Manners, Elizabeth (1780 -1825)

Elizabeth Howard was the daughter of Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, and his wife Lady Margaret Caroline Leveson-Gower. On 22 April 1799 she married John Manners, 5^thDuke of Rutland, and had ten children.

Among her interests were gardening and estate management, and landscaping at Belvoir Castle.  Her late father-in-law, Charles Manners, 4^thDuke of Rutland, had begun improvements to the gardens at Belvoir, but work was interrupted when the duke faced bankruptcy. Elizabeth took up the work and carried it forward.  A fire at Belvoir in 1816 almost ruined the castle, but thanks largely to Elizabeth to whom rebuilding was entrusted, the castle survived.

She died at the age of 45 of "an inflammation of the chest", and was buried in the family vault at Bottesford. A statue of the duchess was erected at Belvoir.