The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey, Journal Entry, 9 September 1818
“Wednesday, 9th.—Barnes
and I came over to Valenciennes in his chaise, and got there about half an hour
before dinner. I met the Duke in the
street, and he asked me laughingly if I had been to call on my friend the
Duke of Kent, and said I should meet him
at dinner. I thought from this I ought to call, so Barnes,
Sir W. W. Wynn (whom I had picked up
in the street) and myself went and wrote our names at the Duke of
Kent’s. This made us latish for dinner, and when we got
there everybody almost was arrived—about sixty in number, I should say.
As I was so late, I kept in the background, but the Duke of
Kent saw me immediately, and forced his way to me. After shaking
hands with me in the most cordial manner, and saying all kinds of civil and
apparently most friendly things to me about my own situation (Mrs. Creevey being recently dead and myself
being out of Parliament), and the regret of my friends in England at my
absence, he began about himself.—‘You may probably be surprised,
Mr. Creevey, at seeing me here, considering the
illness of my poor mother; but the Queen is a person of the greatest possible firmness of
mind, and tho’ she knows perfectly well that her situation is a
hopeless one, she would not listen to any offers of mine to remain with
her, and indeed nothing but her pressing me to come abroad could have made
me do so.’
“The Dutchess of
Kent had an old, ugly German female companion with her, and the
Duke of Wellington was going about
amongst his staff before dinner, saying—‘Who the devil is to
take out the maid of ![]()
![]()
honor?’
and at last said—‘Damme, Fremantle, find out the Mayor and let him do it.’
So the Mayor of Valenciennes was brought up for the purpose, and a capital
figure he was. We had an excellent dinner in a kind of occasional building, and
as I got next Lord Arthur Hill* it was a
very agreeable one. . . .
Sir Edward Barnes (1776-1838)
Military officer; after service in the West Indies he was a staff officer under
Wellington in the Peninsular War and was severely wounded at Waterloo; he was Governor of
Ceylon (1824-31).
Eleanor Creevey [née Branding] (d. 1818)
The daughter of Charles Branding (1733-1802); in 1779 she married William Ord (d. 1789)
and in 1802, the politician and diarist Thomas Creevey.
Edward Augustus, duke of Kent (1767-1820)
The fourth son of George III, who pursued a military career and acquired a reputation as
a martinet; he was governor of Gibraltar (1802-03).
Sir William Henry Fremantle (1766-1850)
After a military and civil career in Ireland he was MP for Enniskillen (1806), Harwich
(1806-07), Saltash (1807-08), Tain Burghs (1808-12), and Buckingham borough (1812-27); he
was afterwards treasurer of the royal household.
Arthur Moyes William Sandys, second baron Sandys (1792-1860)
Irish military officer; he was the second son of Arthur Hill, second Marquess of
Downshire and Mary Sandys, Baroness Sandys; educated at Eton, he was MP for County Down
(1817-36) before he succeeded to the title.
Victoria Mary Louise, duchess of Kent (1786-1861)
The daughter of Francis, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, in 1803 she married Emich Charles,
prince of Leiningen, and in 1818 the Duke of Kent. She was the mother of Queen
Victoria
Charles Watkin Williams Wynn (1775-1850)
The son of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, fourth baronet; educated at Westminster and Christ
Church, Oxford, Robert Southey's friend and benefactor was a Whig MP for Old Sarum (1797)
and Montgomeryshire (1799-1850). He was president of the Board of Control (1822-28).
