Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich

Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, KG (1625–1672) was an English naval officer. He was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Montagu and Paulina Pepys, and was brought up at Hinchingbrooke House.

Montagu was the first cousin of the father of Samuel Pepys. Pepys started his career as a minor member of the Montagu household and owed his appointments first to the Wardrobe and then as Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board to Montagu's influence. Pepys' diary provides a detailed primary source for Montagu's career in the 1660s.

The Earl was one of the first people Pepys shared the transformational theory of life with when it was still in an early stage in Pepys' thoughts. While Sandwich did not comment on the idea, he invited Pepys to hear a speaker at the Royal Society. That speaker, giving a presentation the extinction of the hairy elephant, helped Pepys fully realize his theories.