The Creevey Papers
Eleanor Creevey to Thomas Creevey, 5 November 1805
“5th Nov., 1805.
“. . . My head is very bad, I suppose with the heat of
the Pavillion last night. We were there before ![]()
| 68 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. III. |
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Mrs. Fitzherbert came, and it almost
made her faint, but she put on no airs to be interesting and soon recovered,
and I had a great deal of comfortable prose with her. It was rather formidable
when we arrived: nobody but Mrs. Morant and the Prince and
Dr. Fraser, and for at least half-an-hour in this
little circle the conversation was all between the Prince and me—first
about Sheridan, and about not seeing
you, and his determination to make you come (if not bring you) back next week,
when he is to have Lord St. Vincent,
Markham,
Sheridan, Tierney, &c. . . . Lady
Downshire soon came, but did not help conversation—then
came Geoff and Mrs. Fitz, and soon
afterwards the men from the dining-room, consisting of only
Day and Warner,
Savory, Bloomfield
and the Baron. The Prince told
Mrs. F. he would not have any more, lest they should
disturb her. . . . Before she came, he was talking of the fineness of the day,
and said:—‘But I was not out. I went to Mrs.
Fitzherbert’s at one o’clock, and stay’d
talking with her till past 6, which was certainly very
unfashionable.’ Now was he not at that moment thinking of her as his
lawful wife? for in no other sense could he call it unfashionable.”
Benjamin Bloomfield, first baron Bloomfield (1768-1846)
After serving in the 10th Hussars he was chief equerry, clerk marshal, and private
secretary to the Prince Regent; he was MP for Plymouth (1812-17) and raised to the Irish
peerage in 1825.
Maria Anne Fitzherbert [née Smythe] (1756-1837)
The consort of the Prince of Wales whom she married in 1785 as her third husband; the
marriage was regarded as illegitimate since she was a Catholic.
John Jervis, earl of St. Vincent (1735-1823)
English Naval officer who defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent in 1797 and was
first lord of the Admiralty 1801-04.
John Markham (1761-1827)
Naval officer, the son of William Markham, archbishop of York; educated at Westminster
School, he was patronized by Lord St Vincent and represented Admiralty interests in
Parliament as MP for Portsmouth (1801-18, 1820-26).
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
Anglo-Irish playwright, author of
The School for Scandal (1777),
Whig MP and ally of Charles James Fox (1780-1812).
George Tierney (1761-1830)
Whig MP and opposition leader whose political pragmatism made him suspect in the eyes of
his party; he fought a bloodless duel with Pitt in 1798. He is the “Friend of Humanity” in
Canning and Frere's “The Needy Knife-Grinder.”
