The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 25 February 1823
“25th.
“. . . Yesterday I spent a very amusing hour with
Sefton at the Opera House, seeing the maître de
ballet manœuvre about 50 figurantes for the approaching new ballet of Alfred. . . . This done, we went
to our own playhouse, where we saw 1st a pas de
trois between Wilson, Hobhouse and
Canning, and then a pas de deux between Brougham and Canning. .
. . After the House I dined at Sefton’s en
famille, and to-day I would have you to know I dine with the
Hereditary Earl Marshal of England, Premier
Duke, &c., alias Barney, alias
Scroope!”
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 Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869)
Founder of the Cambridge Whig Club; traveled with Byron in the orient, radical MP for
Westminster (1820); Byron's executor; after a long career in politics published
Some Account of a Long Life (1865) later augmented as
Recollections of a Long Life, 6 vols (1909-1911).
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.
Sir Robert Thomas Wilson (1777-1849)
Soldier, author, radical Whig MP for Southwark (1818-31), and diplomat; he wrote
History of the British Expedition to Egypt (1802) and was governor
of Gibraltar (1842).
