Montagu’s Frolic
John, Duke of Montagu, that irrepressible prankster, identified a sad-faced soldier in the Mall as the perfect mark.
before 1749
King George II 1727-1760
© Mattbuck, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
The Royal Marines War Memorial in The Mall, London. At the time, The Mall was a wide avenue of trees and gravel paths for walking or riding: see Wikimedia Commons for an etching from 1750.
Introduction
John, Duke of Montagu (1690-1749), was notorious for his practical joking. This might be little more than squirting people with water or putting itching powder in the guest bed, but sometimes it took on a grander conception.
THE Duke of Montagu,* who resided in St James’s Park, frequently observed a middle-aged man in something like a military dress, of which the lace was much tarnished, and the cloth worn threadbare. He always appeared at a certain hour in the Mall. His countenance was grave and solemn; and he took no notice of the gay crowd that was passing by him. The Duke singled him out as a fit object for a frolic.
He began by inquiring into his history. He soon learned that he was a reduced officer upon half-pay; that he had behaved with great bravery in the late war;* that he had a wife and several children, whom he was obliged to send into Yorkshire, where they could live cheap; and that he reserved a small pittance of his income to keep himself near the metropolis, where alone he could hope to obtain a more advantageous situation.
John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu (1690-1749) was well-known for his practical jokes. He was, however, as kind as he was absurd. He was a generous benefactor of the Foundling Hospital in London, and fostered the education of Ignatius Sancho (?1729-1780), a British subject of African descent who had been born into slavery in Colombia.
Two major conflicts in the Duke’s lifetime were The War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) and The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). The latter included the Jacobite Rising of 1745, for which Montagu had raised a cavalry regiment, Montagu’s Carabineers, which was disbanded following the Battle of Culloden of April 16th, 1746.
