Lord Robert Manners

Who was Lord Robert Manners?

Captain Lord Robert Manners was an officer of the Royal Navy and nobleman, the second son of John Manners, Marquess of Granby and Lady Frances Seymour.

Educated at Eton, he entered the Royal Navy in 1772. As the son of one of the greatest soldiers of the time, and grandson of a duke, he expected rapid advancement in rank. However, Lord Sandwich, the First Lord of the Admiralty, resisted his promotion to lieutenant until he had served for six years, as regulations demanded. He was so promoted on 13 May 1778 aboard HMS Ocean, and saw action in July at the First Battle of Ushant. He was moved to Victory, flagship of Admiral Keppel, on 17 September 1778.

Shortly after his promotion to lieutenant, Manners again began to appeal to the Admiralty for preferment. He was moved into Alcide on 15 July 1779, in the fleet of Admiral Rodney, then bound for Gibraltar. The urgings of the other Lords of the Admiralty, who reminded Sandwich of the political danger to himself and the North Ministry should they arouse the enmity of the Manners family, finally wore him down, and he wrote to Rodney on 8 December, asking him to contrive a promotion for Manners. Rodney lacked Sandwich's reservations about Manners, who proved a talented officer despite his ambition. The day after the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, he promoted Manners captain and made him flag-captain of Resolution under Sir Chaloner Ogle, newly promoted commodore. In March, he was returned as Member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire in absentia in a boisterous contest, but would never take his seat.