Earl of Sandwich gave his name to the sandwich but his achievements as a public servant are largely forgotten
WHEN the 4th Earl of Sandwich, found it hard to tear himself away from a game of cards, he asked for some cold meat sandwiched between bread. Although he was not the first person to eat this way, it simply became known as a sandwich.
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THE English nobleman, John Montagu, was having a good day at the gaming table and was loathe to tear himself away. But he needed to eat so he ordered his valet to fetch some cold meat.
Montagu, otherwise known as the 4th Earl of Sandwich, realised that that would be messy. Fat from the meat might make his cards greasy, so he suggested his servant bring him the meat (salted beef) between two slices of bread.
Although Sandwich was by no means the first person to eat food placed between bread, it became the vogue for men to refer to the simple style of eating as “like Lord Sandwich”. Soon it was known simply as a sandwich.
At least that is one version of the story, which may have been invented by his enemies to depict him as a gambling addict. Another story suggests that, as a public servant, he spent long hours at the office and ordered his bread and meat dish so he could sustain himself and not smear official documents while he ate.
Whatever the truth, there is a strong tradition associating him with the convenient form of food we now know as the sandwich. We also use his name in other ways; to sandwich something is to put it between other things.
Explorer James Cook also gave Sandwich’s name to the Hawaiian Islands, naming them the Sandwich Islands. Cook also named the South Sandwich Islands, in the South Atlantic, after the English aristocrat.
Today marks 300 years since Sandwich was born, a birthday that should be celebrated, not with cake but, perhaps, by eating something between slices of bread.
Born on the family estate at Chiswick in West London, on November 13, 1718, his father Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, was heir to the title Earl of Sandwich. But when Edward died in 1722, John became heir. The young Sandwich attended Eton College, where he excelled at Greek and Latin and, in 1729, when his grandfather, the 3rd Earl, died, John Montagu became the 4th Earl of Sandwich.
He went on to study at Trinity College, Cambridge, but left without a degree. Instead, in 1737, he decided to travel. After spending time in France and Italy, he went further afield to Greece, Malta, Spain, Gibraltar, Turkey and Egypt. Like most travellers he brought back souvenirs, including mummies from Egypt and marble statues from Greece. He was so inspired what he saw that he founded orientalist societies after he returned to England in 1739.
He also took up his seat in the House of Lords, mentored by the Duke of Bedford. In 1740 he married Dorothy Fane, a daughter of Lord Viscount Fane of Ireland. When Bedford became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1744, Sandwich became one of his commissioners.
Sandwich’s political career was interrupted by service asd a colonel in the British Army during the Jacobite Uprising of 1745. But Sandwich caught a serious illness that nearly killed him. After recovering he returned to the admiralty but in 1746 took up a diplomatic post in The Hague, and was later promoted to ambassador to the Dutch Republic.
Back in England in 1748 he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, introducing important naval reforms, before he was sacked in 1751 by one of Bedford’s political rivals.
Sandwich opted out of politics for several years, returning briefly as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1763 but left that job to take up the more important post of Secretary of State for the Northern Department (which would later become the Home Secretary).
But he became unpopular in that role, for trying his friend John Wilkes, in absentia, for obscene libel in 1764. Wilkes became a popular figure fighting for freedom of speech, while Sandwich was compared to a character in composer John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera who betrays the hero.
Appointed Postmaster General in 1768, he implemented reforms and stopped corruption. In 1770 he returned to his position as Secretary of State, but in 1771 went back to First Lord of the Admiralty. While playing an important part in sending out explorers (including two of Cook’s voyages) and sheathing ships in copper, his reputation suffered because of his decision to keep most of the navy in British waters during the American Revolution. He rightly feared war with France, but his decision was seen as contributing to Britain’s defeat by the Americans.
His wife’s deteriorating mental state led to Sandwich’s affair with opera singer Martha Ray, with whom he had several children. Ray was murdered outside Covent Garden by a fan in 1779.
Dogged by charges of corruption in 1782, Sandwich retired from politics and he died in 1792.