Hugh, Earl of Manton

Hugh Grex (The Earl of Manton) is a fictional character of the 2012 Miniseries Titanic; he is played by Linus Roache. He is a British-Anglican aristocrat that inherited the title from the death of his father. He is quite a fair man and when it comes to friends and employees he doesn't care about mixing classes like his wife. He is respected for this.

Lord Manton takes his wife on board the Titanic, and they decide to take their daughter, who got into trouble, with them at the last minute.

Lord Manton barely survives the sinking, as he didn't board a lifeboat. He was forced to swim in the water for a long time, but a lifeboat pulled him back just in time. Dorothy Gibson uses some brandy to revive him. Later on the Carpathia, he is reunited with his wife.

Plot

The Earl of Manton is first seen bailing her daughter out of prison. Next, he goes to Bruce Ismay to ask him for cancellations so that she can get on board.

When going for dinner, the Mantons are welcomed by Captain Smith, John Jacob Astor and Madeleine Astor. Dorothy Gibson joins them and they shake hands. The Wideners also join them, but their son Harry keeps staring at Georgiana. Finaly, the Duff-Gordon's also join them, with Mrs. Rushton complaining about their locked-up "darling", then Joseph Rushton explains she refers to their Pekinese.

At the dinner table, Hugh notices the romance developing between Harry Widener and Georgiana.

After dinner, they head to the reception, where the band plays "Autumn" on Georgiana's request. Harry nods to Lord Manton, who nods back, meaning he allows it. Harry asks her to dance, which she accepts. They dance and talk while being guarded by the Mantons.

Hugh then joins Bruce Ismay and Thomas Andrews. Ismay introduces him to Benjamin Guggenheim. Benjamin then intrduces his friend Mme. Aubart, who leaves immediately.

Back in his cabin made up by Barnes and Mabel, Lady Manton still complains about the behaviour of the people.

That Sunday, Captain Smith hosts a church meeting with passengers of all classes. Grace Rushton is quite turned off by the presence of other classes that she wants to leave, but Joseph Rushton manages to hold her back. Hugh laughs with it, but Louisa agrees with Grace.

After the meeting, Hugh invites the Batleys for tea at 4. When the moment is there, Hugh asks Second Officer Lightoller to Second Class, and he brings him there. Hugh immediately finds the Batleys and guides them to the reception, where Lady Manton claimed a table. Georgiana and Harry join too.

In the evening, Hugh starts to write a letter before undressing for bed. Before the letter is finished, he notices the engines have stopped. He wakes up his wife and asks Lightoller what happened. The officer tells him they hit an iceberg and she ship might sink. Hugh can't believe the Unsinkable is sinking and tells his wife to get on deck as just a precaution. Barnes and Watson arrive as well, and Hugh orders Watson to help Louisa get dressed. He grabs Louisa's jewelry from under her pillow, when she notices a brooch which she wasn't wearing last night.

Once reunited with Georgiana, the group heads out to Second Class to avoid the masses in First Class. They pass the Purser's Office, where loads of passengers ask for their jewelry. Lady Manton is relieved she kept her jewels with her. Suddenly the Batleys, who found their way up to First Class, find the Mantons, and Muriel heap abuses on Lady Manton about her 'aristocratic' behavior. Lord Manton tries to make her shut up, but his efforts are in vain and John Batley has to push her wife away.

Once outside, the Mantons go towards a lifeboat, only to be sent back by steward Sandrini, the boat is already gone. Hugh looks over the edge and is stunned to see the boat is not even half full. With a short "STOP!" word of a mighty man, the lowering halts. But Fifth Officer Lowe says they can't bring the boat back up. At this moment, Barnes notices miss Watson is missing. Louisa says she's back to the cabin to get her book, making Barnes rush away, swearing.

Hugh then finds Lightoller launching a boat, but the boat's already full and Lightoller directs Hugh to the other side.

The group descends to A Deck, where they find the orchestra again, and once again they play "Autumn" for Georgiana. Back on the Boat Deck, Hugh tries to speak with his wife about what Muriel said, but Louisa cuts him off. Georgiana moves on to the lifeboat, where she sees Alice Cleaver with Trevor Allison, without the rest of the Allison family. Dorothy Gibson and her mother (who had been drinking) also rush into the lifeboat, making Louisa refuse to enter. Georgiana is on the verge of entering when she bails back to her father. Harry Widener finds her again, his mother is already in a lifeboat.

The Mantons, their servants and Harry then go to another lifeboat, once again Lightoller wants to launch an underfilled boat, afraid they might split. Hugh confronts him with the dilemma of the men who have to be forced to swim to the boats which are rowing away, afraid of the suction when she goes down.

The Mantons go to the next lifeboat, Suddenly, Mary Maloney rushes to the scene with her children and gets trampled. Hugh helps her to get up, only to get held back by a jealous Jim. Mary calmes her husband and Hugh takes little Sean to the lifeboat. Thanks to Hugh's loud orders, they make it to the boat, only to be held back again, this time by First Officer Murdoch. Murdoch claims the boat is already full, but Hugh manages to order Murdoch to allow the Maloneys in. Jim thanks Hugh, who returns to his family.

At around 2:00 A.M., the Mantons are still not safe. They suddenly encounter Harry, who saw his mother away. He guides the Mantons to a collapsible lifeboat. At a moment, Barnes hesitates a second and has some time alone with Watson.

Georgiana and Watson enter the collapsible, but Louisa doesn't. Georgiana, Harry and Bruce Ismay urge Louisa to save herself and leave Hugh behind. Eventually, Louisa promises to take care of both of Hugh's daughters and enters the lifeboat.

Hugh stays behind on the sinking Titanic and helps John Jacob Astor, Second Officer Lightoller, Harry and Barnes with righting an overturned collapsible lifeboat. Even with help of the Batleys, they fail to upright the lifeboat and when the deck floods, the boat floats off, overturned. Everyone is washed off and Hugh is forced to rely on his lifejacket to stay alive.

Lifeboats form a pontoon and one boat returns to the disaster site. They find somebody who gave a few signs of life and drag an unconscious Hugh on board the lifeboat. They pick up two more people and return to their pontoon. Hugh is revived by brandy brought by Dorothy. Steward Sandrini wasn't so lucky.

Relationships

Lady Manton

Lord Manton with his wife

Lord and Lady Manton appear to get along well with other. They obviously respect each other and enjoy each other's company. Lady Manton loves her husband to the extent of choosing to stay with him rather than getting of the sinking ship. This shows that she loves him dearly and would rather die than live without him, even when she finds out that he cheated on her with another woman and fathered a child out of wedlock, she stands by him and refuses to leave him. She forgives him for this instantly and tells him that she knows he loves her and that she will stand by him. It is apparent that Lord Manton loves his wife very much even though he cheated on her.

Lady Georgiana Grex

Lady Georgiana seems to depend on her father quite a lot. This is clear when she expects him to bail her out of prison and when he books her a crossing to America on Titanic. Although he doesn't fully support her involvement in the Suffrage movement, he isn't fully against it. He does however agree with his wife that it needs to stop and taking Georgiana to America will prevent her from being involved in it. She isn't exactly thrilled when they first embark the ship. Lord Manton sees the mutual attraction between his daughter and Harry Widener and allows them to flirt with each other. However he isn't very supportive of them possibly marrying as he thinks Philidelphia is too far away for Lady Georgiana to live.

John Batley

John Batley is Lord Manton's lawyer and the two seem like good friends. John Batley respects his employer and in a sense looks up to him. He seems to defend Lord Manton against his wife who doesn't like the Aristocracy very much. John is the only person that Lord Manton trusted his secret of the affair. He then fails to keep it form his wife. John's wife during a confrontation with his Lord and Ladyship blurts out the secret. It remains unlikely that once they are off Titanic, John will have a job because of his wife's foolish behaviour.