William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester

William Montagu was born at Kimbolton Castle in 1823. He was the eldest son of George Montagu, 6th Duke of Manchester. His mother was Millicent Bernard-Sparrow, daughter of Brig. Gen. Robert Bernard-Sparrow of Brampton Park, Huntingdonshire, and wife the Lady Olivia Acheson (eldest daughter of Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford). ==Military career==

He was commissioned into the 11th Foot, then on 21 January 1842 he purchased the rank of Ensign & Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, and on 1 December 1846 he bought his promotion to Lieutenant & Captain. He retired from the regiment on 17 September 1850. When the Militia was reformed in 1852, he was appointed Major and second-in-command of the Huntingdonshire Rifles, a position he held, latterly with the personal rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, until 1880. ==Political career==

He was MP for Bewdley 1848–1852 and Huntingdonshire 1852–1855. He joined the Canterbury Association on 27 May 1848. It was Edward Gibbon Wakefield's unfulfilled hope that Lord Mandeville would emigrate to New Zealand and be the aristocratic leader in the colony. However, Lord Mandeville and his grandmother, Lady Olivia Bernard-Sparrow, did buy of land between them in Riccarton. Mandeville North near Kaiapoi is named after Lord Mandeville. He succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his father in 1855, inheriting the family seat of Kimbolton Castle in Huntingdonshire. ==Personal life==

He had an illegitimate son with Sarah Maria Morris. When Sarah was eight months pregnant, the Montagu family had her married off to Samuel Palmer on 4 March 1850. When the child was born on 10 May 1850, he was named William Edward Palmer. William Edward Palmer married Emma Prentice on 24 December 1873, at Harrold, Bedfordshire. William was married to Countess Luise Friederike Auguste von Alten in Hanover on 22 July 1852. Together, they had five children: • George Victor Drogo Montagu, 8th Duke of Manchester (1853–1892), who married Francisca de la Consolacion Yznaga on 22 May 1876. He died on 22 March 1890, in Italy at the Hotel Royal, Naples. ==References==