| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Sandwich | |
| Office1: | Member of Parliament for Dover |
| Term Start1: | 1670 |
| Term End1: | 1672 |
| Alongside1: | George Montagu |
| Predecessor1: | George Montagu Sir Francis Vincent, Bt |
| Successor1: | George Montagu Sir Edward Spragge |
| Birth Name: | Edward Montagu |
| Birth Date: | 3 January 1647 |
| Parents: | Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich Hon. Jemima Crew |
| Children: | 3 |
| Relatives: | Sidney Montagu (brother) John Montagu (brother) Walter Montagu (cousin) Sidney Montagu (grandfather) John Crew, 1st Baron Crew (grandfather) |
Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich (3 January 1647/48 - 29 November 1688)[1] was an English aristocrat and politician.
Montagu was born in Hinchinbrooke, Huntingdonshire, England on 3 January 1647/48.[2] He was a son of the former Hon. Jemima Crew and Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of England to Portugal. Among his many siblings were Hon. Sidney Montagu, Hon. John Montagu (the Dean of Durham), Lady Jemima Montagu (who married Sir Philip Carteret), Lady Anne Montagu (who married Sir Richard Edgecumbe), and Lady Catherine Montagu (who married Nicholas Bacon).[3]
His father was the only surviving son and heir of Sir Sidney Montagu of Hinchingbrooke Master of Requests and, his first wife, Pauline Pepys (third daughter of John Pepys of Cottenham). Montagu's grandfather was a younger brother of Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester.[3] His maternal grandparents were John Crew, 1st Baron Crew and the former Jemima Waldegrave (a daughter and co-heiress of Joan and Edward Waldegrave of Lawford Hall). Among his maternal relatives included uncles Thomas Crew, 2nd Baron Crew and Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew (the Bishop of Durham) and aunt Anne Crew, who married Sir Henry Wright, 1st Baronet of Dagenham.[4]
He was educated mainly in Paris, where he lived with his cousin Walter Montagu, although he is said "not to have been much of a scholar". After Montagu's father was raised to the peerage as the Earl of Sandwich in 1660, Edward was styled Viscount Hinchingbrooke until his accession as the 2nd Earl in 1672. From 1661 to 1664, he travelled in France and from 1664 to 1665, he travelled in Italy.[3]
From 1670, until his succession to the earldom in 1672, he was a Member of Parliament for Dover, serving alongside George Montagu.[3] After he left the House of Commons, his seat was taken over by Sir Edward Spragge.
In 1681, Edward was to be appointed Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire upon his return from abroad, but he never took up the office, which was exercised successively by Robert Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury and Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury. The 1st Earl also exercised for him, in the same fashion, the office of Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in 1685, but the appointment was rescinded after Ailesbury's death the same year.
His father's biographer described him as "a steady, not very robust young man, who would never set the Thames alight".[5] Edward's brief marriage to Anne Boyle seems to have been happy enough: his mother had a warm regard for her daughter-in-law.[6]
Viscount Hinchingbrooke was betrothed to Elizabeth Malet (the daughter of John Mallet of Enmore Manor and heiress to his great fortune). The engagement was broken off at her request: she later married John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.[7] It was said that she found Edward "unexciting"; historians have remarked that she is likely to have found far more excitement than she could have wished for with Rochester, who was probably the most debauched rakehell of his era.[8]
In January 1667, Montagu was married to Lady Anne Boyle, daughter of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork and Lady Elizabeth Clifford, suo jure Baroness Clifford, as the only surviving child of Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland.[9] Among Lady Anne's siblings were Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan, Richard Boyle (who died before they married at the Battle of Lowestoft), Lady Frances Boyle (wife of Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon), Lady Elizabeth Boyle (wife of Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Thanet), and Lady Henrietta Boyle (wife of Lawrence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester).[10] Together, they had three children:[3]
His wife, Lady Anne died in 1671. Lord Sandwich died on 29 November 1688.[3] Their eldest Edward, who inherited the Earldom, is generally considered to have been insane. There is no evidence that the condition was hereditary, although the first Earl seems to have suffered from depression in his later years.[12]