The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 10 November 1837
“Jermyn St., Nov. 10th.
“Let me see; where am I to begin with my past
movements. Suppose I say Sunday last, when I was ![]()
| 1837-38.] | DINNER WITH THE DUKE OF SUSSEX. | 329 |
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told by Stephenson that the Duke of
Sussex desired particularly that I would dine with him; so I was
obliged to excuse myself to my Essex, where
I was engaged to meet Sydney Smith. I
have yet to learn why I was so specially summoned by little
Sussex, as there were only his
household—Ciss* and the
men—with Charley Gore and me, and
nothing said worth remembering. . . . Monday at
Essex’s, with the accustomed sprinkling of
artists, which I am quite accustomed to, and indeed like. Tuesday at Charles Fox’s, Addison Road—no joke
as to distance; 8 shillings coach hire out and back, besides turnpikes! The
company—Madagascar.†
Allen, Babbage the philosopher, Hamick (Lord Grey’s
doctor and baronet), Van de Weyer,
Belgian Minister, Hedworth
Lambton‡ and wife, an
unknown man, and Melbourne. . . . In the
evening we had the bride, Lady
Winchilsea,§ of whom I had heard so much; she certainly did appear
to me as beautiful a woman as I had ever seen. Wednesday at Powell’s:
company—Duke of Norfolk,
Albemarle, old Billy Russell,‖ Stephenson
Blount and myself.
“. . . I dined on this day week at Brougham’s—a duet; and a more
artificial chap I never had to do with; except, indeed, that his temper not
infrequently betrayed him, and shewed him in a state of the most spiteful
insurrection against the present Govt. You see he is distinctly shewing his
teeth in the Lords, and will fasten them on the Government before he is a few
days older. I quite approve of what he has already said there, tho’ not
of his spiteful motives in doing it.”
John Allen (1771-1843)
Scottish physician and intimate of Lord Holland; he contributed to the
Edinburgh Review and
Encyclopedia Britannica and published
Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in
England (1830). He was the avowed atheist of the Holland House set.
Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
Cambridge-educated mathematician and computer pioneer, in which capacity in 1843 he
published a paper in collaboration with Byron's daughter, Ada Augusta, countess of
Lovelace.
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).
Charles Richard Fox (1796-1873)
The eldest son of Lord Holland, born illegitimately and thus barred from the peerage; he
was aide-de-camp to William IV, and MP for Calne (1831-32) and Tavistock (1833-34). He was
an antiquary and member of the Society of Dilettanti.
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
Charles Arthur Gore (d. 1846)
Captain in the 1st Regiment of Life Guards; he married the novelist Catherine Moody in
1823.
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).
Bernard Edward Howard, twelfth duke of Norfolk (1765-1842)
Educated at the English College at Douai, in 1815 he succeeded his third cousin, Charles
Howard, eleventh duke (d. 1815), and took his seat in Parliament after passage of the Roman
Catholic Relief Bill of 1829.
William Lamb, second viscount Melbourne (1779-1848)
English statesman, the son of Lady Melbourne (possibly by the third earl of Egremont) and
husband of Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP, prime minister (1834-41), and counsellor
to Queen Victoria.
Anne Lambton [née Bushe] (d. 1843)
The daughter of the Irish judge Gervase Parker Bushe; in 1835 she married Hedworth
Lambton MP, brother of Lord Durham.
Hedworth Lambton (1797-1876)
The son of William Henry Lambton and younger brother of the earl of Durham; he was MP for
North Durham and in 1835 married Anna Bushe, daughter of Gervase Parker Bushe.
Lord William Russell (1767-1840)
The son of Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock; educated at Westminster School, he was
MP for Surrey (1798-1807) and Tavistock (1807-19, 1826-30). He was murdered by his
valet.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845)
Clergyman, wit, and one of the original projectors of the
Edinburgh
Review; afterwards lecturer in London and one of the Holland House
denizens.
Henry Frederick Stephenson (1790-1858)
The illegitimate son of the eleventh duke of Norfolk; he was private secretary to the
Duke of Suffolk and secretary to the Sublime Socity of Beef Steaks.
Cecilia Letitia Underwood, duchess of Inverness [née Gore] (1785 c.-1873)
The daughter of Arthur Saunders Gore, second Earl of Arran; in 1815 she married Sir
George Buggin; in 1831 she married Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex in contravention of
the Royal Marriages Act. She was created Duchess of Inverness in 1840.
Sylvain Van de Weyer (1802-1874)
Belgian politician who was minster to the United Kingdom; he married Elizabeth, the only
daughter of Joshua Bates of Baring's Bank.
