The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 23 September 1827
“. . . Well, have you read our Bruffam’s letters to Lord Grey with all the attention they deserve? and
was there ever such a barefaced villain, and so vain a wretch and fool too? I
wish you could see the veins of Lord Grey’s forehead
swell and hear his snorting at Brougham’s demand for
justice to his pure disinterested motives. . . . The
judicial situation he refused was Chief Baron of the Exchequer. . . . Lord Rosslyn told me that
Brougham in a letter telling him of this offer
said:—‘It was made me by Canning just before his death, and, as I believe, with no
other view than that of getting rid of me.’ . . . I told you what
Lord Wilton said to me about Holland. Grey says all the Cabinet agreed to it
but cher Bexley,
alias Mouldy; but the King when it was proposed to him said he would have no Minister
who had insulted all the crowned heads of Europe. Lord
Cowper, who as well as Lady
Cowper and her daughter are staying here, tells me Alvanley says ‘Goodrich will cry himself out of office.’
Cowper and Milton,
who are quite against Grey and us malignants (including
Milton’s father), state the utter impossibility
of such a feeble artist remaining where he is. . . . Princess Lieven says I must be writing a
political pamphlet, and Mrs. Taylor is
pleased to tell her who it is to, and that I do the same every day. . .
.”
William Arden, second baron Alvanley (1789-1849)
The son of Sir Richard Pepper Arden, first Baron Alvanley; he was a friend of Beau
Brummell with a reputation as a wit and a spendthrift.
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.
Emily Mary Cowper, countess Cowper [née Lamb] (1787-1869)
Whig hostess, the daughter of Sir Peniston Lamb, first Viscount Melbourne; she married
(1) in 1805 Sir Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau Cowper, fifth Earl Cowper, and (2) in
1839, her long-time lover, Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston.
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, second earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833)
The nephew of the Marquis of Rockingham and lifelong friend of Charles James Fox and Lord
Carlisle; he was president of the Council (1806-07) and lieutenant of the West Riding from
1798 to 1819 when he was dismissed for his censure of the Peterloo massacre.
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
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).
Frederick John Robinson, first earl of Ripon (1782-1859)
Educated at Harrow and St. John's College, Cambridge, he was a Tory MP for Carlow
(1806-07) and Ripon (1807-27), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1823-27), and prime minister
(1827-28) in succession to Canning.
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.
Nicholas Vansittart, first Baron Bexley (1766-1851)
Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he was a Pittite MP for Hastings (1796-1802), Old
Sarum (1802-12), East Grinstead (1812), and Harwich (1812-23); he was Chancellor of the
exchequer (1812-23).
