John Manners, Marquess of Granby
John Manners, Marquess of Granby PC (born January 2, 1721 in Kelham , † October 18, 1770 in Scarborough ) was a British Lieutenant General in the Seven Years War and Commander in Chief of the British Army .
Life
Manners was born in Kelham in 1721 as the eldest son of John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland . He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College , Cambridge . In the "family borough " of Grantham he was elected in 1741 as a member of the House of Commons . Four years later he became a colonel and thus the owner of a regiment that was raised in Rutland and the Leicester area to put down the Jacobite revolt of 1745 . The corps never got beyond Newcastle . But the young Manners volunteered in the service of the Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn and took an active part in the final phase of the suppression of the uprising. Soon after, his regiment was dismissed. Manners retained his title and took part in the campaign in Flanders in 1747.
Manners was considered a bon vivant in his private life . It was marked by freedom of movement and love affairs. In the 1840s, two illegitimate children are ascribed to him, whom he fathered with an unknown mistress . On September 3, 1750 he married Lady Frances Seymour (1728–1761), daughter of Charles Seymor, 6th Duke of Somerset . They had six children.
In 1752 the government under Henry Pelham proposed King George II Manners as colonel of the prestigious cavalry regiment Royal Horse Guards ("The Blues"). This was intended to secure the support of the second Pelham government from its family in parliament. The king, however, initially rejected the appointment, pointing out that Manners was a drunkard and bully. Granby, meanwhile, made a parliamentary career and became a MP for Cambridgeshire . King George appreciated Manners more and more while he supported the first Newcastle government in the House of Commons. In 1755 Granby was named major general. Finally in 1758 he became colonel of the "Blues".
Seven Years War
His appointment followed at the time when Great Britain supported its German allies in the Seven Years War with a larger force . Not least because of its personal union with the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , the kingdom was interested in the defense of northwest Germany against the French , Saxons and the Imperial Army . Manners became commander of a brigade , became second in command of the October 1758 campaign, and rose to lieutenant general in February 1759. During the Battle of Minden in 1759 he was one of the cavalry commanders who, at a crucial moment, were not sent into battle by the Commander in Chief Lord George Sackville , although the Commander in Chief Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel expressly requested. Sackville was in personal rivalry with Manners. As a result, Sackville was replaced by Manners in command of the 32,000 British troops in Germany in early 1760. Manners also succeeded Sackville in the position of Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance, a deputy position on the Board of Ordnance, the military authority for equipment and supplies. Manners did not attack Sackville categorically for his misconduct, but testified that his commander allowed the cavalry to move too slowly. The guilty verdict for Sackville finally shaped his attitude towards Manners negatively.
On July 31, 1760, Manners brought about the rehabilitation of the British cavalry by assaulting 1,500 French prisoners and capturing ten pieces of artillery at the Battle of Warburg . Already almost bald in his fifties, but who did not want to wear a wig, lost his tricorn in this attack , which was included in the English phrase "going bald-headed" ("bald headed") .
Manners was able to distinguish himself again on July 15, 1761 in the Battle of Vellinghausen . A day later, he launched a successful counterattack against the French. The French commander-in-chief Victor-François de Broglie was so impressed by Manner's achievement that he commissioned a portrait from the British painter Joshua Reynolds after the war.
Manners soldiers also distinguished themselves during his last campaign with battles near Gravenstein , Wilhelmstal , Gudensberg and Kassel . His last action was at the Brücker mill near Amöneburg , where he deployed two brigades to support General Christian von Zastrow from Hanover .
Manner's military achievements in the field were not in line with his administrative achievements. This also included the military administration. His commissariat in the winter campaign of 1760–1761 was viewed negatively. Above all, his undisciplined behavior brought him criticism. His contemporary Lord Frederick Cavendish called him incapable of command. Public opinion, on the other hand, was impressed by its military splendor.
"Prince Ferdinand received all his directions from my Lord Granby, who is the mob's hero."
The politician Manners
After the war, Manners stayed out of party politics, but supported the Newcastle government by praising the Paris Peace Treaty . His support from George Grenville for the office of Prime Minister brought him after the inauguration of Grenville on July 1, 1763 the position of Master-General of the Ordnance .
At first Manners supported the government, but in 1765 he spoke out against the dismissal of army officers and voted in parliament with the opposition. In May 1765, George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax , unsuccessfully asked the king to appoint Manners as commander in chief of the army. The aim was to use the popular military in the suppression of a silk weaver revolt. But George III. declined and transferred the task to his brother William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland . Manner's position remained strong as he held his position as master general even under the Rockingham government , which he did not support .
It was not until the reign of William Pitt that Manners became Commander in Chief of the British Army (August 13, 1766). Despite rumors of resignation, he took an active part in the 1768 election campaign and, through payments, managed to increase the Rutland seats to seven. With the resignation of Pitt, however, Granby came into an isolated position under the Grafton government. The popular military also became embroiled in the aftermath of the North Briton affair , which resulted in the multiple deprivation of John Wilkes's parliamentary seat in Middlesex . The government kept changing sides. Junius' influential anonymous letters accused men of personal corruption. His friend William Draper wrote to Junius in vain.
Leaving politics and death
But it was not the attacks by Junius but the return of Pitt into politics that put Granby in a position to leave politics. Government respected Pitt and John Calcraft convinced him to break with the Grafton government. On January 9, 1770, he repeatedly changed his mind about the removal of Wilkens and resigned from his positions as "commander-in-chief" and as "master-general of the ordnance". He only retained his position as colonel of the "Blues".
After his lucrative offices were released, Manners came under pressure from his lenders. In the summer of 1770 he unsuccessfully supported George Cockburne's election campaign in a by-election in Scarborough.
Manners became seriously ill during these months. Although he initially recovered, he died on October 18, 1770 in Scarborough ( Yorkshire ) of "gout in the stomach". Since he died before his father, he used his subordinate title as a courtesy title , but was not himself a peer .
progeny
- George Manners (1746–1772) (illegitimate)
- Anne Manners (illegitimate)
- John Manners, Lord Ross (1751-1760)
- Lady Frances Manners (1753–1792)
- Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland (1754–1787)
- Lady Catherine Manners (deceased early)
- Lord Robert Manners (1758–1782)
- Lady Caroline Manners (deceased early)
literature
- Alastair W. Massie [2004]: Manners, John, marquess of Granby (1721-1770) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, May 2006 (Retrieved October 18, 2006).
- David Mannings: Sir Joshua Reynolds: a complete catalog of his paintings . Yale University Press, New Haven, CT 2000, ISBN 0300085338 , pp. 321-325.
Web links
- Representation of the National Army Museum (English)
- Descendants of Robert Manners (ancestor of John Manners)
Individual evidence
- ↑ See illustration.
- ↑ Lord Dover (ed.): Letters of Horace Walpole Earl of Oxford to Sir Horace Mann . tape 2 . New York 1833 ( google.de ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Manners, John, Marquess of Granby |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Manners, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British general and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 2, 1721 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kelham |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 18, 1770 |
| Place of death | Scarborough |