82 Sporting and Rural Records of the Cheveley Estate. 



Chevelky. 



Charles Duke 

 of Rutland. 



His Court in 

 Ireland. 



Charles Manners, fourth Duke of Rutland, second son of 

 John Marquis of Granby, by his wife Lady Frances Seymour, 

 third daughter of Charles sixth Duke of Somerset, and grandson 

 of John third Duke of Rutland, was born March 15, 1754. He 

 was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he 

 was created M.A. in 1774. At the general election in October, 



1774, he was returned to the House of Commons for the 

 University of Cambridge. On the death of his grandfather, 

 May 29, 1779, he succeeded to the title; and was invested a 

 Knight of the Garter, October 3, i 782. He was appointed Lord- 

 Lieutenant of Ireland, February 11, 1784. The Duke was an 

 amiable and extravagant peer, without any particular talent, 

 except for conviviality. The utmost magnificence signalised the 

 entertainments of the vice-regal court, and the Duke and Duchess 

 were reckoned the handsomest couple in Ireland. In the summer 

 of 1787 the Duke went for a tour through the country, and was 

 entertained at the seats of inany noblemen. " During the course 

 of this tour," says Wraxall, " he invariably began the day by 

 eating at breakfast six or seven turkey's eggs as an accom- 

 paniment to tea and coffee. He then rode forty, and sometimes 

 fifty miles, dined at six or seven o'clock, after which he drank 

 freely, and concluded by sitting up to a late hour, always supping 

 before he retired to rest." Upon his return he was seized with 

 a violent fever, and died at the Vice-Regal Lodge, Phcenix Park, 

 Dublin, October 24, 1787, aged 33. He married, December 26, 



1775, Lady Mary Isabella Somerset, the youngest daughter of 

 Charles fourth Duke of Beaufort, by whom he had John Henry, 

 who succeeded as the fifth Duke, and three other sons and two 

 daughters. The Duchess survived her husband many years, and 

 died September 2, 1831, aged 75. She was a strikingly handsome 

 woman. Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom the Duke gave a large 

 number of commissions, painted her four times. 



John Henry, fifth Duke of Rutland, the eldest and last surviving 

 son of Charles, lourth Duke ol Rutland, was born January 4, 1778. 



