Description

Identification note: George Montagu (1753 – 20 June 1815) was an English army officer and naturalist. He was born at the family home of Lackham House near Chippenham, Wiltshire, and baptized at Lacock Church on 9 July 1753. In 1770 he joined the army as an Ensign in the 15th Regiment of Foot. He resigned his commission as a Captain in 1777, but eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Wiltshire Militia. In 1773 he married Ann Courtenay, niece of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. They settled at Alderton House in Wiltshire. In 1798 Montagu left his wife and moved to Prospect House, near Kingsbridge in Devon. It was here that he wrote his two-volume Ornithological Dictionary, for which he is best known, and his Testacea Britannica, a History of British Marine, Land and Freshwater Shells. A correspondent of Gilbert White, he developed a scientific approach to natural history, specializing in ornithology and marine biology. When he died, his annotated copies of the Dictionary and Testacea were bequeathed to the Linnean Society of London, of which he had been a member.

Summary: colour photograph of a locket showing a picture of Col. George Montagu on one side and on the other the script "Col. George Montagu FLS. Born 1752 Died 1815. Bequested to the Society By the late H. Dorville. 3 Decd 1874."