Montagu Venables-Bertie 1673-1743

Montagu VENABLES-BERTIE, 2nd Earl of Abingdon 1673-1743

Venables-Bertie's bookplate (British Museum Franks Collection *55)

Biographical Note

Son of James Bertie, 1st earl of Abingdon, from whom he inherited the title and family estates in 1699. Matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford 1685, but did not graduate. After his marriage in 1687 to Elizabeth Venables (great-granddaughter of Peter Venables), he changed his name to Venables-Bertie. MP for Berkshire 1689, for Oxfordshire 1690-99; he held a number of local administrative offices, and was Constable of the Tower 1702-05.

Books

Venables-Bertie used an engraved armorial bookplate, dated 1701 (Franks *55). The extent of his library is not known; his lengthy will has no mention of books, and the earldom was inherited by his nephew Willoughby Bertie.

Sources

• Will of Montagu Venables-Bertie, The National Archives PROB 11/727/328.
• History of Parliament.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.