.

In the spring of 1735, John enrolled in Trinity College where he attended for two years before he decided to spend some time traveling around Europe. He spent an entire year in France before visiting Egypt, Greece, Italy, and a plethora of countries across Europe.

Upon returning to Sandwich in 1739, he was able to take his seat in the House of Lords as a follower of the Duke of Bedford upon his twenty-first birthday. It was nearly six years until he was really given any important responsibilities.

In 1745, he was sent on a mission to Holland to be the Captain in the Duke of Bedford’s Regiment of foot, later becoming 2^nd Colonel of the Duke of Montagu’s Regiment of foot later that year.

In 1746, he was sent as a plenipotentiary to the congress at Breda where they worked on developing plans to sustain peace across Europe.

John Montagu also served as the Postmaster General, the British Ambassador to the Dutch Republic, and the Secretary of State for the Northern Department during his career.

He was respected for his long speeches that despite lacking an element of elegance were very straightforward and informative. He stood strong on his belief that his country needed to expand their Navy instead of deploying British troops.

With extra money that he had won through a good night of gambling, John financially supported Captain Cook’s voyage through the Pacific Ocean where he discovered Australia and a group of small islands on the Pacific Ocean which he named, “The Sandwich Islands,” to show his appreciation. These islands are better known today as the islands of Hawaii.

Sometimes his positions lead him to take violent measures which inevitably lead to people losing their lives. John is responsible for the prosecution of the former British Politician, John Wilkes, who admittedly elected people for office specifically due to a bribe they had given him.

John also was a commander in the Royal Navy during the Revolutionary War, where many soldier’s lives were lost under his watch. John was never afraid to do whatever it took to get the job done and this is also reflected in his approach to gambling.

One thing you may not have known about John is that, despite his seemingly flawless lifestyle, he had a dark secret waiting for him at home: his mentally unstable wife. To forget about his troubles, John would spend the evenings gambling the night away.

There were a plethora of different card games that he enjoyed gambling on but his favorite was most certainly Euchre. He had learned to play Euchre while serving in the Royal Navy, as he would often gamble against his fellow Navy men whenever they had free time.

John would gamble in the comfort of his own home, inviting people from all over Europe to join in his addiction. He would never leave the table to eat, but instead would ask his servants to bring him slices of meat between two white pieces of bread: an unknown combination to people at that time.

Soon his competitors started saying, “I’ll take the same as Sandwich.”

He stood out amongst other gamblers for his endurance when it came to gambling, as it wasn’t uncommon for him to play consecutively for twenty-four hours or more.

John had several different romantic partners over the course of his lifetime that it’s too hard to keep up. However, we cannot overlook his wife, Dorothy Fane, who is the mother of their son, John, the 5th Earl of Sandwich.

John sent her away to live at the Windsor Castle, where he paid for people to take care of her until she passed away.

While his wife was still alive, John had several mistresses included the famous Opera singer, Martha Ray. James Hackman, Rector of Wiveton, was jealous of John’s success, so he murdered Martha in the foyer of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.

The person who John claimed to be his one true love was gone forever and he was never fully able to recover from that tragedy. Prior to her death, they had several children together including Basil, who grew up to be a successful lawyer who was able to modernize England’s bankruptcy laws.

Although Sandwich was what one might consider royalty, he could never have been considered rich. In fact, he often borrowed money from a number of his royal connections, borrowing the most from the Prince of Wales.

He asked a close, wealthy friend of his, Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, to financially support his children after he passed away.

John Montagu retired in 1782, moving to the quaint town of Huntingdonshire where he would spend the remainder of his life. In his spare time, John loved listening to live music and subsequently initiated the first annual Concert of Ancient Music.

He hired a bunch of music professionals that he named the “Catch Club,” to sing and play ancient pieces of musical solely for him. His favorite time to listen to music was while playing Euchre, as it supposedly helped him focus.

Due to his gambling addiction that got increasingly worse as he aged, he passed away in 1792 with no money to his name.