Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Manley, Roger
MANLEY, Sir ROGER (1626?–1688), cavalier, second son of Sir Richard Manley, was born probably in 1626. His family was an old one. Burke refers its origin to a ‘Conqueror's follower’ who appears as ‘Manlay’ in ‘Battle Abbey Roll’ (Holinshed, Chronicles, 1807, ii. 5). From the twelfth to the sixteenth century they resided in Chester, but in 1520 moved to Denbigh. Manley's father, comptroller of the household to Prince Henry, was knighted by James I in 1628. He is the Sir Richard Manley at whose house ‘in a little court behind Westminster Hall’ Pym was lodging in 1640 (Clarendon, Life, 1817, ii. 67). The eldest son, Sir Francis, was a royalist, but John, the third son, became a major in Cromwell's army, and married the daughter of Isaac Dorislaus [q. v.] His son, also named John, is sometimes identified with the villain who figures in Mrs. Manley's ‘Rivella.’ According to his daughter, Mrs. Mary Manley [q. v.], Sir Roger in his sixteenth year forsook the university to follow the king, and we know from the preface to his English ‘History of the Rebellion’ that he played his part in the war until, in his own words, he was, ‘upon the rendition of one of the king's garrisons in 1646, obliged by his articles to depart the kingdom’ (translation of Caron, Japan, 1663, Dedication, pp. 1–2). He passed the fourteen years of exile in Holland (ib.) A pass for ‘Roger Manley and servant on the desire of Mr. Dorislaus,’ 17 July 1655, seems to point to a visit to England (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1655, p. 592). After the Restoration he was made captain in his majesty's Holland regiment, and on 25 Oct. 1667 was appointed ‘Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's Castles, Forts, and Forces within the Island of Jersey,’ by Sir Thomas Morgan, the governor. He took the oath of office on 2 Nov., and seems to have held the post until 1674 (information supplied to Mr. G. A. Aitken by Mr. H. G. Godfray). Sir Roger was never, as is commonly stated, governor of Jersey. Afterwards he became governor of Landguard Fort (Hist. of Rebellion, 1691, title-page). The ‘R. Manley’ who was in Holland in 1665 on the king's service, and was flouted by De Witt, is probably not Sir Roger (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1665, p. 490; cf. ib. 1665–6, pp. 91, 104; cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p. 247). In 1670 Manley published at the king's command his ‘History of Late Warres in Denmark,’ i.e. from 1657 to 1660, a work which has still historical value. His ‘De Rebellione,’ a vigorous and fairly correct piece of latinity, appeared in 1686 with a dedication to James II. This was the last work published in his lifetime. The English ‘History of the Rebellion’ was published posthumously in 1691. Sir Roger must have died in 1688, because his will (dated 26 Feb. 1686) was proved on 11 June 1688. He left his house at Kew to his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Brathewaite; his equipage of war, horses, clothes, &c., to his son Francis; 200l. each to his daughters Mary de la Riviere and Cornelia, and 125l. to his son Edward. The balance, from houses at Wrexham, plate, foreign gold, &c., was to be divided equally among the children (information furnished by Mr. G. A. Aitken). Mrs. Mary Manley describes with obvious inaccuracies some part of her father's career in her romance of ‘Rivella,’ and she wrongly represents her father as author of the first volume of the ‘Turkish Spy’ [see under Midgeley, Robert].
[Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1628–9 p. 212, 1635 p. 295, 1638 pp. 333, 510, 1640 p. 23, 1644 p. 338; Metcalfe's Book of Knights, p. 189; Lords' Journals, iv. 247, 543; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1886, ii. 1218–19; Mrs. Manley's Rivella, 1714, pp. 14–29; Hallam's Introduction to European Literature, 1854, iii. 572; Whitelocke's Memorials, 1732, p. 698, where the Mr. Manley is Sir Roger's elder brother, Sir Francis; Commons' Journals, iii. 582, 588, xi. 581–2; Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. p. 329 (the ‘Thomas Manley’ mentioned here as a druggist's assistant cannot be ‘Sir Roger's son,’ but may be a grandson); Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 18981, fol. 281, an autograph letter from Sir Roger.]