SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF
THE TENTH, OR THE NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE,
REGIMENT OF FOOT.
John Earl of Bath.
Appointed 20th June, 1685.
John Granville, son of Sir Beville Granville, Knight, who was distinguished for his devotion to the royal cause during the rebellion in the reign of King Charles I., commanded his father's regiment of loyal Cornishmen in His Majesty's service, when in his fifteenth year, and was so conspicuous for valour and discretion beyond what is usually evinced at that age, that after taking part in several skirmishes in the west of England, he was placed at the head of a brigade of six regiments, with the rank of major-general, and he was severely wounded at the second battle of Newbury. He held the appointment of Gentleman of the Bedchamber to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Charles II., whom he attended, during the exile of the royal family, and shared in His Majesty's travels and afflictions in France, Flanders, Holland, and the island of Jersey. The King appointed him governor of the Scilly Islands, which he defended against the fleet of Cromwell, under Admirals Blake and Askew. He took part in bringing to maturity the measures which led to the restoration of the royal family, frequently consulting with General Monk, his near kinsman; and in April, 1661, His Majesty rewarded this faithful and zealous servant of the Crown with the dignity of Baron Granville of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, and of Bideford in Devonshire, Viscount Granville of Lansdown, and Earl of Bath. He was heir to the titles of Earl of Carboile, Thorigny, and Granville, in Normandy, in as full and ample a manner as his ancestors had formerly enjoyed them, before that dukedom was lost to the Crown of England, and he was authorized, by royal warrant, to use the same. The Earl of Bath was appointed governor of Plymouth and commandant of an independent company of foot in garrison at that fortress, and on the breaking out of the rebellion of James Duke of Monmouth, in June, 1685, his lordship was appointed colonel of a newly-raised corps, of which his independent company was the nucleus,—now the Tenth, or the North Lincolnshire Regiment of Foot. When the destruction of the established religion and laws of the kingdom appeared to have been resolved upon by the court, the Earl of Bath communicated with the Prince of Orange, and when His Highness arrived with an armament from Holland, he arrested the Earl of Huntingdon, and several other officers in garrison at Plymouth, and declared for the Prince of Orange, for which he was deprived of his commissions by King James, but he was restored by the Prince in three weeks afterwards. In 1693, he resigned the colonelcy of the Tenth foot, in favour of his nephew, Lieut.-Colonel Sir Beville Granville. He died in 1701.