The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey, Journal Entry, 11 September 1818
“Friday, 11.—This
morning Barnes and I set off to see the
Russian troops reviewed. . . . The Count
Woronzow, Commander-in-chief of the Russians, had sent forty
pair of horses with drivers, &c., &c., to bring over such English
persons as were to be present. . . . A little short of Bovary we found a relay
of 40 other pair of horses standing in the road, and these took us to the
ground. . . . Here again Cossack saddle horses were provided by Count
Woronzow for all the strangers. . . . We had been all invited
beforehand to dine with Count Woronzow, and just as the
review was finishing, he rode up to every English carriage to say he was to
have a ball in the evening. . . . After
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dinner, the ball opened, when my delight was to see the
Mizurko danced by Madame Suwarrow and her brother the
Prince Nariskin, Commander-in-chief
of the Cossacks. The Dutchess of Kent waltzed
a little, and the Duke of Kent put his hand
upon her cheek to feel if she was not too hot. I believe it was this display of
tenderness on his part that made the Duke of
Wellington turn suddenly to me and say:—‘Well,
Creevey, what has passed between
you and the Corporal since you have met this
time?’ So I told him of our conversation on the Wednesday at his
dinner, not omitting, of course, the pathetic part about the Queen; upon which he laid hold of my button
and said:—‘God damme! d’ye know what his sisters call him?
By God! they call him Joseph Surface!’ and then sent out one
of his hearty laughs, that made every one turn about to the right and left to
see what was the matter. . . .
“The Duke of
Wellington’s constant joking with me about the Duke of Kent was owing to the curious conversation
I had with the latter at Brussells in the autumn of 1817, the particulars of
which had always amused the Duke of Wellington very much.*
. . .
Sir Edward Barnes (1776-1838)
Military officer; after service in the West Indies he was a staff officer under
Wellington in the Peninsular War and was severely wounded at Waterloo; he was Governor of
Ceylon (1824-31).
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.
Edward Augustus, duke of Kent (1767-1820)
The fourth son of George III, who pursued a military career and acquired a reputation as
a martinet; he was governor of Gibraltar (1802-03).
Lev Alexandrovitch Narychkine (1785-1846)
After fighting against Napoleon he was the commander of the Cossack brigade in Holland
and northern France from 1815 to 1818.
Arthur Moyes William Sandys, second baron Sandys (1792-1860)
Irish military officer; he was the second son of Arthur Hill, second Marquess of
Downshire and Mary Sandys, Baroness Sandys; educated at Eton, he was MP for County Down
(1817-36) before he succeeded to the title.
Victoria Mary Louise, duchess of Kent (1786-1861)
The daughter of Francis, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, in 1803 she married Emich Charles,
prince of Leiningen, and in 1818 the Duke of Kent. She was the mother of Queen
Victoria
Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (1782-1856)
Russian prince and field marshall during the Napoleonic Wars; he spent his youth in
London and was commander of the corps of occupation in France from 1815 to 1818.
