Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester

The Earl of Manchester
Portrait of the Earl of Manchester by Sir Peter Lely, circa 1661-1665
Born	1602
Died	5 May 1671 (aged 68–69)
Allegiance	Parliament
Years of service	1642–1645
Rank	Major-General
Battles/wars	First English Civil War

Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, KG, KB, FRS (1602 – 5 May 1671) was an important commander of Parliamentary forces in the First English Civil War, and for a time Oliver Cromwell's superior.

He was the eldest son of Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester by his first wife, Catherine Spencer, granddaughter of Sir William Spencer of Yarnton, Oxfordshire, England, was born in 1602, and was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (1618–22).

Montagu accompanied Prince Charles during his 1623 trip to Habsburg Spain in pursuit of the Spanish Match. He was Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire in the "Happy Parliament" of 1623–24, the "Useless Parliament" of 1625, and the Parliament of 1625–26. At the time of Charles I's coronation in February 1626, he was made a Knight of the Bath to reward him for his service to Charles in Spain. In May, with help from George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, Montagu was elevated to the House of Lords, receiving his father's barony of Kimbolton and being styled Viscount Mandeville as a courtesy title, since his father had been created Earl of Manchester in February when Parliament convened.