MONTAGU, James (?1687-1748), of Belford, Northumb. and Newbold Verdon, Leics.

A Whig under Queen Anne, Montagu was associated with his uncle Sidney Wortley in the cartel controlling the Tyneside coal trade in the early eighteenth century.E. Hughes, N. Country Life in 18th Cent. 167-8, 233. Returned for Camelford in 1715, he voted with the Administration except on the peerage bill in 1719, which he opposed. Unsuccessful for Durham in 1722, and growing deaf, he spent the major part of his time at Newbold Verdon, where he made great improvements to the house and grounds. In 1726 he sold the Belford estate, inherited from his mother, for £12,000. He died during a visit to London 30 Oct. 1748,New Hist. Northumb, i. 392; e. J. Climenson, Elizabeth Montagu, i. 262; Letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu (1809), ii. 303-4. leaving Newbold Verdon to his cousin, Edward Wortley.PCC 336 Strahan.