Edward Hussey-Montagu, 1st Earl Beaulieu

Edward Hussey-Montagu, 1st Earl Beaulieu, KB (1721 – 25 November 1802) was a British peer and politician.

Arms of Lord Beaulieu
(as 1st Baron Beaulieu)

Born Edward Hussey, he was the son of Irish parents, James Hussey and Catherine née Parsons (a daughter of Richard Parsons, 1st Viscount Rosse). The Hussey family had come to Ireland in 1172, and became substantial landowners in County Meath and County Kerry. The senior branch of this family held the title Baron Galtrim, although this appears to have been an Irish feudal barony rather than a peerage and did not entitle its holder to sit in the Irish House of Lords.

In 1743, he married Isabella Montagu, Dowager Duchess of Manchester, a daughter of the 2nd Duke of Montagu and Lady Mary née Churchill (a daughter of the 1st Duke of Marlborough). In 1749, he legally changed his surname to Hussey-Montagu and was made a Knight Companion of the Bath in 1753.

From 1758 to 1762, he was Whig Member of Parliament for Tiverton and on his retirement was raised to the Peerage as Baron Beaulieu, of Beaulieu in the County of Southampton, and later Earl Beaulieu, of Beaulieu in the County of Southampton, in 1784. Upon his death in Dover Street (off Piccadilly) in 1802, his titles became extinct as his only son, John, Lord Montagu had died in 1787. He was buried on 14 December that year at Warkton, Northamptonshire.

Private life

Edward Hussey had two children by Isabella Montagu :

• John Hussey-Montagu, 1746-1787, MP 1772-1787, styled Baron Montagu, and
• Isabella Hussey-Montagu 1750-1772; both died without descendants;

and one child from Martha Howel, a. housemaid in the service of Lord Beaulieu:

• Elizabeth Hussey, 1780-1865, "described or alleged to be his natural daughter" (600 descendants in October 2012, mainly in France).

References

• The peerage of England. 3 vols. in 4. Sig. N6,7 of vol. 1, 3B1 of vol. 2 ... /Baruch Longmate.
• Kearsley's Complete peerage, of England, Scotland and Ireland / George Kearsley p 146.
• The peerage of Ireland : or, a genealogical history of the present nobility /John Lodge, Mervyn Archdall p 45 &c.
• National Archives File Ref : PROB 37/80 Prerogative court of Canterbury, Cause Papers.
• The House of Commons, 1754-1790, Volume 2 / Lewis Namier, John Brooke pp 664–5.
• Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London.
• The gentleman's magazine 1802, p 1167.
• The pursuit of the heiress: aristocratic marriage in Ireland 1740-1840 / A. P. W. Malcomson p 102 &c.