John Manners Granby

Granby, John Manners, Marquess of (1721-70). Eldest son of the Duke of Rutland, Granby was MP for Rutland when he joined the cavalry during the Jacobite uprising of 1745. He served on the staff of the Duke of Cumberland, being promoted major general in 1755. He was second-in-command of the Anglo-Brunswick cavalry at Minden under Lord George Sackville, when the latter notoriously refused to order his five regiments to charge the French. Replacing the cashiered Sackville as lieutenant general, Granby commanded the British contingent at the battle of Warburg (1760). He lost his wig leading the decisive cavalry charge, giving rise to the expression ‘going for it bald-headed’. He became a popular hero in Britain and his name still adorns a number of pubs. He was Master General of the Ordnance in 1763 and C-in-C from 1766 until his death.

— Peter Caddick-Adams

Granby, John Manners, marquis of (1721-70). Granby, heir to the dukedom of Rutland, became a national hero after brilliant cavalry actions at Minden (1759) and Warburg (1760), during the Seven Years War. He was elected to Parliament before he was 21 and remained in the Commons all his life. From 1763 to 1770 he was master of the ordnance, and commander-in-chief from 1766. In January 1770 he resigned office, having changed his mind on the Wilkes issue: ‘he recanted a vote he had not understood, ’ wrote Horace Walpole, ‘for reasons he understood as little.’ He died unexpectedly at the age of 49. Reynolds painted his florid, bald, ruddy countenance many times, and for decades less distinguished portraits swung outside countless taverns.