John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland

His Grace The Duke of Rutland KG PC
John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland, by Charles Jervis, 1725, Belvoir Castle
Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire
In office 1721–1779
Monarch	George IV
Preceded by	The Duke of Rutland
Succeeded by	The Duke of Rutland
Personal details
Born	21 October 1696
Died	29 May 1779 (aged 82)
Nationality	British
Political party	Whigs
Spouse(s)	Bridget Sutton

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, cutting short a brief career in the House of Commons, where he had represented Rutland as a Whig.

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.

John Manners was a collector. He started buying in 1742 and bought many works of art in the following two decades. Of course, he was not a collector on par with his grandson, Charles, the 4th Duke of Rutland. On the death of his father, John, the 2nd Duke of Rutland, in 1721, he inherited the collection of ancestral portraits (for the most part commissioned to Jeremias van der Eyden by John the 1st Duke of Rutland) and the small collection of Italian, French, Netherlandish and German pictures gathered by his ancestors.^[1]

John Manners went to 42 art auctions during the 1740s and 1750s where he spent £1,353 for paintings, drawings and prints. He bought fewer than five items at a time, mostly small paintings which he particularly appreciated. Spending only about £32 per auction at an average, he was not a big buyer (spending £40 for a painting is then considered "elevated"). But, in 1756, he paid £84 for Claude’s ‘A Setting Sun, with the port of Antium’, £106 1s. for ‘A Holy Family’ by Veronese and £43 1s for ‘A Holy Family’ by Baroccio. Agents bought for him at other auctions and he bought privately too. In total, he spent £3,210 for his collection. At the same time, the building of Rutland House in Knightsbridge cost him £4,432.^[1]

The collection comprised works by Raphael, Titian, Bassano, Veronese, Lanfranco and Guido Reni, a Claude, a Chardin and two Poussin, some Dutch interiors. About 100 pictures were hung in three rooms of Rutland House: 63 in the Duke's room, 20 in the dinning room and 17 in a room named 'Mr Thorotons Room'. A special gallery was also built at Belvoir Castle to house another part of the collection.^[1]

For an unknown reason, the Duke sold 200 paintings in 1758-1759.^[1]

In 1717 he married Bridget Sutton, the 17-year-old heiress of Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexinton. They had eleven children, most of whom died young:

• Lady Catherine Rachel Manners (b. 1718), died young
• Lady Caroline Manners (b. spring 1719), died young
• Lady Frances and Lady Bridget Manners (d. 30 December 1719), twins
• John Manners, Marquess of Granby (1721–1770)
• Lord Robert Manners-Sutton (1722–1762)
• Lord George Manners-Sutton (1723–1783)
• Lord William Manners (29 July 1724 – 11 March 1730)
• Lady Leonora Manners (d. June 1740)
• Lady Frances Manners (c. 1726 – 3 February 1739)
• Lord Frederick Manners (b. 17 February 1728)

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.

References

• Descendants of Sir Robert de Manners, of Etal
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Taylor, Carole. "John (Manners), 3rd Duke of Rutland: British art collector". Journal of the History of Collections (Oxford UP) 28 (2). doi:10.1093/jhc/fhw015.

1. Taylor 2016.