Sir William Montagu (c.1618 – 26 August 1706) was an English judge and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

variously between 1640 and 1695.

Life

Montagu was a younger son of

Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton, (c. 1562 – 15 June 1644), also known as Sir Edward Montague of Boughton Castle, was an English politician. Life Montagu was the son of Sir Edward Montagu and his wife Elizabeth Harington ...

and his second wife Frances Cotton. He was educated at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

and admitted to

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

on 15 April 1632. He was admitted to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

on 22 October 1635. In April 1640, Montagu was elected Member of Parliament for

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

. He was called to the bar on 11 February 1642. In 1660, Montagu was elected MP for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in the Convention Parliament. History of Parliament Online - William Montague
/ref> He was elected MP for Stamford in 1661 for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. With the exception of the Long Parliament, it was the longest-lasting English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring ...

and sat until 1676. He became Attorney-General to Queen

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

in 1662, holding the post until 1676. He was Treasurer of the Middle Temple in 1663 and Autumn reader in 1664. In 1676 he became Serjeant-at-Law and was

Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pres ...

from 1676 to 1686. He sat on the Bench at several of the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinat ...

trials, and appeared just as credulous as the other judges about the testimony of Oates and the other informers; but at the trial of

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father was the Baptis ...

for perjury in 1685, under pressure from Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, he claimed that he had never thought Oates a credible witness. He is said to have pleaded for clemency in the case of the Dominican priest Lionel Anderson, convicted in 1680 of the

capital crime Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

of acting as a priest within England, since Lionel's father was a friend of his: Lionel, who was something a

royal favourite Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roy ...

in any event, was reprieved, but banished from England. Montagu was removed from the bench in 1686 because he refused to give an unqualified opinion in favour of the

Royal Prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, Privilege (law), privilege, and immunity recognised in common law (and sometimes in Civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy) as belonging to the monarch, so ...

of dispensing individuals from the provisions of a statute, which was a crucial part of James II's policy of toleration for Roman Catholics. He was assessor to the

Convention Parliament (1689) The English Convention was an assembly of the Parliament of England which met between 22 January and 12 February 1689 (1688 old style, so its legislation was labelled with that earlier year) and transferred the crowns of England and Ireland from ...

. Montagu died in 1706 and was buried at

Weekley Weekley is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Northamptonshire, on the outskirts of Kettering. The village's name probably means, 'wood/clearing by the Romano-British vicus', a trading settlement. There are two known R ...

Family

Montagu married: * Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Ralph Freeman of Aspeden, Hertfordshire; they had a son, **Christopher; * Mary, (died 10 March 1699 – 1700) daughter of Sir John Aubrey, bart.; they had a son and a daughter, ** William, married, 29 May 1670, Mary Anne, daughter of Richard Evelyn of Woodcote, Surrey, brother of

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...

the diarist, and died without issue in 1690; ** Elizabeth, married Sir William Drake of Shardeloes, Buckinghamshire.

References

;Attribution , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Montagu, William 1610s births 1706 deaths People from Huntingdon People educated at Oundle School Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple Serjeants-at-law (England) Chief Barons of the Exchequer English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1660 Members of the pre-1707 Parliament of England for the University of Cambridge English MPs 1690–1695

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...