Elizabeth Manners, Duchess of Rutland


Elizabeth Manners, Duchess of Rutland was the wife of John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland. She was the daughter of Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, and his wife, Lady Margaret Caroline Leveson-Gower.
Lady Elizabeth married the Duke on 22 April 1799, and they had ten children:
The Duchess's interests included gardening and estate management. She took forward improvements begun by her father-in-law, Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland, but interrupted when he went bankrupt. She supervised landscaping works at Belvoir Castle and included a model farm. A fire in 1816 almost destroyed the castle. The rebuilding was largely entrusted to the Duchess and cost around £82,000. The Gentleman's Magazine commented that "What many individuals would have required a century to execute, her perseverance in a few years achieved."
Elizabeth also made improvements to Cheveley Park, where her husband's famous stud operated, and influenced the building of York House on the Mall on behalf of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the brother of King George IV, with whom she had an intimate relationship.
She died, aged 45, of "an inflammation of the chest", and was buried in the family vault at Bottesford. A statue of her was later erected at the castle. A pencil portrait of her, by Henry Bone, after John Hoppner, is held by the National Portrait Gallery.