What is/was a Rupert?

[Lorcan]

Apparently one of the nicknames of 19th century PM Lord Derby was 'the Rupert of debate.' What did this mean?

http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page147.asp

[dundurn]

From Prince Rupert, Charles I cavalry commander in the English Civil War. Prone to having rushes of blood to the head, "and when he was good he was very, very good and when he was bad", he got a lot of his own side killed.

[4GS]

We called our officers in the Army 'Ruperts'

[jno]

is that for the same reason, 4GS, or is it just a generalised term for toffs?

[Myriad2112]

He was a bear

[4GS]

Just a generic name for officers, they were either 'Ruperts or Rodneys' depending on what mood we were in. However one particulaly thick tw@t he christened 'Benny' a la Benny from crossroads.

[jno]

yes, we have a few here that we call bennies, though I have no idea if we got the name for our dear leaders from the same source as you did.

[chadad]

In our regiment ( Hussars ), we called our younger officers " Wuperts or Wodneys ".
As a matter of fact, we had one Wupert who was so stupid that even his fellow Wuperts noticed it.