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4TH EARL OF JOHN MONTAGU SANDWICH (17...

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 143 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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4TH See also:

EARL OF See also:JOHN See also:MONTAGU See also:SANDWICH (1718–1792)  , was See also:born on the 3rd of See also:November 1718 and succeeded his See also:grand-See also:father, See also:Edward, the 3rd See also:earl, in the earldom in 1729 . Educated at See also:Eton and at Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge, he spent some See also:time in travelling, and on his return to See also:England in 1739 he took his seat in the See also:House of Lords as a follower of the See also:duke of See also:Bedford . He was soon appointed one of the commissioners of the See also:admiralty under Bedford and a See also:colonel in the See also:army . In 1746 he was sent as plenipotentiary to the See also:congress at See also:Breda, and he continued to take See also:part in the negotiations for See also:peace until the treaty of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle was concluded in 1748 . In See also:February 1748 he became first See also:lord of the admiralty, retaining this See also:post until he was dismissed by the See also:king in See also:June 1951 . In See also:August 1753 See also:Sandwich became one of the See also:principal secretaries of See also:state, and while filling this See also:office he took a leading part in the See also:prosecution of See also:John Wilkes . He had been associated with Wilkes in the notorious fraternity of Medmenham, and his attitude now in turning against the former See also:companion of his pleasures made him very unpopular, and, from a See also:line in the See also:Beggar's See also:Opera, he was known henceforward as " Jemmy Twitcher." He was postmaster-See also:general in 1768, secretary of state in 1770, and again first lord of the admiralty from 1771 to 1782 . For corruption and incapacity Sandwich's See also:administration is unique in the See also:history of the See also:British See also:navy . Offices were bought, stores were stolen and, worst of all, See also:ships, unseaworthy and inadequately equipped, were sent to fight the battles of their See also:country . The first lord became very unpopular in this connexion also, and his retirement in See also:March 1782 was hailed with joy . Sandwich married Dorothy, daughter of See also:Charles, 1st See also:viscount Fane, by whom he had a son John (1743—1814), who became the 5th earl . He had also several See also:children by the See also:singer See also:Margaret, or Martha, See also:Ray, of whom See also:Basil See also:Montagu (1770-1851), writer, jurist and philanthropist, was one .

The See also:

murder of See also:Miss Ray by a rejected suitor in See also:April 1779 increased the earl's unpopularity, which was already See also:great, and the stigmas of the prosecution of Wilkes and the corrupt administration of the navy clung to him to the last . He died on the 3oth of April 1792 . The Sandwich Islands (see Haw-an) were named after him by See also:Captain See also:Cook . His Voyage See also:round the Mediterranean in the Years 1738 and 1739 was published posthumously in 1799, with a very flattering memoir by the Rev . J . See also:Cooke; the See also:Life, Adventures, Intrigues and Amours of the celebrated Jemmy Twitcher (1770), which is extremely rare, tells a very different See also:tale . See also the various collections of letters, See also:memoirs and papers of the time, including See also:Horace See also:Walpole's Letters and Memoirs and the Bedford See also:Correspondence .

End of Article: 4TH EARL OF JOHN MONTAGU SANDWICH (1718–1792)
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