The second son of Thomas Montagu, Sir Edward gained large estates in Northamptonshire at the dissolution of the monasteries. He was knighted in 1537, and appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 1539, and of the Common Pleas, 1545. He unwillingly drafted the clauses for altering Henry VIII's will in favour of Lady Jane Grey, and on the accesssion of Mary I was briefly imprisoned in the Tower and fined.
This is a posthumous portrait, probably dating from c.1600, of which several versions are known. The likeness is perhaps based on the sitter's tomb effigy in Weekley Church, Northamptonshire.