John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath

John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath PC (29 August 1628 – 22 August 1701), of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, was an English Royalist soldier and statesman during the Civil War who played a major role in the 1660 Restoration of the Monarchy and was later appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was the first in his family to adopt the modernised spelling as Granville of their ancient surname Grenville, which emphasised their supposed ancient 11th-century origin from the Normandy manor of Granville, Manche.

He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Bevil Grenville (1596-1643) lord of the manors of Bideford in Devon and Stowe, Kilkhampton in Cornwall, a Royalist soldier killed in action in heroic circumstances at the Battle of Lansdowne in 1643 during the Civil War. Sir Bevil served as MP for Cornwall 1621–1625 and 1640–42, and for Launceston 1625–1629 and 1640. John's mother was Grace Smythe, a daughter by his second marriage of Sir George Smith (d.1619) of Madworthy, near Exeter, Devon, a merchant who served as MP for Exeter in 1604, was three times Mayor of Exeter and was Exeter's richest citizen, possessing 25 manors or part manors. John had thirteen siblings, all by Royal Warrant of Precedence granted the rank and title of Earl's children by King Charles II on 20 August 1675, in recognition of their father's services. Grace's half-sister Elizabeth Smythe was the wife of Sir Thomas Monk (1570–1627) of Potheridge, Devon, MP for Camelford in 1626, and mother of the great General George Monck, Duke of Albemarle, KG (1608-1670), the main figure behind the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. It was largely due to his close kinship to his first cousin the Duke that Sir John Grenville was raised to the peerage in 1660 as Earl of Bath and was also granted the reversion of the Duchy of Albemarle in the event of the failure of George Monck's male issue.

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