Edward Montagu

Who was Edward Montagu?

Edward Montagu, Indian officer, was youngest son of Admiral John Montagu, and brother to Admiral Sir George Montagu and Captain James Montagu.

Educated at the Royal Academy of Woolwich, he went out to Bengal as an East India cadet in 1770. There being no commission vacant on his arrival, he was first placed in the ‘select picket,’ a military body composed of the cadets then present at Calcutta.

On 16 May 1772 he was admitted into the Bengal Artillery as lieutenant-fireworker, and by 24 Sept. 1777 he had risen to the rank of first-lieutenant of artillery. He was attached to Brigadier-general Thomas Goddard's army during the Mahratta campaign of 1781, and was successfully employed against certain Mahratta forts on the Rohilcund border, on one occasion being severely wounded in the face by an arrow.

In 1782 he accompanied Colonel Pearce's detachment, sent to join Sir Eyre Coote, then engaged against Haider Ali and his French allies in the Carnatic, and in 1783 he commanded the English artillery in the siege unsuccessfully attempted by General James Stuart of Cuddalore, a strong Carnatic fortress then held by the French.