The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Eleanor Creevey, 24 January 1810
“24th.—Dined at a
coffee-house: went to Brooks’s at night. Lord
Grey came in drunk from the Duke of
York’s where he had been dining. He came and sat by me on
the same sofa, talked as well as he could over the division of the night
before, and damned with all his might and main Marquis
Wellesley, of whose profligate establishment I told him some
anecdotes, which he swallowed as greedily as he had done the Duke’s wine.
He and Whitbread and I sat together and
were as merry as if we had been the best friends ![]()
| 124 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. VI. |
![]()
in the
world. . . . Then the Right Hon. George
Ponsonby came and sat by me, and we talked over the last session
a little; but I found him very sore and very bad.
Frederick Augustus, Duke of York (1763-1827)
He was commander-in-chief of the Army, 1798-1809, until his removal on account of the
scandal involving his mistress Mary Anne Clarke.
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
George Ponsonby (1755-1817)
The son of John Ponsonby (d. 1787); he was speaker of the Irish House of Commons, lord
chancellor of Ireland in the Fox-Grenville ministry (1806) and succeeded Lord Grey as
leader of the Whigs in the British House of Commons.
Richard Wellesley, first marquess Wellesley (1760-1842)
The son of Garret Wesley (1735-1781) and elder brother of the Duke of Wellington; he was
Whig MP, Governor-general of Bengal (1797-1805), Foreign Secretary (1809-12), and
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1821-28); he was created Marquess Wellesley in 1799.
Samuel Whitbread (1764-1815)
The son of the brewer Samuel Whitbread (1720-96); he was a Whig MP for Bedford, involved
with the reorganization of Drury Lane after the fire of 1809; its financial difficulties
led him to suicide.
