The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 20 October 1834
“Stoke Farm, 20th Oct.
“. . . Our party here have been the little Russian
ambassador; D’Orsay, the ultra
dandy of Paris and London, and as ultra a villain as either city can produce
(you know he married Lord
Blessington’s
daughter, a beautiful young woman whom
he has turned upon the wide world, and he lives openly and entirely with her
mother, Lady Blessington. His mother, Madame Craufurd,
aware of his profligacy, has left the best part of her property to her sister,
Madame de Guiche’s, children); Lord Tullamore, who is justly entitled to the
prize as by far the greatest bore the world can produce (he married a daughter of Lady
Charlotte Campbell—a very handsome woman and somewhat
loose, but as she is dying of a consumption we will spare her); Lord Allen, a penniless lord and Irish pensioner,
well behaved and not encumbered with too much principle; Tommy Duncombe, who lost £600 here the two
last nights at
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| 1834.] | A BREEZE WITH BROUGHAM. | 289 |
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whist to Lord Sefton, and who, if he was in possession of
his father’s estate to-morrow, would not have a surplus of eightpence
after paying his debts. Charming company we keep, don’t we? Then we have
Col. Armstrong of old masquerade
fame, and now equerry, or some such thing, to the King—a very good-natured man, and [illegible] than all the others put together, which, you’ll say,
is not saying much for him. . . . Lord Fitzroy
Somerset* told me that Wyatt says he can make Ragland† habitable for £10,000 and
completely restore it for £50,000.”
Joshua William Allen, sixth viscount Allen (1782 c.-1845)
The son of the fifth viscount (d. 1816); educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he served
under Wellington in the Peninsular War. Thomas Creevey described him as “a penniless lord
and Irish pensioner, well behaved and not encumbered with too much principle.”
Thomas Armstrong (1837 fl.)
Colonel in the Coldstream Guards; he was groom of the bedchamber to William IV.
Charles William Bury, second earl of Charleville (1801-1851)
The son of the first earl (d. 1835); educated at Eton, he was a Tory MP for Carlow
(1826-32) and Penryn (1832-35), and was an Irish representative peer. Thomas Creevey called
him “the greatest bore the world can produce.”
Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Bury [née Campbell] (1775-1861)
Scottish novelist, daughter of John Campbell, fifth duke of Argyll; in 1791 she married
John Campbell of Shawfield and Islay (1796) and in 1818 Edward John Bury; she was
lady-in-waiting to Queen Caroline (1809) and published
Diary illustrative
of the Times of George IV (1838). Thomas Creevey described her as “a very handsome
woman and somewhat loose.”
Count Alfred Guillaume Gabriel D'Orsay (1801-1852)
The son of Albert, Count D'Orsay, of one of Napoleon's generals; he was a celebrated
dandy and artist whose attachment to the Countess of Blessington aroused scandal.
Lady Harriet Anne Jane Frances D'Orsay [née Gardiner] (1812-1869)
The daughter of Lord Blessington and Mary Campbell McDougall; married in 1827 at the age
of fifteen to Count D'Orsay, she separated from him in 1831 and lived on her Irish
properties. In 1852 she married Charles Spencer Cowper, son of the fifth earl
Cowper.
Thomas Slingsby Duncombe (1796-1861)
A grandson of Bishop John Hinchliffe, he was educated at Harrow and did military service
before pursuing a political career as a Whig MP who supported Radical causes; he was MP for
Hertford borough (1826-32) and Finsbury (1834-61). Thomas Creevey described him as an
improvident gambler.
Charles John Gardiner, first earl of Blessington (1782-1829)
The son of Luke Gardiner, first Viscount Mountjoy, educated at Eton. After a second
marriage to Lady Blessington in 1818 he traveled on the Continent with his wife and Count
D'Orsay, residing in Naples and Paris.
Marguerite Gardiner, countess of Blessington [née Power] (1789-1849)
After a separation from a first husband in 1818 she married the Earl of Blessington; they
traveled on the Continent, meeting Byron in 1822; her best-known work,
Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron, originally appeared in the
New Monthly Magazine (1832-33).
Eleanore Grimod [née Franquemont] (d. 1829)
The illegitimate daughter of Karl II Eugen Herzog von Württemberg; in 1799 she became the
second wife of Albert Gaspard Grimod, Count D'Orsay; she was the mother of Lady
Blessington's Count D'Orsay.
Edward John Littleton, first baron Hatherton (1791-1863)
The son of Morton Walhouse, educated at Rugby and at Brasenose College, Oxford; he was MP
for Staffordshire (1812-22) and South Staffordshire (1832-35). He was Irish secretary
(1833-34), raised to the peerage in 1835.
Sir Jeffry Wyatville (1766-1840)
English architect, originally Wyatt; after study with his uncle Samuel Wyatt (1737–1807)
he worked at Chatsworth and Windsor Castle.
