Sammiches

I was fairly well aware that the humble sandwich (or cheese, or ham....or ham and cheese, if you like) was named after the somethingth Earl of Sandwich and was a food of convenience while hunting...or something. Pretty much everything in my head is 'organised' this way: "Hmm..I think that's got something to do with something (or somethings)". I check stuff ahhht so I can say that I once knew something about something. A by-point of this was where does the verb 'to sandwich' come from? - to put stuff between stuff. And what are the Sandwich Islands all about? Eh?
Let's check it ahht!...
So, yes. It appears that the sandwich is a food of convenience named after John Montague (1718-1792) the 4th Earl of Sandwich (a spot of land hovering just above Dover in England). The sandwich was probably not invented by him as such, but it seems to have been popularised by him. I'm sure my original information was that it was a hunting snack, but my most recent source indicates that it was a convenience food so as not to interrupt his gambling sessions.
The transitive verb 'to sandwich' does indeed appear to have come from the bready snack - to make into or as if into a sandwich. This is a little disappointing. I'd have loved it if 'to sandwich' was to put something between two other somethingses, and that the Sandwich region was named after that, and that the Earl of Sandwich then 'invented' the bready snack and it was all ironic and stuff...but alas, twas not.


Now, the Sandwich Islands is/are a totally different kettle of fish. Or are they? Ok, it seems that James 'Captain' Cook went on a bit of a sandwich frenzy and named both the islands now known as Hawaii and the islands now known as the South Sandwich Islands, the Sandwich Islands. Are you following? He named these two sets of Islands after his sponsor, and the 1st Lord of the Admiralty, John Montague, the 4th Earl of Sandwich! The 'South' was added to the South Sandwich Islands to differentiate between them and the Sandwich Islands which are now called Hawaii, because that's what they're called (or the largest of them is anyway.)