George Montagu, Duke of Montagu KG, PC, FRS (26 July 1712 – 23 May 1790) styled Lord Brudenell until 1732 and known as the Earl of Cardigan between 1732 and 1766, was a British peer.
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Background and education
He was born George Brudenell at Cardigan House, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in London, the eldest son of George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Bruce, daughter of Thomas Bruce, 3rd Earl of Elgin. He was baptised on 1 August 1712 at St Giles-in-the-Fields. He was the elder brother of James Brudenell, 5th Earl of Cardigan, the Honourable Robert Brudenell and Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 1 July 1726 and graduated from there on 31 January 1729 with a Master of Arts degree.
Public life
Brudenell succeeded his father in the earldom in 1732. In 1742 he was appointed Justice in Eyre north of the Trent, a post he held until 1752. He inherited the estates of his father-in-law, the 2nd and last Duke of Montagu (see below), in 1749, and assumed the surname "Montagu" for himself and his children on 15 July 1749. In 1752 he was made a Knight of the Garter and made Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle, which he remained until his death. In the 1750s he was a president of St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics. In 1766 he was created Marquess of Monthermer and Duke of Montagu, revivals of the titles which had become extinct on his father-in-law's death.