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- BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1754, after his elder brother's death in 1760 he was styled Lord Roos and, from 1770 till 1779, Marquess of Granby. As his father had died before his grandfather, in 1779 he succeeded his grandfather as Duke of Rutland. From 1762 till 1770 he was educated at Eton and, on 11 November 1771 as a nobleman, admitted at Cambridge's Trinity College, matriculating in 1772. From 1774 till 1779 he was M.P. for Cambridge University.
On 26 December 1775 he married Lady Mary Isabella Somerset and they became the parents of five children. However, she was beautiful but rather dull, 'was to be seen not heard', and he consoled himself by taking lively mistresses.
He spoke out against the punitive taxation imposed on the American colonies, maintaining that the taxation 'commenced in iniquity is pursued with resentment, and can terminate in nothing but blood'. In November 1777 he proposed a motion in the House of Lords 'to cause the most speedy and effectual measures to be taken for restoring the peace in America', which was defeated by 243 votes to 86.
From 9 July 1779 till his death, he was Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire and, on 3 October 1782, nominated and invested as a Knight of the Garter; from February till April 1783, Lord Steward of the Household; on 14 November 1783, a Privy Councillor; from December 1783 till February 1784, Lord Privy Seal; and, from 12 February 1784 to 1787, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. However, he was regarded as '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 December 1784 he had been dangerously ill of a fever 'not occasioned by a drunken bout'. The Duke of Leinster said of him, 'provided he gets his skin full of claret, he cares little about anything else.'
In Phoenix Lodge on 24 October 1787, aged only thirty-three, he died. 'It was a disease of the liver which carried him off, brought about by a gargantuan appetite. For instance he would begin each day with a breakfast of six or seven turkey's eggs, washed down all day long with port.' Before he died he asked to see his wife but, realising she was then too far away, said: 'In point of time, it will be impossible. I must therefore be content to die, with her image before my mind's eye.'
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