Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/59

Manners her marriage; 'so her 4,000l. a year is to be set aside for two years to pay her debts. Don't you like this English management? Two of the greatest fortunes mating, and setting out with poverty and want' (Letters, ii. 223-4). Granby was returned for Cambridgeshire in 17o4, and represented it in successive parliaments up to his death. He became a major-general, 4 March 1755, and colonel of the royal horse guards (blues), 13 May 1758. He appears to have been in Germany (near Embden) in July 1758 (Rep. Rutland MSS. ii. 200), and in command at Cassel in May 1 759 (ib. p. 201). He had obtained the rank of lieutenant-general in February 1759, was at the head of the blues at the battle of Minden, 1 Aug. 1759, and had set his regiment in motion to follow the retreating French when he was peremptorily halted dv Lord George Sackville [see ]. Granby and Sackville did not get on well together, but Sackville was confident Granby would readily acknowledge that the object of the halt was to carry out Prince Ferdinand's orders as to preserving the alignment (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. pt. iii.) After the battle Granby was specially thanked by Prince Ferdinand. When Sackville resigned, Granby became commander-in-chief of the British contingent from 14 Aug. 1759 (Rep. Rutland MSS. ii. 201). The strength of the British troops, after the arrival of the reinforcements in 1760, was thirty-two thousand men. In this position Granby acquired high reputation during the ensuing campaigns. He was a great favourite with Prince Ferdinand, a circumstance which his critics attributed to his pliant disposition and hard drinking; but the fact remains that the troops under his orders were always assigned the post of danger, and, with their commander, always proved themselves worthy of the honour. At Warburg in Westphalia, when the French were defeated, with the loss of fifteen hundred men and ten guns, on 31 July 1760, a brilliant charge of the British heavy cavalry led by Granby, in the words of Prince Ferdinand, 'contributed extremely to the success of the day.' Ferdinand testified to the 'unbeschreibende Tapferkeit' with which Granby's corps defended the wooded heights of Fellinghausen (Kirchdenkern) on 15 July 1761, against the attack of the French under De Broglie, and on the morrow against the united efforts of De Broglie and Soubise, who were compelled to retreat in what turned into a flight to the Rhine. On 24 June 3762, at Gravenstein, where he commanded the right wing of the allies; at Wilhelmstahl next day, when he cut off the French rear-guard, and the elite of their grenadiers laid down their arms to the 5th foot, one of the regiments under his orders; on 6 Aug. of the same year, when he stormed the heights of Homburg, and so cut off the French from their base at Frankfort-on-Maine, Granby's services were as important as they were brilliant. He left a sickbed on an inclement night during the siege of Cassel, to head the cavalry in seizing a position of importance to the security of the army, declared by the other generals to be impracticable. Ligonier rallied him pleasantly in a letter of 7 Oct. 1762 on his new cure for fever (ib. ii. 369).

As a divisional leader Granby was unquestionably a splendid soldier. He was brave to a fault, skilful, generous to profuseness, careful of his soldiers, and beloved by them. When the troops in Germany, through no fault of his, were in bad quarters, he is stated to have procured provisions and necessaries for the men at his own cost; his table was at the same time always open to the officers. The sick and wounded of all ranks found in him a constant friend. In the days of his political power he warmly opposed the principle of dismissing military officers for their political opinions.

Granby's order-books in Germany are in the British Museum (Add. MS. 28855), together with a proposal by him to raise a regiment of light dragoons (ib. 32903, f. 23). The regiment, known as the 21st light dragoons or royal Windsor foresters, was raised in the neighbourhood of London early in 1761. Granby was colonel, and his brother, Lord Robert Manners-Sutton, lieutenant-colonel commanding. It was said to be one of the finest corps in the service. It was disbanded at Nottingham, 3 March 1763 (see, Nottingham Date Book). Granby, who was long dangerously ill with fever at Warburg during the latter part of 1762, returned home early in 1763 His popularity was then unbounded. Fox [see, 1705-1774] wrote asking his political support in October 1 762 (Rep. Rutland MSS. ii. 360), and special messengers awaited his return at all the principal ports to offer him a choice of the ordnance or the horse guards (cf. , Memoirs of the Reign of George III, i. 146-370). Granby was made master-general of the ordnance on 1 July 1763, and became twelfth commander-in-chief, 13 Aug. 1766. In this position he was savagely assailed three years later by 'Junius,' who declared that he 'had degraded the office of commander-in-chief to that of a broker in commissions.' Sir [q. v.] replied in a letter to the 'Public Advertiser,' defending Granby, which provoked 'Junius' to further attacks. As the object of 'Junius' was to overthrow