Vol 3 - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Manor of Lackham Vol 3 : The Montagu family
It is possible that George was already associating with Mrs Dorville
when he moved to Easton Grey – an elderly resident of Alderton
recalled that one of the Montagu’s kept a Mistress at the Manor House
and this would have been possible after the Montagu’s moved out. It is
known that she and George Montagu had several children, who were
acknowledged by him. 442 Nothing is known of her family, although it is
noted that George’s sister Arabella, married Ralph Dorville Woodforde
some three or four years before this, it is tempting to speculate that it
was through his brother in law that George came to know Mrs Dorville,
but this is speculation.
In 1795 George was elected to be a Fellow of the prestigious Linnean
Society, proof that he was already much respected as a naturalist. 443
In 1799, three officers in the Wiltshire Militia (Captains Awdry,
Houlton and Phayre) brought Col Montagu before a courts martial on
five counts of abusing his position as Commanding Officer and conduct
unbecoming a commanding office, after what one observer has
described as “some provocative marital skirmishing”. He was found
guilty and dismissed from the Regiment 444 .
Cunnington was writing very close to George’s lifetime and so it is
perhaps understandable that neither his association with Mrs Dorville
nor his court martial makes an appearance in Cunnington’s account at all.
The association with Mrs Dorville, however, had desperate
consequences for George, and the Montagu estates. It was the reason
that, although Lackham and Alderton were initially bequeathed to
George, he couldn’t inherit under the modified terms of his brothers’
442 Badeni, J (1992) Past People in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire p67
443 My thanks to Gina Douglas, Librarian and Archivist to the Linnean Society for her
assistance. George was nominated by J. Latham, W. Peete and T. Lamb and was
elected a Fellow on 21 July 1795.
444 Badeni, J (1992) ibid p70 gives details of the actual charges,
109