Lord William Manners

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Lord William MannersFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Lord William Manners (13 November 1697 – 23 April 1772), English nobleman and Member of Parliament, was the second son of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland and his first wife, Catherine Russell.

He never married, but by his mistress Corbetta Smyth, daughter of William Smyth, Apothecary of Shrewsbury, he had ten children:

Corbetta Manners (1728–1760), eloped to marry Capt. George Lawson Hall; their daughter Corbetta Hall was a chief beneficiary of her grandmother's will.[1] John Manners (1730 – 23 September 1792) politician, married Louisa Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart and had issue, several children. Rev. Thomas Manners (1731 – 1 December 1812), twice married; firstly in 1758 to Susannah Buckland, who suffered from a mental condition, and secondly immediately after her death. His son William Manners married Frances Whichcote of Aswarby, and has descendants.[2] William Manners (1734–1827), married Caroline Pickering Russell Manners (1736–1800), married Mary Rayner Augusta Manners (1737–1828) Frances Manners (1739–1817) Robert Manners (b. 1740), died young Caroline Manners (1741–1800), married Jeremiah Ellis Robert Manners (1743 – 18 April 1810), married Elizabeth White (1749–1817) He entered Parliament for Leicestershire in 1719, for which he sat until 1734. He returned as MP for Newark in 1738, and held that seat until 1754, when he was succeeded by his eldest son John.

He died on 23 April 1772 as the result of a riding accident.

His descendant David Drew-Smythe speculates that Lord William Manners and his mistress Corbetta Smyth, who had a long-term relationship, never married because of inheritance clauses. All Corbetta's children were recognized by their father.

Conditions of inheritance being linked to stipulations about specific marriage expectations or restrictions are not uncommon and have been known to "force" couples into living and bringing up their children in 'unmarried' relationships in order to avoid losing an inheritance. This is speculation, of course, but there must have been some specific reason why they chose to be unmarried.

Notes[edit]1.Jump up ^ Will of Corbetta Smyth, dated 1752 2.Jump up ^ Corbetta Smyth, op.cit.

Family and Education b. 13 Nov. 1697, 2nd s. of John Manners, M.P., 2nd Duke of Rutland, by his 1st w., bro. of John, Mq. of Granby (b.1696), Lord Robert and Lord Sherard Manners. unm.

Offices Held

Gent. of the bedchamber to Prince of Wales ?1722-7; ld. of the bedchamber to the King 1727-38.

Biography Manners sat for Leicestershire, which his father had represented, voting with the Administration in all recorded divisions, till 1734, when he declined to stand again for the county ‘to the great annoyance of his friends’.1 Throwing up his post in 1738,2 he was returned for Newark by his brother, the 3rd Duke of Rutland, whom he followed into opposition, voting against the Government on the Spanish convention in 1739 and the place bill in 1740, but with them on the motion for the dismissal of Walpole in February 1741. In the next Parliament he was absent from the division on the chairman of the elections committee, 16 Dec. 1741, but voted with the Administration on the Hanoverians in December 1742. In 1743 Henry Pelham, his brother-in-law, offered him a post on the Treasury board, which he refused.3 He voted against the Hanoverians in 1744, but for them in 1746, when he was classed as ‘doubtful’. Listed as Opposition in 1747, he attached himself to Frederick, Prince of Wales, figuring as comptroller of the Household in the 2nd Lord Egmont’s lists of office-holders in the next reign. In 1751 Pelham suspected him of restraining his brother the Duke, over whom he had great influence, from joining the Administration.4

Portrayed by Hogarth in the gambling scene of ‘The Rake’s Progress’,5 Manners was reputed to have been the only nobleman to have made a considerable private fortune as a professional gamester. Horace Walpole describes him as ‘better known in the groom-porter’s annals than in those of Europe’, in which resort of court gamblers he won 1,200 guineas in one evening during the New Year festivities in 1728. He spent much of his time looking after the Belvoir foxhounds and his extensive racing studs.6 By the daughter of a Shrewsbury apothecary he had seven illegitimate children, four sons and three daughters, to whom he left over £100,000 in cash, as well as other property.7 The eldest of them, John Manners, succeeded him in his seat at Newark in 1754.

He died of a fall from his horse 23 Apr. 1772.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754 Author: Eveline Cruickshanks Notes 1. HMC Hastings, iii. 19. 2. Stuart mss 207/68. 3. Pelham to Devonshire, 1 Dec., and Hartington to Devonshire, 13 Dec. 1743, Devonshire mss. 4. F. G. Stephens, Cat. Prints and Drawings in the Brit. Mus. iii (1), p. 162. 5. Walpole, Mems. Geo II, ii. 2; Pelham to Devonshire, 4 July 1751, Devonshire mss. 6. To Mann, 28 Mar. 1754; W. E. Manners, Life of Granby, 7, 39. 7. PCC 186 Taverner; Recs. Cust Fam. (ser. 3), 4-5.