Family and Education

bap. 25 Apr. 1634, 1st s. of Edward Montagu^†, 2nd Earl of Manchester, by 2nd w. Lady Anne Rich, da. of Robert Rich^†, 2nd Earl of Warwick. educ. travelled abroad 1649-54. m. 27 June 1655, Anne da. of Sir Christopher Yelverton, 1st Bt.^†, of Easton Maudit, Northants., 5s. (2 d.v.p.) 4da. suc. fa. 7 May 1671.1

Offices Held

Capt. of militia horse, Hunts. Apr. 1660; j.p. Hunts. and Northants. July 1660-?81; commr. for oyer and terminer, Midland circuit July 1660, assessment, Hunts. Aug. 1660-71, Huntingdon and Northants. 1663-71; dep. lt. Hunts. c. Aug. 1660-71, ld. lt. 1671-81, custos rot. 1672-81; water-bailiff, Whittlesea mere 1672-d.; high steward, Camb. Univ. 1677-d.2

Gent. of the bedchamber 1666-81; master of the swans 1672-d.3

Capt. Duke of Monmouth’s Horse 1666-7.4

Biography

Lord Mandeville’s grandfather, a younger brother of the 1st Lord Montagu of Boughton, purchased Kimbolton in 1615. His father, the well-known parliamentary general, was the leader of the Presbyterian Royalists. Mandeville had no political experience before 1660 when he was returned for the county at the general election. He was appointed to the committee for the bill on purchases of public lands, and was one of the twelve messengers sent by the Commons to Charles II at The Hague. Otherwise he was inactive in the Convention; but he was doubtless a court supporter, being rewarded with a lease of the crown lands forfeited by the regicide Valentine Walton.5

Mandeville was re-elected in 1661, but he was again inactive in the Cavalier Parliament, with only 19 committees. In the opening session he served on the committee for confirming public Acts, and was teller against allowing all Members who came to it to vote. He was also appointed to the committees for the corporations bill and the bill of pains and penalties. He was one of the Members who attended the King with a petition for the removal of the disbanded soldiers from the metropolitan area. After this his activity waned, and he was not regarded as a serious politician, though he was marked as a court dependant in 1664. Perhaps to please his father, he served on the committee for the Lord’s Day observance bill in 1664 and acted as teller for agreeing with the Lords’ proviso to the conventicles bill on 28 Mar. 1670. He was described as ‘a bed-chamber pimp [who] has had great boons that way’, and indeed his salary of £1,000 p.a. seems to have been paid with unusual regularity. His name appears on both lists of the court party in 1669-71.6

But after Mandeville had succeeded as 3rd Earl of Manchester he became an opposition peer, and was marked ‘worthy’ by Shaftesbury in 1679. After voting for the second exclusion bill he was dismissed from all his offices. In October 1681 he was reported to be ‘keeping very close consults with the cabalistical men’ in Northamptonshire, such as Sir Thomas Samwell and Thomas Andrew, and he judged it prudent to go abroad. He died at Montpellier on 14 Mar. 1683, and was buried at Kimbolton. His younger sons sat for Huntingdonshire as Whigs under William III, and his heir was created Duke of Manchester in 1719.7

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / E. R. Edwards

Notes

• 1. CSP Dom. 1649-50, pp. 105-6; 1654, p. 86.
• 2. Parl. Intell. 30 Apr. 1660; CSP Dom. 1672, p. 214; 1680-1, pp. 173, 204.
• 3. CSP Dom. 1665-6, p. 252; 1672, p. 214; 1680-1, p. 427; HMC 6th Rep. 337.
• 4. CSP Dom. 1665-6, p. 576.
• 5. VCH Hunts. iii. 81; Cal. Treas. Bks. i. 98.
• 6. CJ, viii. 250, 317; Pepys Diary, 22 Jan. 1662; Harl. 7020, f. 44v.
• 7. CSP Dom. 1680-1, p. 535; 1682, p. 623; Northants. RO, FH2893D; Bodl. Carte 80, f. 823; HMC Rutland, ii. 72.