John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron
Montagu of Beaulieu (10 June 1866 – 30 March 1929), was a British
Conservative politician and promoter of motoring.
Montagu was the
eldest son of Henry Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of
Beaulieu, second son of Walter Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch. His mother was the Hon. Cecily Susan, daughter of John
Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe. He went to Eton College
where he rowed, and shot for his school at Wimbledon. He then went to
New College, Oxford and helped the New College boat to the Head of the
River. He rowed for the Oxford Etonians in the 1887 Grand Challenge Cup
with Guy Nickalls and Douglas McLean although without success. He worked
for a year in the sheds of the London and South Western Railway and
became a practical engineer. Then he went round the world with his
cousin, Lord Ancram, and his friend, Lord Ennismore.
Montagu
entered Parliament for New Forest in 1895, a seat he held until 1905,
when he succeeded his father in the barony and entered the House of
Lords. During the First World War Montagu was an acting member of the
War Aircraft Committee from March to April 1916 and an adviser on
Mechanical Transport Services to the Indian government (with the rank of
Honorary Brigadier-General). He is chiefly remembered as a promoter of
motoring and was the founder and editor of The Car Illustrated magazine
and a member of the Road Board.
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu married
firstly Lady Cecil Kerr, daughter of Schomberg Kerr, 9th Marquess of
Lothian, in 1889. She died in September 1919, aged 53. He married
secondly Alice Pearl, daughter of Major Edward Barrington Crake, in
1920. There were children from both marriages. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu
died in March 1929, aged 62, and was succeeded in the barony by his only
son,
Edward. Lady Montagu of Beaulieu later remarried and died in April
1996, aged 101.
During his first marriage Beaulieu had a daughter
by his mistress and secretary Eleanor Thornton. Wanting an appropriate
mascot for his Rolls-Royce, and using Eleanor Velasco Thornton as a
model, the sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes was commissioned to design
the precursor (called "The Whisper") of the Spirit of Ecstasy; the
famous winged mascot that has adorned nearly every Rolls-Royce car since
1911.
On 30 December 1915, with his mistress Eleanor Thornton,
Montagu was on board the SS Persia sailing through the Mediterranean on
the way to India when the ship was torpedoed without warning by the
German U-boat U-38 commanded by Max Valentiner. Thornton was drowned,
with hundreds of others, but Montagu survived the sinking.
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