General Robert Manners (2 January 1758 – 9 June 1823) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament.
Life
He was the eldest son of General Lord Robert Manners by his wife Mary Digges and succeeded to his father's estate at Bloxholm in Lincolnshire. He was educated at Caen Academy and took the Grand Tour.
Manners joined the Army as a cornet in the 3rd Dragoon Guards on 27 April 1775, and was promoted to lieutenant on 25 December 1778. On 3 October 1779, he became captain of a company in the 86th Foot, newly raised by his cousin, the Duke of Rutland. He went with the 86th Foot to the West Indies, serving on marine duty aboard a ship before being sent with a detachment to Tobago. In 1781 the island was captured by the Comte de Grasse, and the garrison returned to Europe, the officers giving their parole. On 6 December 1782, Manners was promoted to major in the 80th Foot, and on 19 March 1783, he was made an equerry to the King. On 14 February 1784, he succeeded Allan Maclean as lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Battalion, 84th Regiment of Foot. That regiment was reduced on 24 June 1784, and after a period on half-pay, Manners joined the 3rd Foot Guards as captain-lieutenant on 19 February 1787.
In the general election of 1784, he was elected to Parliament for Great Bedwyn through the influence of Lord Ailesbury, the expenses of the election (£2,500, or the equivalent of £322,000 today) being paid by George Rose out of Government secret funds. He was considered as a replacement for Sir Henry Peyton, MP for Cambridgeshire, on that gentleman's death in 1789, but unsuccessfully stood at Northampton in the general election in 1790. He returned to Parliament in a by-election for Cambridge on 12 February 1791.
In 1791 Manners was promoted to captain of his own company in the 3rd Foot Guards and served with the 1st Battalion of the regiment in the first Flanders campaign. He was granted the brevet rank of Colonel on 1 March 1794. In the second campaign in Flanders, he was appointed to the light company, which was formed into a battalion with the four grenadier companies. He commanded the four light infantry companies at the Battle of Tourcoing on 17 May 1794, where he was wounded at the storming of Mouvaux. He was at every subsequent action of the Guards Brigade during the campaign except Boxtel, when he was detached on a month's hospital duty. He was promoted second major in the 3rd Foot Guards on 1 April 1795, and major-general in the Army on 3 May 1796, when he was placed on the staff of the Eastern District. He then commanded the 9th Brigade during the expedition to Holland in 1799.