Dukedom of Manchester | |
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Quarterly, 1st & 4th: Argent, 3 fusils conjoined in fess gules (Montagu); 2nd & 3rd: or an eagle displayed vert beaked and membered gules (Monthermer).
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Creation date | 13 April 1719 |
Monarch | George I |
Peerage | Peerage of Great Britain |
First holder | Charles Montagu, 4th Earl of Manchester |
Present holder | Alexander Montagu, 13th Duke |
Remainder to | the 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten |
Subsidiary titles | Earl of Manchester Viscount Mandeville Baron Montagu of Kimbolton |
Former seat(s) |
Kimbolton Castle Tandragee Castle |
Duke of Manchester is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1719 for the politician Charles Montagu, 4th Earl of Manchester.
Their ancestor was one Richard Ladde, grandfather of the Lord Chief Justice Sir Edward, who changed his name to Montagu in about 1447. His descendants claimed a connection with the older house of Montagu or Montacute, Barons Montagu or Montacute and Earls of Salisbury, but there is no sound evidence that the two families were related. A case has been made out for the possibility that the Ladde alias came from a division among coheirs about 1420 of the remaining small inheritance of a line of Montagus at Spratton and Little Creton, also in Northamptonshire (Sources:English Genealogy, Anthony Wagner).
The judge Sir Edward Montagu's grandson, Edward Montagu, was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton. He is the ancestor of the Dukes of Montagu. His brother, Sir Henry Montagu (c. 1563–1642), who served as Lord Chief Justice as well as Lord High Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal, was in 1620 raised to the Peerage of England as Viscount Mandeville, with the additional title Baron Montagu of Kimbolton, of Kimbolton in the County of Huntingdon. In 1626, he was made Earl of Manchester. It is said that the title referred not to the city of Manchester, but to Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire. The word "God" was deliberately excluded from the title, as Henry thought it would be blasphemous for him to be known as "Lord Godmanchester". However, this is not the case, as the patent roll of 1626 grants the title of "Earl of Manchester in the county of Lancaster".