The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 23 December 1822
“Croxteth, 23rd.
“. . . Brougham
arrived here on Saturday, on his way—or rather out of his way—to
his nearest and dearest. . . . Of domestic matters, I think his principal
article is that Mrs. Taylor’s
niece, Ly. Londonderry,* has transferred
her affections from her lord to other objects: in the first instance to young
Bloomfield, Sir Benjamin’s son; and since, to a person of somewhat
higher rank, viz., the Emperor of Russia,
and that she is now following the latter lover to Petersburgh. Lady Holland is the author of these statements,
and vouches for the truth of them.
“Apropos to Lady Holland, in addition to all her former
insults upon the town, she has set up a huge cat, which is never permitted to
be out of her sight, and to whose vagaries she demands unqualified submission
from all her visitors. Rogers, it seems,
has already sustained considerable injury in a personal affair with this
animal. Brougham only keeps him or her at
arm’s length by snuff, and Luttrell has sent in a formal resignation of all further visits
till this odious new favorite is dismissed from the Cabinet. . . . But think of
my having so long forgot to mention that Brougham says many of the best informed people in London, such as
Dog Dent and others, are perfectly
convinced of the truth of the report that dear Prinney is really to marry Ly.
Elizabeth Conyngham; on which event the Earl here humorously observes that the least the King can do
for the Queen’s family is to make Denisont† ‘Great Infant of
England.’”
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.
John Arthur Douglas Bloomfield (1802-1879)
Son of the first baron (d. 1846); privately educated, from an early age he pursued a
career in diplomacy, beginning as attaché at Venice in 1818 and Lisbon in 1824.
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).
Albert Denison, first Baron Londesborough (1805-1860)
The third son of Henry Conyngham, first Marquess Conyngham, educated at Eton College; he
served as a diplomat and was Liberal MP for Canterbury (1835-41, 1847-50), at which point
he changed his name. He was an author, antiquary, and collector.
John Dent [Dog Dent] (1761 c.-1826)
Tory MP and book-collector; he acquired his sobriquet by proposing a tax on dogs. The
sale of his library realized over £15,000.
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.
Henry Luttrell (1768-1851)
English wit, dandy, and friend of Thomas Moore and Samuel Rogers; he was the author of
Advice to Julia, a Letter in Rhyme (1820).
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
Frances Ann Taylor [née Vane] (d. 1835)
Whig hostess, the daughter of Sir Henry Vane, first baronet (1729–1794); in 1789 she
married the politician Michael Angelo Taylor.
