The Marquess of Granby: The British Army’s Great Commander of Cavalry During the Seven Years’ War with a Short Biography

Granby: An outstanding British soldier and master of horse

John Manners was born in 1721, the eldest son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland and assisted his father in raising a Rutland militia to contribute in quelling the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. Although this regiment served only as garrison troops, Manners was personally present at the Battle of Culloden. By 1758 he was a major-general and colonel of the prestigious Royal Horse Guards (Blues). The Seven Years' War was by this point being fought across the globe and Manners went to the European theatre as second in command to Sackville. By 1759 he was a Lieutenant-General. Granby proved to be an extremely competent and popular soldier. He contributed to improvements to the operations and drill of cavalry and was concerned with soldier's welfare and assistance for the wounded. Possessed of indisputable personal courage, he is particularly recognised for his prowess in the command of allied cavalry on the battlefield and especially his ability to coordinate mounted operations with horse artillery. Granby fought notably at Minden (1759), Warburg (1760), Emsdorf (1760) and at Villinghausen (1761).Today, his name endures in the many English public houses that bear his name- it is said this was because they were originally operated by his old soldiers as a consequence of his beneficence. This Leonaur edition also includes a short biography of Granby and several illustration and maps-some which were not present in earlier editions of this book.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

On July 12 the Allied Army extended itself towards the Lippe, Lord Granby leading, and encamping at Kirchdenkern, with his left towards Vellingshausen, on the main road to Hamm. The main army lay between Hilbeck and Hohenover; and the Hereditary Prince, from Wambeln to Hilbeck, forming its right. Consecutive feints and attempts on De Broglie’s part ensued, in one of which an officer, (Captain Gun was killed, and Captain Gorry wounded), and several men of Keith’s Highlanders (in Granby’s Corps) were lost; and Prince Ferdinand supported the right and left flanks of the Allied Army as they were alternately threatened.
The turn of events was so constantly shifting that Granby wrote he was at a loss which to expect first—“the siege of Lippstadt, a battle, or a suspension of arms.”
One point was clear, that Granby’s strong post was the key of Prince Ferdinand’s position, and that which De Broglie showed most inclination to attack. On July 14-15 Lord Granby was busily employed strengthening his front with flêches and abatis, and felling trees to place across the road to Hamm—upon which town he was to retire if compelled. All this movement and work took place, it must be remembered, in the dog-days, during which Lord Granby enjoined “all the butchers of the army to keep their dogs tied up, in order to prevent any bad accident happening in case any of them should go mad.”
All the morning of the 15th of July Marshal de Broglie had been intently reconnoitring, and some skirmishes occurred on the outposts; but, as the day wore on, the French retired, and the Allies imagined all, for the time, to be quiet. About four in the afternoon De Broglie suddenly commenced a most determined attack upon Granby’s camp, without informing Prince Soubise, whom it is supposed De Broglie wished to exclude from all share in his exploit. De Broglie advanced in three columns, and his van-guard, pushing along the Hamm road, drove in Granby’s German light troops, while his centre advanced upon Vellingshausen.
Lord Granby dashed up from his quarters, and himself ordered all his troops under arms, extending his left wing obliquely towards the Lippe to protect the Hamm road.
Almost before his troops were out of their tents, the enemy’s cannon-shot reached his camp; but his light troops, sustained by the two battalions of Highlanders, rallied, and repulsed the French outposts, of which about a hundred men and several officers were taken. Granby’s left had, for the time being, been turned. Prince Ferdinand hurried to Granby’s camp, where he found every disposition already made which he considered necessary; and, enjoining His Lordship to defend Vellingshausen to the last extremity, the prince galloped off to re-dispose the right so as to move up some troops in support of the sorely pressed left. General Wutgenau, to whose command three squadrons of Carabiniers were attached, was ordered to Granby’s left, on the Hamm road; the Prince of Anhalt, whose command included Conway’s, Mordaunt’s, and the Inniskillings, under Major-General Elliot, to his right; and Count La Lippe Bückebourg, with the artillery, was placed in front of the left of the centre of the army.
Granby’s Division, consisting of the British grenadiers, the Highlanders, Mansberg’s, Hodgson’s, Napier’s, Cornwallis’, and Stuart’s; the Greys, Mostyn’s, Elliot’s, and Ancram’s, and the Hanoverian Artillery, fought, as De Mauvillon enthusiastically records, “with indescribable bravery.” Before Wutgenau’s arrival Granby had gradually made head against the attack, and driven the French back until all his outposts were regained, and Wutgenau’s, and the Prince of Anhalt’s, reinforcements completed the repulse of the French, who had been likewise reinforced by the regiments of De Rougé, Acquitaine. Champagne, Auvergne, and Poitou, under the Duc d’Havre, the Duc Duras, and the Comte de Vaux.