Bertie, Montague, second Earl of Lindsey 1608?-1666, adherent of Charles I, was the eldest son of the first Earl of Lindsey by Elizabeth, sole daughter of Edward Lord Montague, of Boughton, Northamptonshire. In early life he served in the Low Countries as captain of a troop of cavalry, and on the outbreak of the civil war he assisted his father to rally the county of Lincoln on the side of the king, by himself raising a regiment of cavalry. At the battle of Edgehill, where he commanded the regiment of guards, he made a desperate attempt to rescue his father; but finding this impossible, he voluntarily delivered himself up, that he might attend upon him when wounded. For some time he remained a prisoner in Warwick Castle, from which he issued a vindication of the king's cause, which was printed under the title, A Declaration and Justification of the Earl of Lindsey, now Prisoner in Warwick Castle, wherein he makes apparent the Justice of his Majesty's cause in taking armes for the preservation of his Royall person and prerogative. As it was sent in a letter to the Right Honourable Henry, Earl of Newarke, now resident with his Majesty at Oxford, 26 Jan. 1643. Obtaining an exchange he was joyfully welcomed by the king at Oxford, and took part in the battles of Newbury, Copredy, and Lostwithiel. At Naseby, where he was wounded, he commanded, along with Lord Ashley, the right-hand reserve. As one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber and a member of the privy council, he accompanied the king on his flight to Wales, and shared his hardships and misfortunes till he joined the Scots at Newark. During the progress of the negotiations in the Isle of Wight the king sent for him to act as one of his commissioners and advisers. After the king's execution he was one of the four noblemen who accompanied the royal corpse to Windsor, where it was buried. Having compounded he continued to reside in retirement in England till the Restoration, when he was chosen a member of the privy council, and appointed one of the judges for the trial of the regicides. He was also in April 1661 chosen a knight of the Garter, and at the coronation had his claim recognised to exercise the office of lord high chamberlain of England. He died at Camden House, Kensington, 25 July 1666, at the age of fifty-eight, and was buried at Edenham in the vault with his father. By his first wife Martha, third daughter of Sir William Cockaine, knight, of Rushton, Northamptonshire, and widow of John, earl of Holderness, he had five sons and three daughters; and by his second wife Bridget, daughter and sole heir of Edward Wray, groom of the bedchamber, two sons.

Sources:
     Lloyd's Memoirs, 315-20
     Biog. Brit. ii. 285
     Whitelocke's Memorials
     Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 410
     Clarendon's History of the Rebellion
     numerous references in State Papers, Domestic Series, during Charles I, Commonwealth, and Charles II.

Contributor: T. F. H. [Thomas Finlayson Henderson]

Published: 1885