Robert Manners (British Army officer, born 1758)

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Robert Manners
General Robert Manners in the uniform of the Light Company of the 3rd (Scots) Regiment of Foot Guards by Henry-Pierce Bone (1779–1855).jpg
General Robert Manners in the uniform of the Light Company of the 3rd (Scots) Regiment of Foot Guards by Henry Pierce Bone
Born2 January 1758
Died9 June 1823
Allegiance Great Britain
Service/branch British Army
RankGeneral
Other workMember of Parliament

General Robert Manners (2 January 1758 – 9 June 1823) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament.

Life[]

Bloxholm Hall, home of General Robert Manners

He was the eldest son of General Lord Robert Manners by his wife Mary Digges, and succeeded to his father's estate at Bloxholm in Lincolnshire. He was educated at Caen academy and took the Grand Tour.[1]

Manners joined the Army as a cornet in the 3rd Dragoon Guards on 27 April 1775,[2][3] and was promoted to lieutenant on 25 December 1778.[2][4] On 3 October 1779 he became captain of a company in the 86th Foot,[2][5] newly raised by his cousin the Duke of Rutland. He went with the 86th Foot to the West Indies, serving for a time on marine duty aboard ship before being sent with a detachment to Tobago. In 1781 the island was captured by the comte de Grasse and the garrison returned to Europe, the officers giving their parole.[2] On 6 December 1782 Manners was promoted to major in the 80th Foot[2][6] and on 19 March 1783 he was made an equerry to the King.[7] On 14 February 1784 he succeeded Allan Maclean as lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Battalion, 84th Regiment of Foot.[2][8] That regiment was reduced on 24 June 1784,[2] and after a period on half-pay, Manners joined the 3rd Foot Guards as captain-lieutenant on 19 February 1787.[2][9]

In the general election of 1784 he was elected to Parliament for Great Bedwyn[10] through the influence of Lord Ailesbury, the expenses of the election (£2,500, or the equivalent of £313,000 today[11]) being paid by George Rose out of Government secret funds. He was considered as a replacement for Sir Henry Peyton, MP for Cambridgeshire, on that gentleman's death in 1789, but unsuccessfully stood at Northampton in the general election in 1790. He returned to Parliament in a by-election for Cambridge on 12 February 1791.[1]

In 1791 Manners was promoted to captain of his own company in the 3rd Foot Guards,[12] and served with the 1st Battalion of the regiment in the first Flanders campaign.[2] He was granted the brevet rank of colonel on 1 March 1794,[2][13] and in the second campaign in Flanders he was appointed to the light company, which was formed into a battalion with the four grenadier companies. He commanded the four light infantry companies at the Battle of Tourcoing on 17 May 1794, where he was wounded at the storming of Mouvaux. He was at every subsequent action of the Guards Brigade during the campaign except Boxtel, at which time he was detached on a month's hospital duty.[2] He was promoted second major in the 3rd Foot Guards on 1 April 1795,[2][14] and major-general in the Army on 3 May 1796,[2][15] when he was placed on the staff of the Eastern District. He then commanded the 9th Brigade during the expedition to Holland in 1799.[2] One of the battalions in his brigade was the 2nd Battalion, 9th Regiment of Foot, of which Manners had been appointed colonel-commandant in August 1799.[16] He was then given the colonelcy of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot on 7 November 1799,[17] and on returning from Holland he received command of a brigade at Norwich. The brigade moved to Bagshot camp before embarking at Southampton to take part in the Ferrol expedition in August 1800. After the failure of the expedition, the troops continued to Gibraltar with Sir Ralph Abercromby, while Manners returned to Britain with Sir James Pulteney, where he joined the staff of the Southern District.[2] On 6 January 1801 he was made Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal to the King.[7] When war broke out again in 1803, Manners was appointed to the staff of the Eastern District, holding that post until he was promoted to lieutenant-general on 25 September that year.[2][18] After the establishment of the Regency, he was appointed Clerk Marshal in the King's Household at Windsor on 19 February 1812,[7] and he was promoted to full general on 4 June 1813.[2] He retired from Parliament at the 1820 general election.[1]

General Manners continued as Colonel of the 30th Foot until his death in 1823.[19] He was unmarried, but left children by Mary Ann Mansel (1780–1854). His elder sister Mary married William Hamilton Nisbet and was the mother of Mary Nisbet, first wife of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin.[20]

Christopher Hibbert records:[21]

Such was the tribute of popular attachment manifested in March 1789 towards a sovereign who, only seven years earlier, in March 1782, after losing a vast empire beyond the Atlantic, seemed to stand on a fearful precipice. [To celebrate the king's return to health] There were balls at the Pantheon and at the Duke of York's. A fête was held by White's, where Colonel Manners, who had taken over as equerry on the expiration of Colonel Greville's tour of duty, sang 'God Save the King' so lustily that he was asked not to be so loud. 'They pretended I was out of tune,' Manners said. 'But it was in such a good cause I did not mind.'

Amongst other recollections, in 1790, Fanny Burney writes of a conversation in which Robert Manners comments on his thoughts regarding the Bachelor Tax:[22]

I will therefore only tell you his opinion, in his own words, of one of our late taxes. 'There’s only one tax, ma’am, that ever I voted for against my conscience, for I’ve always been very particular about that; but that is the batchelor's tax, and that I hold to be very unconstitutional, and I am very sorry I voted for it, because it’s very unfair; for how can a man help being a bachelor, if nobody will have him ? and, besides, it’s not any fault to be taxed for, because we did not make ourselves bachelors, for we were made so by God, for nobody was born married, and so I think it’s a very unconstitutional tax.'

It is not known when this tax was rescinded, or whether, whilst living a married lifestyle with Mansel, this tax impinged on him.[22]

Manners died on 9 June 1823 at his house in Curzon Street and was buried, with his parents, at the church of St. Mary the Virgin at Bloxholm; the chancel and porch had been erected by Manners in 1812.[23][24]

Gallery[]

  • General Robert Manners - buttons from frock coat - with permission from his descendants in New Zealand

  • General Robert Manners - single button from frock coat (Lane, Son & Stoker, 26 Savile Row, London) - with permission from his descendants in New Zealand[25]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "MANNERS, Robert (1758–1823), of Bloxholm, Lincs". History of Parliament. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q John Philippart, The Royal Military Calendar, 3rd edition (1820) vol. II, pp. 6–7.
  3. ^ "No. 11561". The London Gazette. 13–16 May 1775. p. 1.
  4. ^ "No. 11948". The London Gazette. 26–30 January 1779. p. 1.
  5. ^ "No. 12020". The London Gazette. 5–9 October 1779. p. 2.
  6. ^ "No. 12400". The London Gazette. 24–28 December 1782. p. 2.
  7. ^ a b c R.O. Bucholz (2006). "Index of officers: Ma". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 11 (revised): Court Officers, 1660-1837. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  8. ^ "No. 12536". The London Gazette. 20–24 April 1784. p. 3.a.
  9. ^ "No. 12832". The London Gazette. 20–24 February 1787. p. 94.
  10. ^ "No. 12540". The London Gazette. 8 May 1784. p. 3.
  11. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  12. ^ "No. 13343". The London Gazette. 13–17 September 1791. p. 521.
  13. ^ "No. 13701". The London Gazette. 6–9 September 1794. p. 905.
  14. ^ "No. 13765". The London Gazette. 31 March – 4 April 1795. p. 294.
  15. ^ "No. 13892". The London Gazette. 10–14 May 1796. p. 460.
  16. ^ "No. 15166". The London Gazette. 10 August 1799. p. 786.
  17. ^ "No. 15202". The London Gazette. 12 November 1799. p. 1151.
  18. ^ "No. 15624". The London Gazette. 1 October 1803. p. 1317.
  19. ^ "No. 17933". The London Gazette. 21 June 1823. p. 1013.
  20. ^ "Rutland 26". william1.co.uk.
  21. ^ Hibbert, Christopher (1999). George III, A Personal History London: Penguin. p. 299 ISBN 978-0140257373
  22. ^ a b Burney, Fanny (1796). "1788 to 1796: 1788-1796 - Fanny Burney - Google Books p.247". Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  23. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, Volume 93, Part 1. 1823. p. 567.
  24. ^ "Kelly's Lincolnshire Directory". p. 71. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  25. ^ "Lane, Son & Stoker, 26 Savile Row". Pigot & Co.'s new commercial directory of Scotland for 1825-6. Retrieved 18 December 2019.

External links[]

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Great Bedwyn
1784–1790
With: Marquess of Graham 		Succeeded by
Preceded by

Edward Finch
 Member of Parliament for Cambridge
1791–1800
With: Edward Finch 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parliament of Great Britain
 Member of Parliament for Cambridge
1801–1820
With: Edward Finch 1801–1819
Frederick Trench 1819–1820 		Succeeded by
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