John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu


John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu , was a British Conservative politician and promoter of motoring.

Background, education and early life

Montagu was the eldest son of Henry Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, second son of Walter Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch. His mother was the Hon. Cecily Susan, daughter of John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe. He went to Eton College where he rowed, and shot for his school at Wimbledon. He then went to New College, Oxford and helped the New College boat to the Head of the River. He rowed for the Oxford Etonians in the 1887 Grand Challenge Cup with Guy Nickalls and Douglas McLean although without success. He worked for a year in the sheds of the London and South Western Railway and became a practical engineer. Then he went round the world with his cousin, Lord Ancram, and his friend, Lord Ennismore.

Political career

Montagu entered Parliament for New Forest in 1895, a seat he held until 1905, when he succeeded his father in the barony and entered the House of Lords. During the First World War Montagu was an acting member of the War Aircraft Committee from March to April 1916 and an adviser on Mechanical Transport Services to the Indian government. He is chiefly remembered as a promoter of motoring and was the founder and editor of The Car Illustrated magazine and a member of the Road Board.

Family

Lord Montagu of Beaulieu married firstly Lady Cecil Kerr, daughter of Schomberg Kerr, 9th Marquess of Lothian, in 1889. She died in September 1919, aged 53. He married secondly Alice Pearl, daughter of Major Edward Barrington Crake, in 1920. There were children from both marriages, including Elizabeth. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu died in March 1929, aged 62, and was succeeded in the barony by his only son, Edward. Lady Montagu of Beaulieu later remarried and died in April 1996, aged 101.
During his first marriage Beaulieu had a daughter by his mistress and secretary Eleanor Thornton. Wanting an appropriate mascot for his Rolls-Royce, and using Eleanor Velasco Thornton as a model, the sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes was commissioned to design the precursor of the Spirit of Ecstasy; the famous winged mascot that has adorned nearly every Rolls-Royce car since 1911. On 30 December 1915, with his mistress Eleanor Thornton, Montagu was on board the SS Persia sailing through the Mediterranean on the way to India when the ship was torpedoed without warning by the German U-boat commanded by Max Valentiner. Thornton drowned, along with hundreds of others, but Montagu survived the sinking.