The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 5 March 1831
“Tower, 5th.
“. . . Well, our Reform rises in publick affection
every instant. . . . To think of dear Aldborough and Orford, both belonging to
Lord Hertford, and purchased at a great
price, being clearly bowled out, without a word of with your leave or by your
leave. Aye, and not only that such proprietors are destitute of all means of
self-defence, but they are treated as criminals by the
whole country for making any fight on their own behalf. . . . At Crocky’s, even the boroughmongers
admitted that their representative, Croker, had made a damned rum figure. Poor
Billy Holmes! Both he and Croker will have but a slender chance of being
M.P.’s again under our restored constitution. In short, Bessy, there is no end to the fun ![]()
| 222 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IX. |
![]()
and confusion that this measure scatters far and near
into by far the most corrupt, insolent, shameless, profligate gang that this
country contains. They are all dead men by this Bill, never to rise again, and
their occupation is dead also. . . . To be sure the poor devils who stick to
the wreck will have mobbing enough from out of doors before the business is
over. . . . It is not 3 weeks since Sir John
Shelley asked Lord Grey to
make him a peer, who answered him by saying:—‘Indeed, my dear
Shelley, to deal fairly with you, I don’t think
you have any claims; and if you had, why did you not get your friend the
Duke of Wellington to make you
one?’—What you call a double-fisted go for
the baronet, was it not?’
William Crockford (1776-1844)
Originally a fishmonger, he made a fortune as the proprietor of a gambling club,
Crockford's.
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857)
Secretary of the Admiralty (1810) and writer for the
Quarterly
Review; he edited an elaborate edition of Boswell's
Life of
Johnson (1831).
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).
William Holmes (1779-1851)
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he was Tory MP for Grampound (1808-12), Tregony
(1812-18), Totnes (1818-20), Bishop's Castle (1820-30), Haslemere (1830-32), and
Berwick-on-Tweed (1837-41).
Elizabeth Ord (1789-1854 c.)
Of Rivenhall in Essex, the daughter of William Ord of Fenham and younger sister of
William Ord MP (1781-1855); she was the step-daughter and correspondent of Thomas Creevy.
Her will was made and proved in 1854.
Sir John Shelley, sixth baronet (1772-1852)
The son of Sir John Shelley of Michelgrove; educated at Eton, he served in the Coldstream
Guards and was patronized by the Duke of York; he was a Whig MP for Helston (1806) and a
Tory MP for Lewes (1816-31).
