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- BIOGRAPHY
He was styled Marquess of Granby and educated at Eton. In 1741 and 1742 he travelled in Europe and Asia Minor, keeping a diary which remains at Belvoir. As a Whig he was M.P. for Grantham from 1741 until 1754 and for Cambridgeshire from 1754 until 1770. He was a Colonel of a Regiment of Foot raised by his father during the Jacobite Rising in 1745 and, in 1747, served in Flanders. On 5 March 1755 he became a Major-General.
On 3 September 1750 he married Lady Frances Seymour, daughter of the Duke of Somerset who, according to Horace Walpole was worth above £130,000 and was 'one of the great heiresses of old proud Somerset', adding that she had £4,000 a year and that he was in debt of £10,000.
As an army officer he made his reputation in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). He headed the second line of cavalry on the right wing at the battle of Minden, 1 August 1759, and distinguished himself under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick who afterwards thanked him especially. He was a great favourite with Prince Ferdinand, which his critics attributed to his pliant disposition and hard drinking; but the troops under his orders were always assigned the post of danger and, with their commander, always proved themselves worthy of the honour. In 1760 he led the British calvalry in a brilliant charge against the French at Warburg. In 1763 he was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance.
In August 1766 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the land forces in Great Britain, a post he resigned in January 1770. However, on 7 August 1766, old Lord Ligonier, who was Granby's senior, protested to the king through Lord Barrington. The next day Granby wrote to Lord Chatham, begging to be left in his present situation so as not to cause unhappiness to Ligonier.
He was only forty-nine when he died of gout in the stomach, which was described by William Pitt as: 'The loss to England is, indeed, irreparable. 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.'
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