Marquess of Granby | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byJoshua Reynolds,c. 1773 | |
| Born | 2 January 1721 |
| Died | 18 October 1770 (aged 49) |
| Alma mater | Eton College University of Cambridge |
| Spouse | Lady Frances Seymour (m. 1750) |
| Children | 8 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Great Britain |
| Branch | British Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant-General |
| Conflicts | |
Lieutenant-GeneralJohn Manners, Marquess of GranbyPC (2 January 1721 – 18 October 1770) was aBritish Army officer and politician. The eldest son ofJohn Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland, as he did not outlive his father and inherit thedukedom, Manners was known by his father's subsidiary title,Marquess of Granby. He served in the military during theJacobite rising of 1745 and theSeven Years' War, being subsequently rewarded with the post ofCommander-in-Chief of the Forces. Manners was popular with the troops who served under him and many Britishpubs are still named after him today.
John Manners was born inKelham,Nottinghamshire on 2 January 1721. He was the eldest son ofJohn Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland and his wife, Lady Bridget Manners (née Sutton). Manners was educated atEton College, graduating from there in 1732 before attendingTrinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1738.[1] In 1740, Manners travelled through Europe as part of theGrand Tour, visiting Italy and theOttoman Empire before returning in 1742.[2]
In 1741, he was elected asmember of parliament for thepocket borough ofGrantham. Though the municipality was amarket town, its electorate was relatively small and the affairs of Grantham's council was during theGeorgian era sponsored alternately by the Manners,Cust,Thorold andHeathcote families whosefamily seats were all nearby.[3]
In 1745, Manners assisted his father in establishing a volunteer regiment inRutland to assist in suppressing theJacobite rising of 1745. Although the regiment was limited to garrison duty atNewcastle upon Tyne, it was the only one of its type that raised the full quota of 780 recruits.[4] Manners received a commission ascolonel of the regiment.[3] Even though the regiment was never moved northwards beyond Newcastle, the young Marquess of Granby went to the front as a volunteer on theDuke of Cumberland's field staff and saw active service in the last stages of the insurrection, being present at theBattle of Culloden. In Newcastle the regiment mutinied because they had not been paid but Granby paid the money owed out of his own pocket before they were due to be disbanded. Thereafter he left England for Flanders as Intelligence Officer to Cumberland.[4]
_-_John_Manners%2c_Marquess_of_Granby_(1721-1770)_-_RCIN_406879_-_Royal_Collection.jpg)
In 1752, the Government suggested toGeorge II that Granby be appointed colonel of the prestigiousRoyal Horse Guards (Blues), in order to secure the parliamentary support of his family.[3] The king initially refused to make the appointment.[3] In the meantime, Granby advanced his parliamentary career, and was returned forCambridgeshire in 1754.[5]
The king came to view him more favourably as he defended theNewcastle ministry in theHouse of Commons. He was promotedmajor-general on 18 March 1755,[6] and was at last made Colonel of the Blues on 27 May 1758.[7] On 21 August, Granby arrived atMunster as second in command toLord George Sackville, as the agedDuke of Marlborough had recently died. The British cavalry were divided into Heavy and Light cavalry and drilled under the strong influence ofGeorge Elliot and Granby himself. Accredited as the greatest colonel since theEarl of Oxford, Granby was both courageous and competent as a soldier.[8] He was then appointed overall commander of the expedition, replacing Sackville on 21 August 1759.[9] He becameLieutenant-General of the Ordnance on 15 September 1759.[10]
He was one of the first who understood the importance of welfare and morale for the troops. The character of British soldiering improved and, properly led, the army was unbeatable in war. Nearly all the portraits show him mounting a horse or helping the wounded.[11] On 7 June 1760 he wrote to Viscount Barrington, Secretary at War, receiving a reply ten days later making enquiries as to the Hospital Board accommodation for his wounded men.[12]
Granby was sent to Paderborn in command of a cavalry brigade.[3] While leading a charge at theBattle of Warburg, he is said to "have lost his hat and wig, forcing him to salute his commander without them". This incident is commemorated by the British Army tradition that non-commissioned officers and troopers of theBlues and Royals are the only soldiers of the British Army who may salute without wearing headdress.[13] He was promoted tolieutenant general in 1759[14] and later that year fought at theBattle of Minden as commander of the second line of cavalry underDuke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.[3]
Granby's success in commanding the allied cavalry required courage, control and communication, as well as skill in bringing the horse artillery to bear. The victory at theBattle of Warburg in July 1760 over an army three times the size distinguished his generalship, and marked him as a genuine British military hero. His opponent, theduc de Broglie, was so impressed that he commissioned a portrait of Granby bySir Joshua Reynolds. Further successes came at theBattle of Emsdorf in July 1760, theBattle of Villinghausen in July 1761 and at theBattle of Wilhelmsthal in June 1762.[3]
_-_The_Marquis_of_Granby_giving_Alms_to_a_sick_Soldier_and_his_Family_-_WA1845.39_-_Ashmolean_Museum.jpg)
Granby returned to England as a hero: a 1764 painting byEdward Penny,The Marquis of Granby Relieving a Sick Soldier, showed him acting as a man of charity rather than as a soldier and this assured his appeal to the people. An interesting anecdote from 1824 also alludes to his generosity shown towards soldier’s wives:
"Every person who has ever heard or read of the exploits of the late Marquis of Granby knows that his expenditure was most profuse, and his charities almost without limits. In riding along the lines of the British forces, when he was in the chief command of them on the Continent, he used to throw down ducats to every soldier's wife who asked him for them, without discrimination. He not only on these occasions spent all the money he had about his own person, but used to borrow promiscuously of every member of his staff who happened to be near him. His Lordship's generous heart could not bear to keep a person who had asked charity of him a single instant in suspense, and he in consequence drew so lavishly on the pockets of his staff, borrowing of them so hastily, that he used to forget from whom he had received these momentary loans."[15]
He sought to steer a path independent of party politics but supported theTreaty of Paris. He trustedGeorge Grenville who promptly appointed himMaster-General of the Ordnance under his ministry on 14 May 1763.[16] Granby was also madeLord Lieutenant of Derbyshire on 21 February 1764.[17]
Granby supported the government's issue ofgeneral warrants and prosecution ofWilkes, but in 1765 spoke against the dismissal of army officers for voting against the government in Parliament. In May 1765,Lord Halifax attempted to persuadeGeorge III to appoint GranbyCommander-in-Chief of the Forces, in the hopes that his popularity would help quell the riot of the London silk weavers. The king refused, having promised the reversion of the post to theDuke of Cumberland, but obtained Granby's retention as Master-General of the Ordnance in the newRockingham ministry, although Granby did not co-operate with the ministry and voted against the repeal of theStamp Act.[3]
Under theChatham Ministry, Granby was appointed commander-in-chief on 13 August 1766. Despite rumours of his retirement, he vigorously electioneered during the 1768 season, and increased the Rutland interests seats to seven, at some expense. With the resignation ofChatham, he found himself somewhat isolated in theGrafton Ministry. While he had opposed the attempts of the government to expel Wilkes from his seat inMiddlesex, his personal dislike of Wilkes overcame his principles, and he voted in favor of the expulsion on 3 February 1769 and for the seating ofHenry Luttrell afterwards. It was to prove a serious political mistake.Junius, a political writer, attacked the ministry accusing Granby of servility towards the court and personal corruption. Granby's great popularity might have let him ride out the affair, but his reversal on Wilkes provided new ammunition. Worse still, a reply to Junius by his friendSir William Draper, intended in his defence, essentially validated the charge that the hard-drinking and personable Granby was easily imposed upon by less scrupulous acquaintances.[3]
Ultimately, it was not the attacks of Junius, but the return of Chatham that brought about his departure from politics. Granby had always respected Chatham, and through the mediation ofJohn Calcraft, was eventually persuaded to break with the ministry. On 9 January 1770, he announced that he had reversed himself once more on the propriety of expelling Wilkes, and shortly thereafter resigned as commander-in-chief andMaster-General of the Ordnance, retaining only the colonelcy of the Blues.[3]
Once out of office, Granby found himself hard-pressed by his creditors, and the loss of his official salaries had weakened his financial position. In the summer of 1770, he unsuccessfully campaigned forGeorge Cockburne at the Scarborough by-election.[3]
Granby died inScarborough, North Yorkshire on 18 October 1770.[3] The outpouring of grief was real and sustained.[18] His friend and associate Levett Blackborne, aLincoln's Inn barrister and Manners family adviser who frequently resided at Belvoir, was away at the time, visiting a family relation of Manners' and received the disturbing news on his return to Belvoir. He wrote to George Vernon at Clontarf on 12 February 1771, bemoaning Granby's proclivities that had brought him to ruin:
"You are no stranger to the spirit of procrastination. The noblest mind that ever existed, the amiable man whom we lament was not free from it. This temper plunged him into difficulties, debts and distresses; and I have lived to see the first heir of a subject in the Kingdom have a miserable shifting life, attended by a levee of duns, and at last die broken-hearted."[19][20]
He is probably best known today for being popularly supposed to have more pubs named after him than any other person—due, it is said, to his practice of setting up old soldiers of his regiment as publicans when they were too old to serve any longer.[21] By 1761, at forty years of age, he had already won the title of "the Father of the British Army."[22]
He had two illegitimate children by a mistress Anne Mompesson:[23]
Five months after the birth of his illegitimate daughter Anne in Lincoln he married Lady Frances Seymour (1728–1761), daughter ofCharles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset andLady Charlotte Finch (1693–1773), daughter of7th Earl of Winchilsea, on 3 September 1750. According to Horace Walpole, "She has above a hundred and thirty thousand pounds. The Duke of Rutland will take none of it, but gives at present six thousand a-year."[26] They had six children:[27]
thomas thoroton marquess of granby.
levett blackborne.
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forGrantham 1741–1754 With:Sir Michael Newton, Bt 1741–1743 Sir John Cust, Bt 1743–1754 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCambridgeshire 1754–1770 With:Viscount Royston 1754–1764 Sir John Hynde Cotton, Bt 1764–1770 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| New regiment | Colonel of the21st Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Royal Forresters) 1760 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel of theRoyal Horse Guards 1758–1770 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance 1759–1763 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Master-General of the Ordnance 1763–1770 | Vacant Title next held by The Viscount Townshend |
| Vacant Title last held by The Viscount Ligonier | Commander-in-Chief of the Forces 1766–1769 | Vacant Title next held by The Lord Amherst |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire 1764–1766 | Succeeded by |
