John Montagu (21 August 1797 – 4 November 1853) was a British army officer and civil servant who served as Colonial Secretary of Van Diemen's Land from 1834 to 1842, and Colonial Secretary of the Cape Colony from 1843 to 1853. Franklin's subsequent removal from office meant he would be available for command of the Royal Navy's renewed attempt to complete the charting of the Northwest Passage, through the Arctic archipelago. The Franklin expedition set out in 1845, and was never heard from again.