Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

The Right Honourable The Earl Grey KG PC
Portrait painting by an unknown artist, after Sir Thomas Lawrence, c. 1828
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 22 November 1830 – 16 July 1834
Monarch	William IV
Preceded by	Duke of Wellington
Succeeded by	Lord Melbourne
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 22 November 1830 – 9 July 1834
Preceded by	Duke of Wellington
Succeeded by	Lord Melbourne
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 24 September 1806 – 25 March 1807
Prime Minister	Lord Grenville
Preceded by	Charles James Fox
Succeeded by	George Canning
Leader of the House of Commons
In office 24 September 1806 – 31 March 1807
Prime Minister	Lord Grenville
Preceded by	Charles James Fox
Succeeded by	Spencer Perceval
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 11 February 1806 – 24 September 1806
Prime Minister	Lord Grenville
Preceded by	Lord Barham
Succeeded by	Thomas Grenville
Personal details
Born	(1764-03-13)13 March 1764 Fallodon, Northumberland, England
Died	Howick, Northumberland, England
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Mary
Children	Stillborn Louisa Elizabeth Caroline Georgiana Henry Charles Frederick Mary William George Thomas John Francis Henry William Eliza Courtney (illegitimate)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Religion	Church of England
Signature

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832. His government also saw the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. In addition to his political achievements, he has come to be associated with Earl Grey tea.

Early life

Descended from a long-established Northumbrian family seated at Howick Hall, Grey was the second but eldest surviving son of General Charles Grey KB (1729–1807) and his wife, Elizabeth (1743/4–1822), daughter of George Grey of Southwick, co. Durham. He had four brothers and two sisters. He was educated at Richmond School, followed by Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, acquiring a facility in Latin and in English composition and declamation that enabled him to become one of the foremost parliamentary orators of his generation. Grey was elected to Parliament for the Northumberland constituency on 14 September 1786, aged just 22. He became a part of the Whig circle of Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, and soon became one of the major leaders of the Whig party. He was the youngest manager on the committee for prosecuting Warren Hastings. The Whig historian T. B. Macaulay wrote in 1841:

"At an age when most of those who distinguish themselves in life are still contending for prizes and fellowships at college, he had won for himself a conspicuous place in Parliament. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that could set off to the height his splendid talents and his unblemished honour. At twenty-three he had been thought worthy to be ranked with the veteran statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood at that bar, save him alone, are gone, culprit, advocates, accusers. To the generation which is now in the vigour of life, he is the sole representative of a great age which has passed away. But those who, within the last ten years, have listened with delight, till the morning sun shone on the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and animated eloquence of Charles Earl Grey, are able to form some estimate of the powers of a race of men among whom he was not the foremost."

Charles Grey in blue coat, white waistcoat and tied cravat, and powdered hair, by Henry Bone (after Thomas Lawrence), August 1794.

Grey was also noted for advocating Parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation. His affair with the Duchess of Devonshire, herself an active political campaigner, did him little harm although it nearly caused her to be divorced by her husband.

In 1806, Grey, by then Lord Howick owing to his father's elevation to the peerage as Earl Grey, became a part of the Ministry of All the Talents (a coalition of Foxite Whigs, Grenvillites, and Addingtonites) as First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Fox's death later that year, Howick took over both as Foreign Secretary and as leader of the Whigs.

In Charon's Boat (1807), James Gillray caricatured the fall from power of the Whig administration, with Howick taking the role of Charon rowing the boat.

The government fell from power the next year, and, after a brief period as a member of parliament for Appleby from May to July 1807, Howick went to the Lords, succeeding his father as Earl Grey. He continued in opposition for the next 23 years.

Lord Grey, c. 1820

Great Reform Act

In 1830, when the Duke of Wellington resigned on the question of Parliamentary reform, the Whigs finally returned to power, with Grey as Prime Minister. In 1831, he was made a member of the Order of the Garter. His term was a notable one, seeing passage of the Reform Act 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. As the years had passed, however, Grey had become more conservative, and he was cautious about initiating more far-reaching reforms, particularly since he knew that the King was at best only a reluctant supporter of reform. Unlike most politicians, he seems to have genuinely preferred a private life; colleagues remarked caustically that he threatened to resign at every setback. In 1834 Grey retired from public life, leaving Lord Melbourne as his successor.

Grey returned to Howick but kept a close eye on the policies of the new cabinet under Melbourne, whom he, and especially his family, regarded as a mere understudy until he began to act in ways of which they disapproved. Grey became more critical as the decade went on, being particularly inclined to see the hand of Daniel O'Connell behind the scenes and blaming Melbourne for subservience to the Radicals with whom he identified the Irish patriot. He made no allowances for Melbourne's need to keep the radicals on his side to preserve his shrinking majority in the Commons, and in particular he resented any slight on his own great achievement, the Reform Act, which he saw as a final solution of the question for the foreseeable future. He continually stressed its conservative nature. As he declared in his last great public speech, at the Grey Festival organised in his honour at Edinburgh in September 1834, its purpose was to strengthen and preserve the established constitution, to make it more acceptable to the people at large, and especially the middle classes, who had been the principal beneficiaries of the Reform Act, and to establish the principle that future changes would be gradual, "according to the increased intelligence of the people, and the necessities of the times". It was the speech of a conservative statesman.

Retirement

Grey spent his last years in contented, if sometimes fretful, retirement at Howick, with his books, his family, and his dogs. He became physically feeble in his last years and died quietly in his bed on 17 July 1845, forty-four years to the day since going to live at Howick. He was buried in the church there on the 26th in the presence of his family, close friends, and the labourers on his estate.

Commemoration

Earl Grey tea, a blend which uses bergamot oil to flavour the beverage, is named after Grey. He is commemorated by Grey's Monument in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, which consists of a statue of Lord Grey standing atop a 41 m (135 ft) high column. The monument was once struck by lightning and Earl Grey's head was seen lying in the gutter in Grey Street. The monument lends its name to Monument Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro, (at that point effectively Newcastle's 'underground' system), located directly underneath. Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and Grey College, Durham are also named after Grey.

Personal life

Coat of Arms of The Rt Hon Sir Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG PC

Grey married on 18 November 1794 Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (1776 – 1861), only daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Imokilly and Hon. Louisa Molesworth in 1794. The marriage was a fruitful one; between 1796 and 1819 the couple had ten sons and six daughters:

• [a daughter] Grey (stillborn, 1796)
• Lady Louisa Elizabeth Grey (7 April 1797 – 26 November 1841); married John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, him of the Durham report
• Lady Elizabeth Grey (10 July 1798 – 8 November 1880); married John Crocker Bulteel (d. 10 September 1843). Their daughter, Louisa Emily Charlotte Bulteel, is one of the great-great-great-grandmothers of Diana, Princess of Wales, through her marriage with Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke
• Lady Caroline Grey (30 August 1799 – 28 April 1875); married Capt. The Hon. George Barrington
• Lady Georgiana Grey (17 February 1801 – 1900); never married
• Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (28 December 1802 – 9 October 1894), eldest son, who became a politician like his father
• General Sir Charles Grey (15 March 1804 – 31 March 1870), father of Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
• Admiral Sir Frederick William Grey (23 August 1805 – 2 May 1878)
• Lady Mary Grey (2 May 1807 – 6 July 1884); married Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax
• Hon. William Grey (13 May 1808 – 11 Feb 1815)
• Admiral The Hon. George Grey (16 May 1809 – 3 October 1891) married Jane Frances, daughter of Gen Hon Sir Patrick Stuart
• Hon. Thomas Grey (29 Dec 1810 – 8 Jul 1826)
• Rev. Hon.John Grey MA, DD (2 March 1812 – 11 November 1895) Canon and Rector of Durham
• Rev.Francis Richard Grey (31 March 1813 – 22 March 1890) married Lady Elizabeth Howard (1816–1891), daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and Georgiana Cavendish (daughter of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire).
• Hon. Henry Cavendish Grey (16 October 1814 – 5 September 1880) Army Captain
• Hon. William George Grey (15 February 1819 – 19 December 1865) married Theresa Catherine, only daughter of Maj-Gen Count Stedink, Insp-Gen of Cavalry Sweden.

Relationship with Georgiana Cavendish

Because Mary was frequently pregnant during their marriage, Grey would travel alone and would have affairs with other women. Before he married Mary, his engagement to her nearly suffered because of his affair with Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. A young Grey met Georgiana sometime in the late 1780s to early 1790s while attending a Whig society meeting in Devonshire House. Grey and Georgiana became lovers and in 1791, she became pregnant. Grey wanted Georgiana to leave her husband the duke to go and live with him instead, but the duke told Georgiana if she did, she would never see her children again. Instead, Georgiana was sent to France where she gave birth to a daughter on 20 February 1792 in Aix-en-Provence whom she named Eliza Courtney. She and the child came back to England in September 1793 and Georgiana entrusted the child to Grey's parents, who raised her as though she were his sister.

Both Georgiana and Charles spent time with their daughter, who was informed of her true parentage some time following Georgiana's death in 1806. She married General Robert Ellice. Her maternal aunt, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough visited the Greys in 1808 (without knowing she was Eliza's aunt) and later wrote of her strange observations in which she stated "he (Charles) seems very fond of her". Eliza later named her youngest child Charles. She also named her eldest daughter Georgiana.

Lord Grey's Ministry, November 1830 – July 1834

Lord Grey atop Grey's Monument, looking down Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne

Inscription on Grey's Monument

• Lord Grey — First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Lords
• Lord Brougham — Lord Chancellor
• Lord Lansdowne — Lord President of the Council
• Lord Durham — Lord Privy Seal
• Lord Melbourne — Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Lord Palmerston — Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• Lord Goderich — Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
• Sir James Graham — First Lord of the Admiralty
• Lord Althorp — Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons
• Charles Grant — President of the Board of Control
• Lord Holland — Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• The Duke of Richmond — Postmaster-General
• Lord Carlisle — Minister without Portfolio

Changes

• June 1831 — Lord John Russell, the Paymaster of the Forces, and Edward Smith-Stanley, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, join the Cabinet.
• April 1833 — Lord Goderich, now Lord Ripon, succeeds Lord Durham as Lord Privy Seal. Edward Smith-Stanley succeeds Ripon as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. His successor as Chief Secretary for Ireland is not in the Cabinet. Edward Ellice, the Secretary at War, joins the Cabinet.
• June 1834 — Thomas Spring Rice succeeds Stanley as Colonial Secretary. Lord Carlisle succeeds Ripon as Lord Privy Seal. Lord Auckland succeeds Graham as First Lord of the Admiralty. The Duke of Richmond leaves the Cabinet. His successor as Postmaster-General is not in the Cabinet. Charles Poulett Thomson, the President of the Board of Trade, and James Abercrombie, the Master of the Mint, join the Cabinet.

Styles of address

• 1764-1786: Mr Charles Grey
• 1786-1801: Mr Charles Grey MP
• 1801-1806: The Hon Charles Grey MP
• 1806: Viscount Howick MP
• 1806-1807: The Rt Hon Viscount Howick MP
• 1807-1831: The Rt Hon The Second Earl Grey PC
• 1831-1845: The Rt Hon The Second Earl Grey KG PC

In popular culture

Charles Grey is portrayed by Dominic Cooper in the 2008 film The Duchess, directed by Saul Dibb and starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. The film is based on Amanda Foreman's biography of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.

He is also a secondary character in Emma Donoghue's 2004 book Life Mask.

He is also a character in Black Butler Book of Murders.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl Grey
• More about Earl Grey on the Downing Street website.
• Works by or about Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Archival material relating to Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey listed at the UK National Archives
• Portraits of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey at the National Portrait Gallery, London

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Lord Algernon Percy Sir William Middleton, Bt	Member of Parliament for Northumberland 1786 – 1800 With: Sir William Middleton, Bt Thomas Richard Beaumont	Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain	Member of Parliament for Northumberland 1801 – 1807 With: Thomas Richard Beaumont	Succeeded by Earl Percy Thomas Richard Beaumont
Preceded by Sir Philip Francis John Courtenay	Member of Parliament for Appleby May 1807 – July 1807 With: James Ramsay Cuthbert	Succeeded by Nicholas William Ridley-Colborne James Ramsay Cuthbert
Preceded by Richard FitzPatrick Lord William Russell	Member of Parliament for Tavistock July 1807 – November 1807 With: Lord William Russell	Succeeded by George Ponsonby Lord William Russell
Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Barham	First Lord of the Admiralty 1806	Succeeded by Thomas Grenville
Preceded by Charles James Fox	Foreign Secretary 1806–1807	Succeeded by George Canning
	Leader of the House of Commons 1806–1807	Succeeded by Spencer Perceval
Preceded by The Duke of Wellington	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 22 November 1830 – 16 July 1834	Succeeded by The Viscount Melbourne
	Leader of the House of Lords 1830–1834
Party political offices
Preceded by None recognised before	Leader of the British Whig Party 1830–1834	Succeeded by The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by None recognised before	Whig Leader in the Lords 1830–1834	Succeeded by The Viscount Melbourne
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Grey	Earl Grey 1807–1845	Succeeded by Henry Grey

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