RUTLAND, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The Ist earl of Rutland was Edward Plantagenet (1373-1415), son of Edmund, duke of York, and grandson of King Edward III. In 1390 he was created earl of Rutland, but was to hold the title only during the lifetime of his father, on whose death in 1402 the earldom ac cordingly became extinct, the earl then becoming duke of York. The title earl of Rutland seems to have been assumed subse quently by different members of the house of York, though it does not appear that any of them had a legal right to it. One of these was the i st earl's nephew, Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, father of King Edward IV. Richard's daughter Anne married for her second husband Sir Thomas St. Leger, and their daughter Anne married George Manners, 12th Baron Ros, or Roos (d. 1513). Their son, Thomas Manners (d. 1543), was therefore great-grandson of Richard Plantagenet, who had styled himself earl of Rutland among other titles. In 1525 Thomas Manners was created earl of Rutland, and his descendants have held this title to the present day.
Thomas was a favourite of Henry VIII., who conferred on him many offices and extensive grants of land, including Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire, which became henceforth the chief residence of his family. He was succeeded in the earldom by his son Henry (c. 1516-1563) ; and his second son, Sir John Manners, acquired Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, by his marriage with Dorothy, daugh ter of Sir George Vernon, called "the king of the Peak." Henry, the 2nd earl, was an admiral of the fleet in the reign of Queen Mary, and later enjoyed the favour of Queen Elizabeth.
John, 9th earl (1638-1711), a partisan of the Revolution of 1688, received the Princess Anne at Belvoir Castle on her flight from London; after the accession of Anne to the throne she created him marquess of Granby and duke of Rutland in 1703.
The 1st duke was three times married; the divorce in 167o, while he was still known as Lord Ros, of his first wife, Anne, daughter of the marquess of Dorchester, was a very celebrated legal case, being the first instance of divorce a vinculo by act of parliament, a divorce a mensa et thoro having previously been granted by the ecclesiastical courts. His grandson John, the 3rd duke (1696 was the father of John Manners, marquess of Granby (q.v.), a distinguished soldier, whose son Charles, 4th duke of Rutland (1754-1787), succeeded his grandfather. When mar quess of Granby he represented Cambridge university in the House of Commons, and hotly opposed the policy that led to war with the American colonies. He helped to procure the en trance of the younger Pitt to the House of Commons, and re mained through life Pitt's intimate friend. After succeeding to the dukedom in 1779, he sat in the cabinets of Shelburne and of Pitt, and became lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1784.
He was one of the earliest to advocate a legislative union be tween Ireland and Great Britain, which he recommended in a letter to Pitt in June 1784. The poet Crabbe was for some time private chaplain to the duke at Belvoir. His wife, Mary Isabella (1756-1831), "the beautiful duchess," whose portrait was four times painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, was a daughter of the 4th duke of Beaufort. His eldest son, John Henry, 5th duke (1778 1857), was "the duke" in Disraeli's Coningsby ; the latter's two sons, who succeeded in turn to the dukedom, the marquess of Granby and Lord John Manners, figuring in the same novel as "the marquis of Beaumanoir" and "Lord Henry Sidney" respec tively. The 7th duke is noticed separately.