Джон Мэннерс, 1-й герцог Ратлендский: Жизнь и политическая карьера

British MP and Whig politician

John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland and 9th Earl of Rutland (29 May 163810 January 1711) was a British MP, and Whig politician. His divorce from his first wife caused much comment, partly because it was thought to have political implications.

He was born at Boughton, Northamptonshire, the son of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland, and Frances Montagu. His maternal grandparents were Sir Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton, and his wife Elizabeth Jeffries. He was styled Lord Roos from 1641 until 1679. He had six sisters, all of whom married into the nobility. Dorothy became Countess of Shaftesbury; Grace became Viscountess Chaworth; Margaret became countess of Salisbury; Elizabeth became Countess of Anglesey; Anne became Viscountess Howe, and Frances became Countess of Exeter. 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. Lord Roos succeeded his father as Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1677, and proved an effective deputy of the crown. His invitation to Lord Sherard to stand with him for Leicestershire instead of a gentry candidate upset the Leicestershire gentry, and the Commons disallowed Roos' election. He was created Baron Manners of Haddon on 30 April 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 (22 August 170222 March 1703). On 29 March 1703, his long support of the 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.

In the 1995 film Rob Roy, Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth), the primary antagonist, describes himself as an illegitimate child, whose mother worked for a very high class prostitution ring run by the Duke, who is further described as one of the three men who may have been Cunningham's father.