The Montagu family collection was originally in the family home at Hinchingbrooke near Huntingdon. Included in the collection are pictures by Lely, Van de Velde the Younger, Scott, Reynolds and Hogarth. There are several portraits of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, who served under Cromwell and became Charles II's first general-at-sea. He helped his young cousin, Samuel Pepys, to become the Navy's first great administrator and the ship models and naval paintings date mainly from this period.