The Creevey Papers
Ch. XI: 1833
CHAPTER XI.
1833.
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Stoke, August 19th, 1833.
“Brougham,
Plunket, Chas. Greville and Sefton
have gone to town, and I am to entertain Lord John
Russell who stays to dinner to-morrow. I am just going to ride
with him and the ladies; and, by Sefton’s desire, to
write my name at the Castle [Windsor]. Next Wednesday is the King’s birthday, when there is a great
dinner there. The Seftons have got their invitation; so we
shall see if I am equally successful in my meanness.
Don’t you think I am become too great a toady of Royalty?”
“Tower, 31st.
“. . . I am reading the newly published correspondence between Horace
Walpole and Sir Horace Mann, his earliest friend and Minister at
Florence. Considering who the writer was, and his position, the book
can’t fail of being interesting—very—but he is a trifling
chap after all. . . .”
“Stoke, Sept. 3, 1833.
“. . . We do not hear much of cholera in this
neighbourhood, but all the sherry in the cellar is drunk, and
Reeves has been obliged to ask for a fresh supply; he
cannot get people to drink his French wines, entirely from fear of cholera. . .
.”
262 |
THE CREEVEY PAPERS |
[Ch. XI. |
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Stoke, Sept. 5th.
“. . . I have for the first time boarded an
omnibus, and it is really charming. I quite long to go back in one to
Piccadilly. . . . Monday brought all Europe under our humble roof at
Stoke—at least the great powers of it by their representatives. There was
England well represented by Earl Grey, with
my lady, Ly.
Georgiana and Charles;
France by Talleyrand and the Dino; Russia by the Prince and Princess
Lieven; Austria by Esterhazy, with the addition of Weissenberg,
the Austrian delegate to the Conference; and Prussia by Bulow. But the female
Lieven and the Dino were the
people for sport. They are both professional talkers—artists quite, in
that department, and the Dino jealous to a degree of the
other. We had them both quite at their ease, and perpetually at work with each
other; but the Lieven for my money! She has more dignity
and the other more grimace. . . . The Greys had just come
from Windsor Castle. Lady Grey, in her own distressed
manner, said she was really more dead than alive. She said all the boring she
had ever endured before was literally nothing compared with her misery of the
two preceding nights. She hoped she never should see a mahogany table again,
she was so tired with the one that the Queen and the King, the
Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Augusta, Madame
Lieven and herself had sat round for hours—the Queen
knitting or netting a purse—the King sleeping, and occasionally waking
for the purpose of saying:—‘Exactly so, ma’am!’
and then sleeping again. The Queen was cold as ice to Lady
Grey, till the moment she came away, when she could afford to be
a little civil at getting quit of her. . . .
“We asked Lord
Grey how he had passed his evening: ‘I played at
whist,’ said he, ‘and what is more, I won £2, which I
never did before. Then I had very good fun at Sir Henry Halford’s expense. You know he is the
damnedest conceited fellow in the world, and prides himself above all upon
his scholarship—upon being what you call an elegant scholar; so he would repeat to me a very long train of
Greek
1833.] | THE COURT AT WINDSOR. | 263 |
verses; and, not
content with that, he would give me a translation of them into Latin verses
by himself. So when he had done, I said that, as to the first, my Greek was
too far gone for me to form a judgment of them, but according to my own
notion the Latin verses were very good.’ “But,” said I,
“there is a much better judge than myself to appeal to,”
pointing to
Goodall, the Provost of
Eton. “Let us call him in.” So we did, and the puppy repeated
his own production with more conceit than ever, till he reached the last
line, when the old pedagogue reel’d back as if he had been shot,
exclaiming:—“That word is long, and you have made it
short!’—Halford turned absolutely
scarlet at this detection of his false quantity. “You ought to be
whipped, Sir Henry,” said
Goodall, “you ought to be whipped for such a
mistake.’” . . . At dinner
Lady
Grey sat between
Talleyrand and
Esterhazy.
I, at some little distance, commanded a full view of her face, and was sure of
her thoughts; for, as you know, she hates Talleyrand, and
he was making the cursedest nasty noises in his throat.”
Lady Louisa Molyneux to Mr. Creevey [in Ireland].
“Stoke, Oct. 30th.
“. . . There never was such weather; we are sitting
with open windows, blinds down, and old Lady
Salisbury is reading out of doors as if it was the middle of
July. She is more youthful than ever, and leaves us to-morrow to be at the
Berkhampstead ball, which she attends annually. She had better go to Portugal
and assist Miguel, for she makes a better
fight for him than any of his adherents. . . . Poor Alava writes in great uneasiness about his patrie, but does not forget to finish his
letter with mille choses à toute la famille et à
Creevey. . . . Olivia de
Ros’s marriage* was a grand ceremony, the chapel†
hung with crimson velvet, the bride dressed by the Queen, the parish register signed by the King, the Queen and Duke
of Wellington; quantities of royal presents, &c.
* To the Hon. Henry
Wellesley, who succeeded his father as Lord
Cowley, and was created Earl
Cowley. † St. George’s, Windsor. |
264 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. XI. |
. . . The
Stanleys
have been here for a day. He* made himself tolerably agreeable, except in his
extreme flippancy to
Lord Melbourne.”
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Besborough, Nov. 3rd.
“. . . I wish to record a point or two of political
history not generally known. When Lord Grey
determined upon beginning his administration by a reform in Parliament, he
named Lord Durham, Lord John Russell, Lord
Duncannon and Sir James
Graham as the persons to prepare a bill for that purpose; and
they did prepare the bill, of
which Lord Grey knew not one syllable till it was
presented to him all ready, cut and dry. When he had read it, he shrugged up
his shoulders, and gave it as his opinion that the King would never stand it. However, upon his taking it to
Brighton the King showed no decided hostility to it; and, as we know,
Lord Grey’s measure
of Reform was ultimately carried. It was towards the conclusion of the labors
of this committee of four that Ld. Durham’s anger
became first excited. Lord Grey, to please the Duke of Richmond, added him to the four other
committee-men; a step that in itself gave great umbrage to
Durham. From that day forth, he and the Duke fought
like cat and dog. The next thorn in Durham’s side
was Stanley. They were always opposed to
each other upon Church matters; and when the Church Bill of the latter was
brought forward last session, Durham addressed to the
Cabinet his strictures thereon (and very able and severe they were) accompanied
by a complaint that he—Durham—had not been
consulted. These the Cabinet forwarded to Stanley without
observations (was there ever such child’s play?).
Stanley was equally fierce in reply. . . . At a
Cabinet dinner shortly after, this hitherto latent fire came to a blaze between
these worthies. Poor Grey attempted at least to assuage
it; but, as he unfortunately rather leaned to Stanley,
upon the ground of Durham never coming to the Cabinet,
1833.] | PRIVATE POLITICAL HISTORY. | 265 |
Durham fell upon him with all his fury, said that he was
the last of men that ought to have made that charge, knowing as he did that the
cause of his absence was devotion to his dying child, and then went on to say
that Grey had actually been the cause of the boy’s
death. . . . Poor
Althorp put his head
between his hands and never took them away for half an hour. It was this
frightful scene that produced the resignation of Durham,
tho’ he had been long brooding over it.
“Let me give you another specimen of the manner in
which our great men govern us. Lord
Anglesey said to Duncannon
at Dublin:—‘Mr. Stanley and
I do very well together as companions, but we differ so totally about
Ireland that I never mention the subject to
him!’* Anglesey then showed
Duncannon a written statement of his views respecting
Ireland, which he said he had sent to Lord
Grey. Duncannon says nothing could be
better, and he asked him why he had not addressed it to the
Cabinet.—‘Oh,’ said Lord
Anglesey, ‘I consider myself as owing my appointment
exclusively to Lord Grey, and don’t wish to
communicate with any one else.’ When
Duncannon talked to Grey on the
same subject, Ld. G. said he was apprehensive of offending
Stanley by laying these opinions of
Anglesey’s before him. Now which do you think of
all these gentlemen deserves the severest flogging.
Duncannon says that both Grey and
Althorp entirely agree with him in
opposition to Stanley about Irish matters, and that both
one and the other avoid touching upon the subject to
Stanley, least they should offend
him.
“One more point of private political history.
Brougham has again and again in my
presence taken merit to himself for his firmness in insisting upon the
dissolution of Parliament when the Government was beat upon Gascoigne’s motion in 1831.† The
facts of that case are as follows. On the day after that division, Duncannon dined at Durham’s with
* Lord Anglesey
was for the second time Lord Lieutenant (1830-33), and Stanley was Secretary for Ireland under
the Home Office. † When Ministers were left in a minority of 22
on General Gascoyne’s
motion to reduce the Ordnance Vote. |
266 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. XI. |
Lord Grey and others.
Durham was furious for dissolution;
Grey and the others became of the same opinion, and
that it must take place the very next day. Grey sent a
messenger out of hand to Windsor, begging the
King to be in town next day at eleven. He then sat down to
write the King’s speech for the occasion, and begg’d
Duncannon to get a coach, and to go and bring the
Clerk of the Council and Brougham there directly. When
Duncannon arrived at
Brougham’s house, the servant said my lord was
going to bed and could not be seen. However, as you may suppose,
Duncannon forced his way up; but
Brougham, when informed of what was passing, said he
would be no party to the proceeding—that he entirely disapproved of it,
and should go to bed directly, adding
that he had never been
consulted. However, I need not say that he went, and that he made up
for the affront of never being consulted by giving out that it was his own act
and deed.”
“Bury St., Saturday, Nov. 16th.
“I am only just this instant (5 o’clock)
arrived in the same cloathes in which I wrote to you from Dublin on Thursday.
Barry, my dear, if any sensible,
well-informed man shall ever tell you that a new channel is discovered from the
Irish Sea to the Mersey, thro’ which Irish steamboats of all dimensions
may always pass, let the state of the tide be what it will—tell such a
philosopher that he lies, and that the truth is not in him; for, having had the
most charming and successful and swiftest passage of the season up to 4
o’clock yesterday morning, so as to expect to be in by 5, it was
discovered there was not water enough for us to proceed. We were shifted at
that pleasant hour into another steamer drawing less water, and even for this
we soon found there was not enough, and so had to undergo the agreeable
ceremony of lying at anchor for upwards of 3 hours, and did not reach Liverpool
till ½ past 9, too late for the early coaches.”
“19th.
“Amongst the many instances one has known of London
gossip, jaw and gullibility, my Irish fame is
1833.] | LORD HOLLAND’S ABILITY. | 267 |
no bad specimen. When I went to
Whitehall on Saturday, poor
Mrs. Taylor
began:—‘And so,
Mr.
Creevey, there is no living in the Castle at Dublin without
you; so, I assure you, General Ellice writes to every
one.’—When I saw
Sefton
the same night he said:—‘Grey has a letter from
Wellesley* in which he says you are the most
agreeable fellow he has seen for ages, and that your visit to them has been
most valuable.’—Col. Shaw, a belonging
of Wellesley’s in India of 30 years’ standing,
whom I saw for the first time in Dublin, writes word that
‘Mr. Creevey by agreeableness has greatly
contributed to Ld. Wellesley’s happiness, and
to his years!’ . . . A note from
Lady Grey yesterday
says:—‘Pray,
pray! dear Mr.
Creevey, dine here on Friday.’ In the course of
the morning
Esterhazy came after me to dine
with him yesterday, and
Kempt has been
here this morning to invite me for Thursday. Sefton had a
letter from
Brougham and Vaux from
Brighton, begging him to secure Creevey for dinner
to-day.”
“Tower, Nov. 23.
“. . . I never was so much struck with the
agreeableness of Lord Holland. I
don’t suppose there is any Englishman living who covers so much ground as
he does—biographical, historical and anecdotical. I had heard from him
before of the volumes upon volumes he still has in his possession of Horace Walpole’s, entrusted to him by
Lord Waldegrave, which Lord
Holland advises the latter never to allow to be published, from
the abusive nature of them; but I was happy to hear him add that there was no
saying what circumstances might induce a man to do; so
it is quite clear that, with Lord Waldegrave’s
wonted [illegible], the abuse will some day see the
light. I never knew before that Horace was not the son of
Sir Robert Walpole, but of a
Lord Hervey, and that Sir
Robert knew it and shewed that he did.
“My lady
[Holland] was very complaining, and eating like a horse. Lord Holland quite well, and yet his legs quite
gone, and for ever—carried in
268 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. XI. |
and out of the carriage, and up and down stairs, and
wheeled about the house. . . . You mentioned seeing
Berkeley Molyneux* and his
Pop. The
other day, his sisters told me that when he was at Croxteth lately on a visit
to
Mull,† old
Heywood took him into a corner of the room and put
£500 into his hand, and I have no doubt will leave him a handsome fortune. He
was always his favorite, and he must have a fellow feeling for him, for he
himself adopted a London Pop imported into Liverpool by an old fellow I well
remember, and when he died old Arthur took her and was
married to her many years before her death. As she was a remarkably good kind
of woman, he may perhaps think that Berkeley’s tit
may be the same.”
“Brooks’s, Nov. 24th.
“. . . Yesterday at the Hollands we had Lord Grey
and Lord J. Russell, Charles Fox and Lady
Mary, Henry and his little
bride,‡ Sidney Smith, John
Ponsonby (Duncannon’s
eldest son)§ and Ellice the elder.
Lady Holland introduced me to
Henry’s wife in a very pretty manner as one of
Henry’s oldest and kindest friends. The said
Lady Augusta I consider as decidedly under three feet
in height—the very nicest little doll or plaything I ever saw. She is a
most lively little thing apparently, very pretty, and I dare say up to
anything, as all Coventrys are, or at least have been. . .
. I can scarcely believe the story of Lady
Jersey and Palmerston,
tho’ it was very current that, when Lady
Cowper went abroad, Palmerston transferred
his allegiance to Lady Jersey.Ӧ
Earl of Sefton to Mr. Creevey.
“Croxteth, Nov. 26th.
“Pray write everything you hear. What do you think
of the rumours of changes? Somehow or
another I feel that things are not quite
right and that
Grey’s long absence was
injurious. He certainly seemed rather bitter about
Palmerston’s intimacy with
Ly.
J[ersey], and I think with reason. Thank God she is gone, and
that she was reduced to take [Sir Robert]
Wilson as an escort. . . .
Stanley has had several fainting fits, but is
much better. They say it is stomach. If anything was to happen to him, what
would become of us in the H. of C.?”
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“28th.
“. . . I dined at Essex’s again yesterday—company, Spring Rice, Chas.
Grant, Sydney Smith,
another and myself. Sydney thanked me in the name of
mankind for the successful resistance I had made to Old Madagascar* at dinner on Sunday. He said he had never seen
Ld. Grey laugh more heartily in his
life, and then he told the whole story to Essex and
Co.”
Earl of Sefton to Mr. Creevey.
“Croxteth, Dec. 14th.
“. . . What you say about Ld. Grey’s change of tone towards Talleyrand is quite intelligible to me. I
trace it entirely to Lady Keith, who has
great influence over the whole Grey family, and is in
constant correspondence with them. She is in great habits of intimacy with the
D. of Orleans—has the ear
270 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. XI. |
of the Court, and hates Talleyrand.
Her object is to get him recalled, and to replace him by her
husband [
illegible].
She thinks making him and Ld. Grey ill together would
drive Talleyrand to resign. I can tell you, in
corroboration of this, that Monsr. de Bacourt told me that
nothing wd. contribute more to decide T. to return here
than Ld. Grey’s shewing a decided anxiety for it,
and at his suggestion I got G. to write a most kind and
pressing letter to T., representing the importance he
attached to his coming back, both with a view to keeping up the friendship
between the two countries, and to the settlement of the Dutch business. . . .
Ly. Jersey is now living in great
intimacy with
Louis Philippe and the
D. of Orleans, so if these two* don’t do
mischief, it will not be for want of pains.”
“22nd.
“. . . I must just give you an extract from a
letter of Mme. de Dino’s this
moment arrived:—‘Sans une tres excellente lettre de
Ld. Grey, je ne crois pas que
M. de Talleyrand se serait
décidé à retourner dans votre chère Angleterre.’ She has no
idea that I was the cause of that letter, and never will.
Bacourt will keep it to himself. The whole effect
would be spoiled by their knowing it.”
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Richmond, Dec. 24, 1833.
“I dined at Essex’s on Saturday. The feature of the day was Parks,† a
Birmingham attorney of whom I had heard much, but had never seen before. He is,
in truth, a very remarkable man in every respect. He is mix’d up with all
classes—Church, Chapels and State; and as well, or better, calculated for
utility than any man I know or have heard of. He is Secretary to the
Corporation Commission, and all the beneficial results of that most judicious
and successful measure are attributable to him. He has great influence in the
Trade Unions; he is a prime leader of the Dissenters.
It was a curious thing to hear a
provincial attorney observe that the Liturgy of the Church had not been altered
for 200 years, and that he was perfectly convinced that a very slight
alteration in it would let in all the leading Dissenting establishments. He is
most decidedly for this union. . . . I did nothing but fire into
Lord Grey all dinner-time on Sunday about this
said Parks; and, to say the truth, I found the soil quite
ready for a strong impression. He said that, from all he had heard of him, he
had formed a great opinion of him, with a strong desire to see him; and then he
got on to say that he would know him; upon which our dear
Lady Grey, in a tone and manner quite her own,
said:—‘I hope there is no
Mrs.
Parks!—Is it not the image of her?
“. . . We expect to hear to-day of James Brougham’s death. There is much
speculation abroad whether the event will drive the Chancellor mad. It is quite true that his brother’s
influence over him was as unbounded as it was miraculous, for no one ever
discovered the slightest particle of talent in James of
any kind. That he was his secret instrument, spy or anything else upon every
occasion, I am quite sure.”
Earl of Sefton to Mr. Creevey.
“Croxteth, Dec. 30th, 1833.
“I cannot resist sending you another extract from a
letter from Me. de Dino received
yesterday. I particularly wished to know if she had seen the
Flahauts at Paris. Now you must know that nothing
could exceed Talleyrand’s kindness
to Flahaut all his life. He has been his
patron and protector—in short, a father to him.* Thus she
writes:—‘Je n’ai rien vu du tout des
Flahaut. Le mari n’a pas même mis une carte
chez M. de T. Il les a recontré aux Tuileries, ou
Monsr. de Flahaut n’a pas même salué. Cela a
fait dire un très joli mot à Monsr. de Talleyrand, à
qui on demandait l’explication de l’impolitesse de
Monsr. de Flahaut. “C’est que je
l’ai apparemment mal élevé!”’ Nothing could be
neater.”
* People said he was literally
his father.
|
Queen Adelaide (1792-1849)
The daughter of George Frederick Charles, duke of Saxe-Meiningen and consort of William
IV, whom she married in 1818.
Miguel de Alava (1770-1843)
A Spanish officer and statesman who fought with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular
War and at Waterloo.
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).
James Brougham (1780-1833)
The younger brother of the Lord Chancellor Henry Brougham; he was MP for Tregony
(1826-30), Downton (1830-31), Winchelsea (1831-32), and Kendal (1832-33).
Heinrich von Bülow (1792-1846)
German politician; he was Prussian ambassador to London (1827-40).
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.
Thomas Creevey (1768-1838)
Whig politician aligned with Charles James Fox and Henry Brougham; he was MP for Thetford
(1802-06, 1807-18) Appleby (1820-26) and Downton (1831-32). He was convicted of libel in
1813.
Dorothée, duchesse de Dino (1793-1862)
The daughter of Dorothea von Medem, Duchess of Courland, she was the lover of Talleyrand
and spouse of his nephew. In 1831 Maria Edgeworth described her as “little, and
ugly—plain, I should say.”
Edward Ellice (1783-1863)
British merchant with the Hudson's Bay Company and Whig MP for Coventry (1818-26,
1830-63); he was a friend of Sir Francis Burdett and John Cam Hobhouse.
Auguste Charles Joseph Flahault de la Billardrie (1785-1870)
The illegitimate son of Charles Talleyrand; after education in England and serving as
aide-de-camp to Napoleon he took refuge in England upon the restoration of the Bourbons. In
1817 he married Margaret Mercer Elphinstone.
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.
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.
Lady Mary Fox [née Fitz-Clarence] (1798-1864)
The illegitimate daughter of William IV; in 1824 she married Charles Richard Fox, the
illegitimate son of Lord Holland.
Isaac Gascoyne (1763 c.-1841)
After service in the Coldstream Guards he was a Conservative MP for Liverpool (1796-1831)
who opposed abolition of the slave trade.
Joseph Goodall (1760-1840)
Fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1782); in 1801 he succeeded George Heath as
headmaster of Eton, where he became provost in 1809.
Sir James Robert George Graham, second baronet (1792-1861)
Of Netherby, dandy, member of Brook's Club, Whig politician, and First Lord of the
Admiralty (1830); he published
Corn and Currency (1826) and was home
secretary (1841-46).
Charles Grant, baron Glenelg (1778-1866)
Educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Lincoln's Inn, he was a member of the
Speculative Society, MP, Irish chief secretary (1818), and colonial secretary (1835),
created Baron Glenelg in 1835.
Charles Pascoe Grenfell (1790-1867)
The son of Pascoe Grenfell and Charlotte Granville; educated at Harrow and Christ Church,
Oxford, he was a copper magnate and MP for Preston (1847-52, 1857-65).
Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (1794-1865)
The son of Captain Charles Greville (1762-1832); he was educated at Eton College and at
Christ Church, Oxford, and was clerk-in-ordinary to the privy council. His famous
Diary began appearing in 1874.
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).
Sir Henry Halford, first baronet (1766-1844)
The second son of James Vaughan MD of Leicester; a court physician, he was created
baronet in 1814 and was president of the College of Physicians (1820-1844).
Lord Carr Hervey (1691-1723)
The son of John Hervey, first Earl of Bristol; he was MP for Bury St. Edmunds and Groom
of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales. There is no evidence to support the allegation
that he was the father of Horace Walpole.
Sir James Kempt (1764 c.-1854)
He was aide-de-camp to Sir Ralph Abercromby and fought under Picton in the Peninsular
War; he was a brigade-commander at Waterloo, and governor-general of Canada
(1828-30).
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.
Louis Philippe, king of the French (1773-1850)
The son of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans; he was King of France 1830-48; he
abdicated following the February Revolution of 1848 and fled to England.
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).
Miguel I, King of Portugal (1802-1866)
The absolutist king of Portugal who reigned from 1828 to 1834; he spent the remainder of
his life living as an exile in Germany.
George Berkeley Molyneux (1799-1841)
The second son of the second earl of Sefton; he was lieutenant-colonel of the 8th
Dragoons. He was the second husband of Eliza Stuart.
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.
Henry William Paget, first marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854)
Originally Bayly, educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford; he was MP
(1790-1810), commander of cavalry under Sir John Moore, lost a leg at Waterloo, and raised
to the peerage 1815; he was lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1828-29, 1830-33).
Joseph Parkes (1796-1865)
Tutored by Samuel Parr and educated at Greenwich under Charles Burney, he was a
correspondent of Jeremy Bentham who pursued a career as an election agent and political
reformer.
Paul Anton III, Prince Esterházy (1786-1866)
Hungarian diplomat who after the Congress of Vienna was appointed as ambassador to the
United Kingdom (1815-42); he was foreign minister (1848).
John William Ponsonby, fourth earl of Bessborough (1781-1847)
The son of Frederick Ponsonby, third earl of Bessborough (d. 1844) and elder brother of
Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP (1805-34), home secretary (1834-35), and
lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1846-47).
Thomas Spring Rice, first Baron Monteagle (1790-1866)
The son of Stephen Edward of Limerick; he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and
was MP for Limerick City (1820-32) and Cambridge borough (1832-39). He was chancellor of
the exchequer (1835-39) and contributed to the
Edinburgh
Review.
John Russell, first earl Russell (1792-1878)
English statesman, son of John Russell sixth duke of Bedford (1766-1839); he was author
of
Essay on the English Constitution (1821) and
Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe (1824) and was Prime Minister (1865-66).
George Julius Poulett Scrope (1797-1876)
Originally Thomson: geologist and political economist, author of
Considerations on Volcanos (1825) and
Principles of Political
Economy (1833); FRS (1826). He took the name of his wife, Emma Phipps Scrope,
daughter of William Scrope (1772-1852).
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.
John Charles Spencer, third earl Spencer (1782-1845)
English politician, son of the second earl (d. 1834); educated at Harrow and Trinity
College, Cambridge, he was Whig MP for Northamptonshire (1806-34) and chancellor of the
exchequer and leader of the lower house under Lord Grey (1830).
Edward Stanley, first Baron Monteagle (1460 c.-1523)
The son of Thomas Stanley, first earl of Derby; fighting under Thomas Howard, earl of
Surrey, he was instrumental in the English victory at Flodden Field.
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.
Henry John Temple, third viscount Palmerston (1784-1865)
After education at Harrow and Edinburgh University he was MP for Newport (1807-11) and
Cambridge University (1811-31), foreign minister (1830-41), and prime minister (1855-58,
1859-65).
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.
John James Waldegrave, sixth earl Waldegrave (1785-1846)
The son of the fourth earl; educated at Eton, he was a lieutenant-colonel who served in
the Pensinsular War and at Waterloo; in 1815 he married Anne King in Paris. He inherited
Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill from his mother, Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave.
Robert Walpole, first earl of Orford (1676-1745)
English politician whose management of the financial crisis resulting from the South Sea
Bubble led to his commanding career the leader of the Whigs in Parliament (1721-42).
Henry Wellesley, first baron Cowley (1773-1847)
The younger brother of the Duke of Wellington; he was a lieutenant-governor in India
(1801-02), MP for Eye (1807-09) secretary to the Treasury (1808-09), ambassador to Spain
(1809-22), Vienna (1823-31) and Paris (1841-46). He was created Baron Cowley in
1828.
Richard Wellesley, first marquess Wellesley (1760-1842)
The son of Garret Wesley (1735-1781) and elder brother of the Duke of Wellington; he was
Whig MP, Governor-general of Bengal (1797-1805), Foreign Secretary (1809-12), and
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1821-28); he was created Marquess Wellesley in 1799.
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).