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Although appearing somewhat in the shadow of his father, Duke John was a man of many parts, who played a valuable role at Boughton, especially in developing the landscape. Married at the age of 15 to Mary Churchill, daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough, a military strand ran throughout his life – as a soldier on active service who rose to the rank of General; Master-General of the Ordnance with responsibilities at the Tower of London, he took great interest in technical aspects of weaponry and warfare. He even fitted out his own expedition of six ships in 1722 to take St Lucia and St Vincent in the West Indies, although it proved a failure.

Notwithstanding the comments of his mother-in-law, who took exception to his penchant for playing practical jokes in his house and gardens –‘All my son-in-law’s talents lie in things only natural in boys of fifteen, and he is about two and fifty’ - he was an enthusiastic antiquarian and historian and the builder of a new family home, Montagu House, overlooking the Thames in Whitehall. His great passion was for extending the Boughton landscape, and as well as re-planning the water features, he planted many of the miles of avenues that still distinguish the surrounding countryside. Amongst the more curious sides to his character was a love of animals – according to the biographer of his friend William Stukeley, ‘he would have no cattle or horses killed but brought to end their days peacefully in a special paddock while he was surrounded by dogs, the ugliest of which he favoured because no one else would be kind to it’.