Place Name
Lucy Manners (née Sherard) (January 29, 1685 – October 27, 1751), was an heiress who became the Duchess of Rutland following her marriage to John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland. Her father was Bennet Sherardan MP for Leicestershire who served as Lord Lieutenant of Rutland. Her husband died on February 22, 1721 and two decades after his death she made Rutland Lodge her home and gave the building its name, although it was in fact owned by Sir William Yonge, Secretary of War in Walpole’s ministry. The house was build sometime around the time of the Restoration by Sir William Bolton, later Lord Mayor of London. Bolton was a notorious figure who when informed about a fire taking hold in the City, went to see it for himself and is reputed to have remarked “Pish! A woman might piss it out!”. A few days later the conflagration destroyed thousands of homes and went down in history as the Great Fire of London. He only added to his infamy when he was convicted, in December 1667, of embezzling large sums of money from a fund to compensate destitute Londoners something which Pepys describes as “the greatest piece of roguery that they say was ever found in a Lord Mayor”. Rutland Lodge was converted into flats after fire damage in 1967.
