The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 30 October 1820
“Brooks’s, 5 o’clock, Monday, 30th October.
“. . . Thursday is the day fixed for battle.
Calcraft is the greatest croaker;
his list has been a majority of 40 for the Bill. He has reduced it to 35, and
with
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this majority he thinks the Government will carry the
Bill, and go with it to the Commons. . . . Holland has just come to me and had a long conversation with
me. He has taken great pains with his list too. . . . He gives a majority of 30
for the Bill as the maximum, and 15 as the minimum; but he is quite certain of
the Bill not passing the Lords. . . . Lord
Hutchinson offers to bet that 200 Peers will not vote. I never
saw such a beautiful sight in my life as the Brass Founders’ procession
to the Queen to-day. I had no notion there had been so many beautiful brass
ornaments in all the world. Their men in armour, both horse and foot, were
capital; nor was their humour amiss. The procession closed with a very handsome
crown borne in state as a present to the Queen, preceded by a flag with the words—‘The
Queen’s Guard are Men of Metal.’ I
am quite sure there must have been 100,000 people in Piccadilly, all in the
most perfect order. I am very much pleased that Hutchinson
has taken to me again. It is quite his own doing, and I am to meet him at
dinner at Rogers’s* on
Wednesday.”
John Calcraft the younger (1765-1831)
The illegitimate son of John Calcraft (d. 1772), he was educated at Harrow and Eton and
was a member of the Whig Club and MP for Wareham (1800-06, 1818-31), Rochester (1806-18),
and Dorset (1831). He cut his throat after betraying the Tories and voting for the Reform
Bill.
Queen Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1768-1821)
Married the Prince of Wales in 1795 and separated in 1796; her husband instituted
unsuccessful divorce proceedings in 1820 when she refused to surrender her rights as
queen.
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
Charles Gordon, tenth marquess of Huntly (1792-1863)
The son of the ninth marquess (d. 1853); he was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge
and was a Tory MP for East Grinstead (1818-30) and Huntingdonshire (1830-31); he was Lord
of the Bedchamber (1826-30).
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
