John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland

He was the son of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland and Frances Montagu. His maternal grandparents were Sir Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton and his wife Elizabeth Jeffries. He was styled Lord Roos from 1641 until 1679.

He served, rather passively, as Member of Parliament for Leicestershire from 1661 until 1679. Politically he was a Whig, but did not attend court after 1689, preferring the life of a country magnate.

Lord Roos succeeded his father as Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1677, and proved an effective deputy of the crown. His invitation to Lord Sherard to stand with him for Leicestershire instead of a gentry candidate upset the Leicestershire gentry, and the Commons disallowed Roos' election. He was created Baron Manners of Haddon on 30 April 1679 and sent to the House of Lords instead, but succeeded as Earl of Rutland on 29 September 1679 at the death of his father. He retained his lord lieutenancy in 1681, despite supporting the Exclusion Bill, but was turned out by James II in 1687. Reappointed in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution, he resigned in 1702, to protest government promotion of Tory interests in Leicestershire. He was briefly Custos Rotulorum of Leicestershire thereafter (22 August 1702 – 22 March 1703). On 29 March 1703, his long support of Whig government was rewarded by his creation as Duke of Rutland and Marquess of Granby.

Rutland was reappointed to the lord lieutenancy in 1706, which he retained until his death on 10 January 1711.

He married, firstly, Lady Anne Pierrepont, daughter of Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, on 15 July 1658. The failure of their marriage attracted considerable attention, as divorce was not generally available at the time. He obtained a "separation from bed and board" in 1663 on grounds of her adultery, and private Acts of Parliament in 1667 bastardizing her issue since 1659 and granting him permission to remarry in 1670. This process required considerable expenditure and trouble.

The divorce proceedings aroused enormous public interest and had some political significance since among the regular attenders in the House of Lords was King Charles himself. By his own account he was only there for the entertainment, finding the debates "as good as a play"; but there was a rumour that the King intended to use the divorce as a precedent for divorcing his own childless Queen, Catherine of Braganza. In the event the rumour came to nothing, although the King, who now saw these debates as a useful guide to the opinions of the ruling class, began to regularly attend at the House of Lords. Peers became accustomed to "speaking to the fireside" (i.e. addressing themselves directly to the King, who, to indicate that he was only present as an observer, usually sat by the fire).

He married, secondly, Lady Diana Bruce, daughter of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin, on 10 November 1671. She died on 15 July 1672 in childbed.

He married, thirdly, Catherine Wriothesley Noel (d. 1733), daughter of Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden, on 8 January 1673 They had three children:

• John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland (1676–1721)
• Lady Catherine Manners (1675–1722), married John Leveson-Gower, 1st Baron Gower and had issue.
• Lady Dorothy Manners (c. 1690–1734), married Baptist Noel, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough and had issue.