His Grace The Duke of Rutland KG GCB PC
The Duke of Rutland,c. 1900–06
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 16 August 1886 – 11 August 1892
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Viscount Cranbrook
Succeeded by	James Bryce
Personal details
Born	(1818-12-13)13 December 1818 Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire
Died	4 August 1906(1906-08-04) (aged 87) Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouses	Catherine Marley ​ ​ (m. 1851; died 1854)​ Janetta Hughan ​ ​ (m. 1862; died 1899)​
Children	8, includingHenry,Edward, andCecil
Parent(s)	John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland Lady Elizabeth Howard
Relatives	Charles Manners (brother) George Manners (brother) Emmeline Manners (sister)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

John James Robert Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland,KG, GCB, PC (13 December 1818 – 4 August 1906), known asLord John Manners before 1888, was a Britishstatesman.

Rutland was born atBelvoir Castle, the younger son ofJohn Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland, byLady Elizabeth Howard, daughter ofFrederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle.Charles Manners, 6th Duke of Rutland, was his elder brother andLord George Manners his younger brother. He was educated atEton College, then enteredTrinity College, Cambridge in 1836.^[1] At Cambridge, he was a member of theUniversity Pitt Club.^[2] He graduatedMA in 1839, and was later awarded the honorary degrees ofLLD by the same university in 1862, andDCL by Oxford in 1876.^[1]

He wrote two books of poetry:England's Trust and Other Poems, published in 1841, andEnglish Ballads and Other Poems, published in 1850. The 1841 book contains his famous quote: "Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die, But leave us still our old Nobility!"^[3] The 1850 book contains his poem "A Legend of Haddon Hall."^[4]

In 1841 Rutland was returned forNewark in the Tory interest, along withWilliam Ewart Gladstone, and sat for that borough until 1847. Subsequently, he sat forColchester, 1850–57; forNorth Leicestershire, 1857–85; and forMelton from 1885 until, in 1888, he took his seat in theHouse of Lords upon succeeding to the dukedom.^[5]

In the early 1840s, Manners was a leading figure in theYoung England movement, led byBenjamin Disraeli. This party sought to reduce the predominance of the middle classbourgeoisie, and to re-create the political prestige of the aristocracy by proving its capacity to ameliorate the social, intellectual, and material condition of the peasantry and the labouring classes. At the same time its members looked for a regeneration of the Church, and the rescue of both the Church and Ireland from the troubles inherited from theWhig predominance of the 18th century. Manners made an extensive tour of inspection in the industrial parts of northern England, in the course of which he and his friendGeorge Smythe, later 7th Viscount Strangford, gave well-received speeches. In 1843 he supportedLord Grey's motion for an inquiry into the condition of England, the serious disaffection of the working classes of the north being a subject to which he was constantly drawing the attention of parliament. Among other measures that he urged were the disestablishment of the Irish Church, the modification of theStatutes of Mortmain, and the resumption of regular diplomatic relations with theVatican. In the same year he issued in pamphlet form a strongPlea for National Holydays.^[5][6]

In 1844 Lord John vigorously supported theFactories Act ("Ten-hours Bill"), which, though strongly opposed by Manchester representatives, was ultimately passed in May 1847. In October 1844 he took part in, and spoke at, thesoirée held at theManchester Athenaeum under the presidency of Disraeli. A few days later, he and his friends attended a festival atBingley, in Yorkshire, to celebrate the allotment of land for gardens to working men, a step which, through the agency of his father, he had done a great deal to further.^[1][5]

However, divergences of opinion starting in 1845 eventually led to the disruption of the movement.

During the three short administrations ofLord Derby (1852, 1858–59, and 1866–68) he sat in the cabinet asFirst Commissioner of Works. In 1852 he was admitted to thePrivy Council. On the return of the Conservatives to power in 1874, he becamePostmaster-General under Disraeli, and was madeGCB on his retirement in 1880. He was again Postmaster-General inLord Salisbury's administration, 1885–86, and was head of the department when sixpenny telegrams were introduced. Finally, in the Conservative government of 1886–92 he wasChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.^[5] He was made aKnight of the Garter in 1891. In 1896 he was createdBaron Roos of Belvoir, in the County of Leicester, when his sonHenry Manners was summoned to the House of Lords by awrit of acceleration in his father's title of Baron Manners.

He was patron ofSaint Martin's League for letter carriers.

He had a sympathetic interest in the Olympian Games movement ofWilliam Penny Brookes, first shown when he joined a party with his first cousinLord Forester that viewed the firstWenlock Olympian Games atMuch Wenlock in 1850. He there and then donated a cash prize of £1 (worth approximately £80 in 2017)^[7] to the committee, who awarded it to the winner of a running race.^[6] He was a member of the council of the fourth National Olympian Games that were held, again at Much Wenlock, in 1874.^[8] In 1883 he was president of Wenlock Olympian Games themselves that year.^[9]

Rutland married firstly Catherine Louisa Georgina, daughter of Colonel George Marlay and Catherine Louisa Tisdall, and granddaughter ofGeorge Marlay,Bishop of Dromore, in 1851. They had two children:

• Henry John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland (1852–1925)
• Edith Katharine Mary Manners (12 March 1854^[10] – 24 March 1854), died in infancy^[11]

His wife died 7 April 1854, aged 23, from childbirth complications, weeks after giving birth to a daughter, Edith, who lived only 12 days.^[12] She was buried with her infant daughter inHighgate Cemetery.

Rutland married secondlyJanetta Hughan, daughter of Thomas Hughan, in 1862. They had seven children, including:^[13]

• Lord Edward William John Manners (1864–1903)
• Lady Katherine Selina Janetta Manners (1866–1900)
• Lord Cecil Reginald John Manners (1868–1945)
• Lieutenant Colonel Lord Robert William Orlando Manners (1870–1917), an officer in theKing's Royal Rifle Corps. This son was killed while commanding 10th Bn.Northumberland Fusiliers during theGreat War. He was awarded theOrder of St Michael and St George and theDistinguished Service Order. He is buried in The Huts Cemetery, six kilometres southwest ofYpres. He married in 1902 Mildred Mary Buckworth, daughter of Rev. Charles P. Buckworth and widow of a fellow KRRC-officer Major Henry Buchanan-Riddell.^[14]
• Lady Victoria Alexandrina Elizabeth Dorothy Manners (1876–1933)
• Lady Elizabeth Emily Manners (1878–1924), who in 1903 marriedLord George Scott^[15]

His second family also had a Scottish property: St Mary's Tower inDunkeld.^[16]

Rutland succeeded to the dukedom of Rutland in March 1888, upon the death of his elder brother. The Duchess of Rutland died in July 1899. Rutland survived her by seven years and died on 4 August 1906, aged 87, at Belvoir Castle.

Coat of arms of John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland

Coronet ACoronet of a Duke Crest On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Peacock in its pride proper Escutcheon Or two Bars Azure a Chief quarterly of the last and Gules, in the first and fourth, two Fleur-de-lis, and in the second and third, a Lion passant guardant, all Or Supporters On either side a Unicorn Argent armed, maned, tufted and unguled Or Motto Pour Y Parvenir ("So as to accomplish it") Orders TheGartercirclet; motto:Honi soit qui mal y pense(Shame be to him who thinks evil of it).

• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Rutland

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