John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland (1587-1588), and Countess Elizabeth (née Charlton), d.1613.

Opposite the tomb of his elder brother, Edward, is that of John the 4th Earl (born 1552) and Countess Elizabeth. Gerard Johanssen again was the sculptor, both tombs being created at the same time, in 1591. John lived only ten months after Edward’s death and died on 24th February 1588 at Nottingham. Countess Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Charlton, then had the dubious pleasure of ordering both the 3rd Earl’s as well as her husband’s monuments. There were nine children , of whom two died in infancy.

John became the 4th Earl of Rutland in year of the Great Armada, 1588. Although he had a military career in the Irish wars, John Manners is now chiefly remembered as the father of a large family. No less than three of his sons, Roger, Francis, and George, became Earls of Rutland. Oliver, the fifth son, was suspected of involvement in the Gunpowder Plot having been converted to Catholicism by the Jesuit John Gerard, a close friend of the Plot leader Robert Catesby. He was serving as MP for Grantham in November 1605 but failed to warn the authorities about the conspiracy. He went into exile in 1606, was ordained to the Jesuit priesthood at Rome in 1611, and returned to England before dying in London in 1613.

Countess Elizabeth became the de-facto Earl during the minority of her eldest surviving son Roger and proved to be a formidable administrator, founding the Countess of Rutland’s Hospital in Bottesford, amongst many other things. She arranged her sons Roger and Francis’ educational visits to Europe, outlined on their tombs in the church, which were something of a prototype for the 18th century Grand Tour.