The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey, Journal entry, 9 November 1811
“Nov. 9th.—Yesterday was the last day of the Prince’s stay at this place, and, contrary to my
expectation, I was invited to dinner. We did not sit down till half-past seven,
tho’ I went a little past six. The only person I found was Tom Stepney: then came Generals Whetham, Hammond and Cartwright,
Lords Charlemont, Yarmouth and Ossulston,
Sir Philip Francis, Congreve, Bloomfield and others of the understrappers, and finally the
Regent and the Duke of Cumberland. We
were about sixteen altogether. The Prince was very merry and seemed very well.
He began to me with saying very loud that he had sent for Mrs. Creevey’s physic to London. . . .
At dinner I sat opposite to him, next to Ossulston, and we
were the only persons there at all marked by opposition to his appointment of
his brother the Duke of York, or to the
Government generally, since he has been Regent. He began an old joke at dinner
with me about poor Fonblanque, with whom
I had dined six years ago at the Pavilion, . . . [when] the Prince and we all
got drunk, and he was always used to say it was the merriest day he ever spent.
However, it was soon dropped yesterday.
“The Duke of
Cumberland and Yarmouth
never spoke. The Prince was describing a
pleasant dinner he had had in London lately, and was going over each
man’s name as he sat in his order at the table, and giving to each his
due in the pleasantry of the day. Coming to Col.
[Sir Willoughby] Gordon he said: ![]()
| 1811.] | THE CANNINGITES SCATTERED. | 151 |
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‘To be sure, there’s not much
humour in him!’ upon which Ossulston
and I gave both a kind of involuntary laugh, thinking the said
Gordon a perfect impostor, from our recollection of
his pompous, impudent evidence before the House of Commons in the Duke of York’s case; but this chuckling of ours brought from the Prince a very
elaborate panegyric upon Gordon which was meant, most
evidently, as a reproof to Ossulston and myself for
quizzing him.
“We did not drink a great deal, and were in the
drawing-room by half-past nine or a little after; no more state, I think, than
formerly—ten men out of livery of one kind or other, and four or five
footmen. At night everybody was there and the whole closed about one, and so
ended the Regent’s visit to
Brighton.”
Charles Augustus Bennet, fifth earl of Tankerville (1776-1859)
Son of Charles Bennet, the fourth earl (d. 1822); educated at Eton, he was Whig MP for
Steyning (1803-06), Knaresborough (1806-18), and Berwick-on-Tweed) (1820-22); in 1806 he
married Armandine Sophie Leonie Corisande de Gramont.
Benjamin Bloomfield, first baron Bloomfield (1768-1846)
After serving in the 10th Hussars he was chief equerry, clerk marshal, and private
secretary to the Prince Regent; he was MP for Plymouth (1812-17) and raised to the Irish
peerage in 1825.
William Cartwright [Zarach] (1827 fl.)
The author of
The Battle of Waterloo: a Poem (1827) and a regular
contributor to the
Literary Gazette. William Jerdan describes him as
a friend.
William Cartwright (1754-1827)
Of Aynhoe, educated at Eton; he was colonel of the 10th Dragoons and equerry to George
III (1797-1820).
Sir William Congreve, second baronet (1772-1828)
Military engineer patronized by the Prince of Wales; he invented the Congreve Rocket and
was a Tory MP for Gatton (1812-16) and Plymouth (1818-28).
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.
King Ernest Augustus, of Hanover (1771-1851)
The fifth and last surviving son of George III; he was king of Hanover 1837-1851. Though
acquitted, he was thought to have murdered his valet, Joseph Sellis.
John de Grenier Fonblanque (1759-1837)
English barrister educated at Harrow and St John's College, Oxford; he was a member of
the Whig Club, friend of the Prince of Wales, and MP for Camelford (1802-06).
Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818)
Son of the translator of the same name, and the likely author of the Junius letters; he
was first clerk at the war office (1762-72), made a fortune in India, and served in
Parliament as a Whig MP.
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.
Sir James Willoughby Gordon (1772-1851)
English military officer who was military secretary to the duke of York (1804),
quartermaster-general of the army in the Peninsula (1811), and quartermaster-general at the
Horse Guards (1812).
Francis Thomas Hammond (1767-1850)
Of Whepstead near Bury St. Edmunds, military officer; he was for forty years Equerry and
Clerk Martial in the courts of George III and George IV.
Sir Thomas Stepney, ninth baronet (1760 c.-1825)
Groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of York; he inherited the title from his brother in
1811. He was the husband of the novelist Catherine Stepney.
Arthur Whetham (1753-1813)
Born in Nottingham, he was first gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of Cumberland
and lieutenant-governor of the garrison at Portsmouth (1811-13).
