The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Eleanor Creevey, 17 February 1810
“Feb. 17th.—Call’d on Whitbread, Lord Derby,
Mrs. Grey and Lord
Downshire. Walked with Abercromby, who had had a letter from his brother, who is with Wellington’s army. It is dated the 31st January, and they
had just heard that a corps of 45,000 French were at Salamanca. If this be
true, Wellington has very little time to effect his escape
from these two armies that are approaching him in different directions. His
career approaches very rapidly to a conclusion; but what is one to think, at
such a period, of the King’s message
yesterday to Parliament to propose our taking 30,000 Portuguese into our pay?*
. . .
“Dined at George
Ponsonby’s with Lord
Temple, Lord Porchester,
Charles Wynne,
Bowes [?], Daly, Byng, Calcraft, Abercromby,
Petty, Brougham, Maxwell and some others. Went to
the opera with Mr. and Mrs. Ord who had dined at Lord Ponsonby’s, where a political
conversation had taken place. . . . Lord Ponsonby
expressed himself quite delighted with the present conduct of every part of the
Opposition—that Whitbread was
everything that was conciliatory, and that he (Lord
Ponsonby) would vote for reform in Parliament (tho’ he did
not approve of it), or anything else, to keep the party together. . . . He
seems
* With this result, that, in July, 1813, Wellington was able to write to Lord Liverpool: “The Portuguese
are now the fighting cocks of the army. I believe we owe their
merits more to the care we have taken of their pockets and their
bellies, than to the instruction we have given them”
[Despatches, x. 569]. |
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| 1810.] | WELLINGTON AND THE COMMON COUNCIL. | 129 |
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wanting to get back
to his old place and not knowing how.
Alexander Abercromby (1784-1853)
The youngest son of Sir Ralph Abercromby; he fought in the Peninsular War and at
Waterloo, and was afterwards MP for Clackmannan (1817) and colonel of the Coldstream
Guards.
George Abercromby, second baron Abercromby (1770-1843)
Son of Sir Ralph Abercromby and early friend of Sir Walter Scott; he was Whig MP for
Edinburgh City (1805-06) and Clackmannanshire (1806-07, 1812-15). He succeeded his mother
in the peerage in 1821.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
George Byng (1764-1847)
Of Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire; he was a Whig MP for Newport (1790) and Middlesex
(1790-1847) and a friend of Charles James Fox.
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.
Mary Ord [née Scott] (1788 c.-1848)
The daughter of the Rev. James Scott, and sister of Jane Harley, Countess of Oxford; in
1803 she married William Ord, MP for Morpeth.
William Ord (d. 1789)
Of Fenham; he was high sheriff of Northumberland in 1777.
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.
John Ponsonby, viscount Ponsonby (1770 c.-1855)
The son of William Brabazon Ponsonby, first Baron Ponsonby (d. 1806); he was a Whig MP
for Galway Town (1801-02); when not having affairs with Lady Jersey and Harriette Wilson he
pursued a career as a diplomat.
Edward Smith Stanley, twelfth earl of Derby (1752-1834)
Grandson of the eleventh earl (d. 1776); educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge,
he was a Whig MP for Lancashire, a friend of Charles James Fox, nephew of John Burgoyne,
and a committed sportsman.
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.
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).
Arthur Wellesley, first duke of Wellington (1769-1852)
The Dispatches of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington, K.G. during his
various Campaigns in India, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low Countries, and France, from
1799 to 1818. (London: Murray, 1834-1838). Released in parts, with later supplements.
