Lord Cecil Manners


Lord Cecil Reginald John Manners DL was a British Conservative politician and aristocrat.

Early life

Manners was born at 6 Cumberland Terrace, Camden, the second son of John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland, by his second marriage to Janetta Hughan, daughter of Thomas Hughan. Henry Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland, was his half-brother and Lord Edward Manners his brother. His half-nephew was John Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

In early 1900 he visited South Africa, travelling with troops taking part in the Second Boer War. While acting as a newspaper correspondent, he was among the prisoners captured by the Boers in the course of Lord Roberts' advance on 29 May 1900.
He succeeded his brother as Member of Parliament for Melton in 1900, a seat he held until 1906. On 10 June 1902, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Derbyshire.

Personal life

Manners died by suicide in September 1945, aged 77, killed by a train at Crowborough railway station. A fully loaded six-chambered revolver, with the hammer cocked, was found on his body. The cause of death was determined to be "decapitation by throwing himself in front of a train while the balance of mind was disturbed."