From 1892 till 1905, when he succeeded his father, he
represented the New Forest Division of Hampshire in the House of Commons. He founded, and edited for many years, The Car Illustrated, and not only there but in innumerable articles (several of them contributed to the Spedator) he developed a policy of road reform. To understand John Montagu thoroughly it was necessary to see him in his home. He knew every pond, every spinney, and every person in Beaulieu. He revered the ruined Abbey, and used humorously to prove that historically he was the Abbot. He busily developed his estate, but he did it with such notable taste that he never scarred the landscape. Anybody who goes up the river from the Solent to Beaulieu can see how discreetly the building has been planned. He was a rapid and untiring talker ; to him mechanism was a kind of poetry. His knowledge of natural history was drawn from personal knowledge—from watching animals and birds in the New Forest and in the Beaulieu marshes, where he had a bird sanctuary. Innumerable. friends who valued his simple genuineness and his warm-hearted- ness will feel that Beaulieu can never be the same again.
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