Dukes of Rutland
Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. In 1703, the ninth Earl of Rutland was created Duke of Rutland and Marquess of Granby by Queen Anne.
The subsidiary titles of the dukedom are: Marquess of Granby (created 1703), Earl of Rutland (1525), Baron Manners, of Haddon in the County of Derby (1679), and Baron Roos of Belvoir, of Belvoir in the County of Leicester (1896). The title Baron Roos of Belvoir is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the remaining titles being in the Peerage of England. The most senior subsidiary title, Marquess of Granby, is the courtesy title used by the Duke’s eldest son and heir.
The Manners family own medieval Haddon Hall, Derbyshire and Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire that were successively extended and rebuilt until the 19th century. Some rooms in both buildings are open to the public. They are Grade I in architecture, set in listed parks, woodland and gardens and span a central water feature, which acted as models for other landscaped estates.
The traditional burial place of the Manners family was St Mary the Virgin’s Church, Bottesford. Since elevation to the dukedom in 1703 most Dukes have been buried in the grounds of the mausoleum at Belvoir Castle. The mausoleum at Belvoir Castle was built by John Henry Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland, following the death of his wife, Elizabeth Howard (1780–1825), daughter of the 5th Earl of Carlisle. After its construction, most of the 18th-century monuments in Belton Church were moved to the mausoleum which then became the family’s main place of burial.
John Manners (1703–1711)
John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland and 9th Earl of Rutland (29 May 1638–10 January 1711) was the son of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland, and Frances Montagu.
He served, rather passively, as Member of Parliament for Leicestershire from 1661 until 1679. Politically he was a Whig, but did not attend court after 1689, preferring the life of a country magnate.
He succeeded his father as Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1677. He was created Baron Manners of Haddon in 1679 and sent to the House of Lords instead, but succeeded as Earl of Rutland on 29 September 1679 at the death of his father. He retained his lord lieutenancy in 1681, despite supporting the Exclusion Bill, but was turned out by James II in 1687.
During the events leading to the Glorious Revolution, Rutland received the then Princess Anne at Belvoir Castle on her flight from London late in 1688. Reappointed by William in 1689, he resigned in 1702, to protest government promotion of Tory interests in Leicestershire. He was briefly Custos Rotulorum of Leicestershire thereafter (1702–1703).
In 1703, his long support of Whig government was rewarded by his creation as Duke of Rutland and Marquess of Granby. Rutland was reappointed to the lord lieutenancy in 1706, which he retained until his death on 10 January 1711.
He married his second cousin (they were second cousins and also second cousins once removed), Lady Anne Pierrepont, daughter of Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, and Cecilia Bayning, in 1658. The failure of their marriage attracted considerable public attention, as divorce was not generally available at the time. He obtained a “separation from bed and board” in 1663 on grounds of her adultery, and private Acts of Parliament in 1667 bastardizing her issue since 1659 and granting him permission to remarry in 1670. This process required considerable expenditure and trouble. It also caused a series of quarrels with his hot-tempered father-in-law, who on one occasion challenged him to a duel.
He then married Lady Diana Bruce, daughter of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin, and Lady Diana Grey in 1671. She died in 1672 in childbirth. He married his third wife Catherine Wriothesley Noel, daughter of Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden, in 1673. They had three children.
He died at his home, Belvoir Castle in 1711.
John Manners (1711–1721)
John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland KG (18 September 1676–22 February 1721), was the son of John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland and his third wife Catherine Wriothesley Noel. He was styled Lord Roos from 1679 to 1703 and Marquess of Granby from 1703 to 1711.
Manners was returned as a Whig Member of Parliament for Derbyshire at the first general election of 1701. He was returned as MP for Leicestershire at the second general election of 1701. At the 1705 English general election he was returned as MP for Grantham. He was a Commissioner for the Union with Scotland in 1706. He was returned again as MP for Grantham at the 1708 British general election. At the 1710 British general election, he was returned as MP for both Leicestershire and Grantham. He succeeded his father as Duke of Rutland on 10 January 1711 and vacated his seats in the House of Commons. He was Lord Lieutenant of Rutland from 1712 to 1715 and Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire from 1714 to 1721. In 1714, he was made a Knight of the Garter.
Manners married Catherine Russell, daughter of William Russell, Lord Russell, and Lady Rachel Wriothesley in 1693. They had nine children, she died in 1711. He then married Lucy Sherard, daughter of Bennet Sherard, 2nd Baron Sherard, in 1713. They had at least eight children.
He died in 1721 and is buried in the church at Bottesford.
John Manners (1721–1779)
John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland KG PC (21 October 1696–29 May 1779) was an English nobleman, the eldest son of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland and Catherine Russell. Styled Marquess of Granby from 1711, he succeeded to the title in 1721.
He held a variety of government and court positions including Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire 1721–1779, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1727–1736, Lord Steward of the Household 1755–1761, and Master of the Horse 1761–1766.
He represented Rutland in the British Parliament from January 1719 to February 1721.
In 1722 he became a Knight of the Order of the Garter and in 1727 was sworn of the Privy Council. He supported the creation of London’s Foundling Hospital and was one of its founding governors when it received its royal charter in 1739. The city of Rutland, Vermont is named after him.
In 1717 he had married Bridget Sutton, the 17-year-old heiress of Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexinton. They had eleven children, most of whom died young.
He died in 1779 at the age 82 at Rutland House, Knightsbridge, London and was buried in the Belvoir Castle mausoleum.
Charles Manners (1779–1787)
Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland KG, PC (15 March 1754–24 October 1787), he was the eldest legitimate son of John Manners, Marquess of Granby.
He was styled Lord Roos from 1760 until 1770, and Marquess of Granby from 1770 until 1779.
On 26 December 1775, he married Lady Mary Isabella Somerset, daughter of Charles Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort. They had six children.
He was created Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire on 9 July 1779, an honour bestowed by George III in person. In 1782, he was made a Knight of the Garter and was made Lord Steward of the Household and sworn of the Privy Council in 1783. He became Lord Privy Seal in December 1783.
He was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1784. He was increasingly popular as viceroy, in part because of his convivial nature and ample banquets at Dublin Castle. In summer 1787, he made an extended and rigorous tour of the midlands and north of Ireland, but his excessive consumption of claret was by now taking a toll upon his health. He died of liver disease on 24 October 1787 at the Viceregal Lodge in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.
John Henry Manners (1787–1857)
John Henry Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland KG (4 January 1778–20 January 1857), styled Lord Roos from 1778 until 1779 and Marquess of Granby from 1779 until 1787. He was the eldest son of Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland, by Lady Mary Isabella Somerset. In 1787 he succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his father.
He was Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire between 1799 and 1857. He was also a prominent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses. His most successful horse was Cadland, which won The Derby in 1828.
There is a bronze statue of him in the Market Place, Leicester which was erected on this site in 1852 after having been previously exhibited at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, London in 1851. It was the first public statue to be erected in Leicester, and was unveiled by Sir Frederick Gustavus Fowke, Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons for the Province of Leicestershire, on 28 April 1852. It was sculpted by Edward Davis. It is marked “EDW DAVIS Simonet & Fils / Fondeurs Paris 1851”.
It stands on a high stone plinth on which is carved an inscription as follows: JOHN HENRY DUKE OF RUTLAND, KG LORD LIEUTENANT OF LEICESTERSHIRE. THE INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTY & TOWN OF LEICESTER DURING THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS HIGH OFFICE WITH UNIVERSAL CONSENT CAUSED THIS STATUE TO BE ERECTED M.DCCC.Lii. PRAESENTI TIBI MATUROS LARCIMUR HONORES.
He married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, in 1799. They had ten children.
The Duchess of Rutland died in November 1825, aged forty-five. Rutland remained a widower until his death at Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, in January 1857, aged seventy-nine.
Charles Cecil John Manners (1857–1888)
Charles Cecil John Manners, 6th Duke of Rutland KG (16 May 1815–3 March 1888, in Belvoir Castle), styled Marquess of Granby before 1857. He was the third but eldest surviving son of John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland and Lady Elizabeth Howard.
He became Member of Parliament for Stamford in 1837. He briefly held office as a Lord of the Bedchamber to Prince Albert from 1843 to 1846. He was the Conservative Leader in the Commons from 1848–1851. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire in 1852. Granby succeeded to the dukedom of Rutland on the death of his father in 1857. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1867. He also succeeded his father as Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, which post he held until his death on 4 March 1888, at the age of seventy-two.
He never married. He had cherished a passion for Mary Anne Ricketts, later Lady Forester, but his father forbade the two to marry. He was also devoted to Lady Miles, wife of Sir Philip Miles and scandalised society by leaving her his 120 ft. yacht, Lufra, in his will.
John James Robert Manners (1888–1906)
John James Robert Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland, KG, GCB, PC (13 December 1818–4 August 1906), known as Lord John Manners before 1888. He was the younger son of John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland by Lady Elizabeth Howard, and brother of the 6th Duke. He was educated at Eton College, and then entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1836. He graduated MA in 1839, and was later awarded the honorary degrees of LLD by the same university in 1862, and DCL by Oxford in 1876.
In 1841 Rutland was returned for Newark in the Tory interest, along with William Ewart Gladstone, and sat for that borough until 1847. Subsequently, he sat for Colchester, 1850–57; for North Leicestershire, 1857–85; and for Melton from 1885 until, in 1888, he took his seat in the House of Lords upon succeeding to the dukedom.
In 1852 he was admitted to the Privy Council. In 1874 he became Postmaster-General, and was made GCB on Disraeli’s retirement in 1880. He was again Postmaster-General from 1885–86. From 1886–92 he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1891 and in 1896 he was further honoured when he was made Baron Roos of Belvoir, in the County of Leicester.
He married firstly Catherine Louisa Georgina, daughter of George Marley, in 1851. They had one child, Catherine died in April 1854. He then married Janetta, daughter of Thomas Hughan, in 1862. They had seven children.
He 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 eighty-seven, at Belvoir Castle.
Henry John Brinsley Manners (1906–1925)
Henry John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland, KG, TD (16 April 1852–8 May 1925), known as Henry Manners until 1888 and styled Marquess of Granby until 1906. He was the only child of John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland, by his first wife Catherine Louisa Georgina. He gained the courtesy title of Marquess of Granby in 1888 when his father succeeded his elder brother in the dukedom.
He succeeded his father as Member of Parliament for Melton in 1888, a seat he held until 1895. In 1896 he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father’s junior title of Baron Manners. In 1906 he succeeded his father as eighth Duke of Rutland. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment in 1897. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire from November 1900 until his death in 1925. In 1918 he was made a Knight of the Garter.
He married Violet, daughter of Colonel the Hon. Charles Lindsay, on 25 November 1882. They had five children. He died in May 1925, aged seventy-three. The Duchess of Rutland died in December 1937, aged eighty-one.
Captain John Henry Montagu Manners (1925–1940)
Captain John Henry Montagu Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland (21 August 1886–22 April 1940), styled as Marquess of Granby from 1906 to 1925. He was the younger son of Henry Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland and his wife Violet. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the Diplomatic Service as an Honorary Attaché and was posted to the British Embassy in Rome in 1909.
He was commissioned into the part-time 4th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment (of which his father was Honorary Colonel) as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1910. He resigned in July 1914 but withdrew his resignation on the outbreak of World War I and was promoted to Lieutenant. He was seconded as an aide-de-camp in March 1916 to General Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley and reached the rank of Captain by the end of the war. He was sent to the Western Front in February 1915, but it was recently revealed that he did not actually see battle, and instead was stationed at the regional headquarters at Goldfish Chateau.
In 1916, he married Kathleen Tennant (1895–1989), granddaughter of Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet. They had five children.
He was patron of the then Loughborough College, and Rutland Hall on the University campus is named in his honour.
He died of pneumonia at Belvoir Castle in 1940, eight days after being taken ill.
Charles John Robert Manners (1940–1999)
Charles John Robert Manners, 10th Duke of Rutland, CBE, JP, DL (28 May 1919–4 January 1999), styled as the Marquess of Granby until 1940. He was the son of John Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland, by his wife Kathleen Tennant.
He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and served in the Army during World War II, becoming a captain in the Grenadier Guards.
He inherited the title in 1940, remaining in that estate until his death in 1999. A lifelong Conservative, the Duke served on Leicestershire County Council as the County Councillor for the Vale of Belvoir Division from 1945 until 1985. He was Chairman of Leicestershire County Council from 1974 until 1977.
He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1962 New Year Honours “for political and public services in the East Midlands”.
Rutland married Anne Bairstow Cumming-Bell in 1946. They had one child together. Following a divorce in 1956, he was married in 1958 to Frances Helen Sweeny, daughter of the American amateur golfer Charles Sweeny, and his first wife, the former Margaret Whigham. They had four children.
David Charles Robert Manners (1999- )
David Charles Robert Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland (born 8 May 1959), styled as the Marquess of Granby until 1999. He is the elder son of the 10th Duke of Rutland by his second wife, the former Frances Sweeney. He was educated at Stanbridge Earls School. He succeeded his father in the titles on 4 January 1999.
Rutland married Emma Watkins, daughter of a Welsh farmer from Knighton, Powys, in 1992 at Belvoir Castle. The couple have five children. The Duchess runs the commercial activities of Belvoir Castle, including shooting parties, weddings, and a range of furniture. In 2012, it was reported that the Duke and Duchess had separated, although both were continuing to live at separate wings of the castle with their new partners.
Other pieces will appear in this library as they are added, or check out the previous pieces published.
If you liked this post, follow me or get on my email list for future posts. Some may even be more enjoyable than this one.
And if you are not a member, consider subscribing to Medium to support my writing and discover lots of other great writers, posts, and articles, including those I have already published here.
