Biography of Walter Evelyn Manners (c.1851-1942)
Thoroton Hildyard family members
- Robert Thoroton (1601-1673), of Car Colston
- Thomas Thoroton (1636-1695), citizen and salter of London
- Thomas Thoroton (1663-1721), Recorder of Lincoln
- Robert Thoroton (1692-1751), of Screveton
- Thomas Thoroton (1723-1794), of Screveton
- Colonel Thomas Thoroton (1753-1813), of Screveton and Flintham
- Colonel Thomas Blackborne Hildyard (1788-1830), of Flintham Hall
- Thomas Blackborne Thoroton Hildyard (1821-1888), of Flintham Hall
- Thomas Blackborne Thoroton Hildyard (1843-1928), of Flintham Hall
- Gerald Moresby Thoroton Hildyard (1874-1956), of Flintham Hall
- Myles Thoroton Hildyard (1914-2005), of Flintham Hall
Related family members
Walter Evelyn Manners was the son of Arthur Manners, son of Fursan Manners (1779-1835), son of Captain Edward Manners (1745-1811) of Goadby Marwood, Leicestershire, the illegitimate son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland. One of Walter's cousins was Otho Augustus Manners (1818-1897), rector of Hawnby, North Yorkshire. Documents in North Yorkshire County Record Office show that the manor of Snilesworth, close to Boltby, was associated with Captain Edward Manners in 1801 (reference: CRONT/1118), and papers of Walter E. Manners relating to Snilesworth are also kept there (reference: ZFF). Letters from Walter E. Manners' nephew Herbert C. Manners reveal that the Snilesworth estate was divided between family members, and that Walter owned a share of it (reference: THF/X/3/10/7/1-5).
Walter appears in the 1881 census, aged 30, as a private secretary (Lit Serv) born in Knightsbridge, but living at Robert J. Burnside's private boarding school at Winkfield, Berkshire. Robert Burnside was the husband of his sister Florence Manners. Another boarder there was John E. Manners, aged 11, born in Natal, South Africa, who was probably his nephew. John E. Manners was the eldest son of Edward Manners, most likely Walter's brother, buried in 1878 in Bournemouth (reference: THF/X/3/9/1).
Eversley and Winkfield were also the places in which Walter's aunt Miss Helen Thackrah is known to have lived. She died at Winkfield in 1931, aged 101 (announcement in The Times, Wednesday, Oct 28, 1931). Walter's mother was Harriet Thackrah, daughter of George Thackrah and Harriet Paley. His aunt Eden Thackrah (1819-1899) was the second wife of Sir Henry Selwyn-Ibbetson, Baron Rookwood (d 1902). Walter E. Manners acted as Rookwood's executor, and some letters relating to the Rookwoods and their relatives the Calverley family are present in the Thoroton Hildyard collection in series THF/X/3/10.
Walter worked at Bischoffheim's Bank in London until he was made redundant in 1883 (reference: THF/X/3/10/1/1-7), but details of any subsequent paid employment are not known. In the late 1890s he lived at 89 Piccadilly, London. He was living at 12 Chesterfield Street, London, by the 1920s. He was interested in the history of the Manners family, and published one full-length volume, Some account of the military, political, and social life of the right hon. John Manners, marquis of Granby , in 1899. In 1915 Walter purchased papers from the Sydney collection sold at auction at Frognal House, Kent, relating to the Townshend family in the 18th and 19th centuries, and may have intended to use them as the basis for further historical researches and publications.
He died in 1942, and left a will noted by The Times on 16 July 1942. He left all his manuscripts, some paintings [no longer in the collection] and some money to his distant cousin and executor Myles Thoroton Hildyard of Flintham Hall. Myles Hildyard never dispersed Walter Manners' papers, and they remained at Flintham Hall together with manuscripts of the Thoroton and Hildyard families.
Image
Photograph of Walter Evelyn Manners (detail from THF/X/3/9/2)
Family
Manners family
Fursan Manners, son of Captain Edward Manners of Goadby Marwood, son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland , had:
- Arthur Manners, married Harriet Thackrah, daughter of George Thackrah and Harriet Paley, and had:
- Edward Manners (c.1845-1878), married Meta Hulme, and had:
- John Manners (c.1870-)
- Edith Manners (c.1871-)
- Charles Manners (c.1874-)
- Ernest Manners (c.1876-)
- Herbert C. Manners (1877-1955)
- Walter E. Manners (c.1851-1942). Unmarried
Thackrah, Ibbetson and Calverley families
George, alias J.T. Thackrah, married Harriet, née Paley, and had:
- Eden Thackrah (1819-1899), married 1stly Sir Charles Henry Ibbetson, 5th Baronet, and 2ndly Sir Henry Selwin Ibbetson, Lord Rookwood
- Helen Thackrah (c.1829-1931), of St Ronan’s, Winkfield near Bracknell, Berkshire
- Louisa
- Harriet, mother of Walter E. Manners
Through the Thackrahs Walter was related to the Ibbetson and Calverley families:
Sir John Ibbetson-Selwin, married Isabella Leveson-Gower, and had:
- Sir Henry Selwin Ibbetson, Lord Rookwood (d 1902), married 1stly in 1850 Sarah Elizabeth Copley, 2ndly in 1867 Eden Thackrah (1819-1899), widow of Sir Charles Henry Ibbetson, 5th Baronet (1814-1861), 3rdly in 1900 Sophia Harriet Lawrell. No children
- Isabella, married Edmund Calverley, and had:
- Major Horace Walter Calverley (1862-1929), married Louisa Mary Henniker (-1946), daughter of Bridges Powell Henniker, 4th Baronet, and had:
- John Calverley
- Gertrude Louisa, married Edward Capel Cure
Archive Collections
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Papers relating to research into the history of members of the Duke of Rutland's family and John Manners, Lord Granby, papers from the Sydney collection relating to the Townshend family, and personal papers and correspondence, in the Thoroton Hildyard Collection held by Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham (
THF/X/3).
Published Sources