Edward was the second son of Thomas Montagu of Hemington in Northamptonshire and was in his late thirties when in, 1528, he acquired part of the manor of Boughton from one Robert Burden. He owned land already in Northamptonshire and at least one house at Hemington, but was seeking to consolidate a small estate for himself as his own career and status progressed.

His success in the law having enabled him to establish the family’s foundations as landed gentry. Manors at Weekly, Warkton, Geddington and Kettering were acquired, and in 1541 he purchased the remainder of the Boughton manor, which had belonged to the Abbey of St Edmundsbury, 70 miles away in Suffolk.

For almost 40 years until his death in 1566/7 he lived at Boughton, building on the South East side of the Great Hall of the Monks, and making it a worthy home for someone of his increasing stature and influence: Steward of Northamptonshire from 1520, he became nationally important in politics and the law in the mid 1530s. He was Knighted in 1537, made ChiefJustice of the King's Bench in 1538 and ChiefJustice of the Common Pleas in 1545; but as one of the Commissioners of Henry VIII's Will, his involvement in the power struggle over the succession landed him in the Tower when Queen Mary came to the throne. It was a hard time for men of principle, and that Sir Edward was one of these is apparent from the inscription on his fine tomb in Weekley Church:

"Farewell, O Edward Montagu father of Justice and master of the Law, you whom sober skill has nourished and wicked knaves of men have feared have lived in the ancient manner, a lover of peace and a unyielding guardian of virtue and scourge of vice... "

His heir, the second Sir Edward, was less distinguished than his father, and indeed his own sons: James became Bishop of Winchester and was the prime influence behind the building of Bath Abbey; Henry became Earl of Manchester and founded the Kimbolton branch of the family; Sidney founded the Hinchingbrooke branch, later Earls of Sandwich. Sir Edward himself was succeeded by another
Edward. A lawyer, who entered Parliament in 1601, unusually for a man of his position, he never challenged the Divine Right of the Stuarts and consequently enjoyed his share of the patronage, being made Knight of Bath in 1603 and created the first Lord Montagu of Boughton in 1621. On the other hand, at the onset of the Civil War, he was amongst the first to suffer, and when he died at his home in the Strand, he was under house arrest. He left his mark on Boughton through his additions to the South West corner of the house.

It was perhaps just as well that in these tempestuous years his son, the 2nd Lord Montagu, was of a more retiring nature, content with peacefully managing his estates, and it is only with Ralph (see right), his second son, that the history of Boughton takes a leap forward. The elder brother, Edward, who had been Master of the Horse to the Duchess of York and then to Queen Catherine, was killed in naval action against the Dutch in 1665.

Ralph Montagu served as British Ambassador to Louis XIV in Paris between 1669 and 1678, and the admiration he developed for French architecture, decoration and landscaping can be seen in the North Front, the Stables and the Park. His career at Court had ended dramatically in 1678 when he revealed to the House of Commons the existence of the Secret Treaty of Dover, 1672. This lead to the Exclusion Crisis and the fall of King Charles II's favourite Minister, Danby.

His support for the Duke of Monmouth against the latter's uncle, King James II, led to five years of exile in France and he was only able to return with honour and to the Privy Council when King William and Queen Mary came to the throne in 1689. Meanwhile he had succeeded to the Montagu title after his father's death in 1684: he was created Earl by King William, and then in 1705 Duke, by Queen Anne. He was a prominent and knowledgeable patron of the arts.

When Congreve dedicated 'The Way of the World' to him in 1699 he said: "If I am not mistaken, poetry is almost the only art which has not yet laid claim to your Lordship's patronage. Architecture and painting, to the great honour of our country, have flourished under your influence and protection. "

A discerning collector of paintings and furniture, Ralph was given some outstanding pieces by Louis XIV, who ordered that the Versailles fountains be played whenever he paid a visit. Ralph encouraged the famous French flower painter, Jean Baptiste Monnoyer, to visit England, and bought up and ran the Mortlake Tapestry factory for 17 years between 1674-1691.

Several sets of the tapestries and some table covers in the form of his coat of arms may be seen in Boughton today; but above all, beginning in 1687, he enormously enlarged the house. Fortunately, ten years earlier, he had married
Elizabeth Wriothesley, the wealthy widow of the 11 th Earl of Northumberland.

Surprisingly, the identity of the architect Ralph employed is a mystery, although it is known that he engaged Robert Hook for Montagu House in London, ten years before. The use of Mansard roofing was quite new to England, as was the 'Parquet de Versailles' flooring in many of the rooms. The formal layout of the Boughton gardens, involving lakes and canals, was started under the direction of a Dutchman, Van der Meulan, who was experienced in reclamation work in the Fens.

Ralph's son
John, who in 1705 had married Mary Churchill (see right) one of the co-heiress daughters of the great Duke of Marlborough, succeeded him in 1709. He was an enterprising landowner, developing estates at Barrow-in-Furness and Beaulieu as well as Boughton. In 1720, at the command of King George I, he made an ill-fated attempt to colonise St. Lucia and St. Vincent in the West Indies at a personal cost of £40,000.

Mary Churchill
 

He served as a soldier under his father-in-law and commanded the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 3rd Regiment of Horse. He became a General, and finally Master General of the Ordnance. He was made a Knight of the Garter and of the Order of Bath of which he became Grand Master in 1725. His interest in Boughton was less with the house - he after all, left the 'Unfinished Wing' unfinished - than with the landscape. His nickname was 'John the Planter', because of his passion for planting the avenues which at one time totalled 70 miles in length. The Elms have been decimated by disease, but the Limes are still in remarkable condition after 280 years.

Duke John died in 1749. Boughton passed to his daughter
Mary, but the title would have lapsed had her husband
George, Earl of Cardigan, from nearby Deene, not been created 3rd Duke of Montagu in 1766. Sadly their only son, the
Marquis of Monthermer, died four years later at the age of 35. He had always suffered from poor health, but travelled extensively through France and Italy, collecting many of the paintings and items of furniture which are now to be seen at Boughton and Bowhill. Among these are two fine portraits of him painted in Rome in 1758 by Raphael Mengs and Pompeo Batoni.

It was Monthermer's sister
Elizabeth who inherited Boughton. She was already married to Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, and although the Dukedom of Montagu became extinct, the family name continued, combined with that of Scott and, when Duke Henry inherited the Dukedom of Queensberry, that of Douglas, to form, as it is today, 'Montagu Douglas Scott.' Since then Boughton has continued as a home of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensberry, thereby maintaining the direct family link for over 450 years.

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