The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 17 July 1833
“17th.
“. . . You must know that for months past I have
been firing into Ellice, and through him
into Durham, for their joint patronage of
Barnes, the editor of the Times newspaper;
being convinced that the vindictive articles in that paper against Lord Grey were written or dictated by
Durham. . . . On Sunday I found that
Lambton and Ellice have recently
become at daggers drawn, and Ellice told me he had
received such a letter of abuse from him in the Isle of Wight as had never been
penned. The subject was nothing less than that he—Lord
Durham—was going to withdraw his
proxy from the support of Ld. Grey and his
Government. Ellice admitted the connection between
Durham and Barnes, and that the
communications between them had been carried on by Lord Dover, just deceased. The said
Durham, according to Ellice, is now
Prime Minister to the Duchess of Kent and
Queen Victoria, and they are getting
up all their arrangements together in the Isle of Wight for a new reign! You
may remember that Durham was King
Leopold’s* right hand man when he was going to be King of
Greece—drew all his State papers for him, and has always been his
bottle-holder ever since. So nothing is more
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likely than his becoming first favorite with the
Duchess of Kent and Victoria in a
new reign.”
Thomas Barnes [Strada] (1785-1841)
The contemporary of Leigh Hunt at Christ's Hospital; he was editor of
The Times from 1817.
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.
George James Welbore Agar- Ellis, first baron Dover (1797-1833)
The son of Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, second Viscount Clifden; he was MP for Haytersbury
(1818-20), Seaford (1820-26), Ludgershall (1826-30) and Okehampton (1830-31); he was raised
to the peerage in 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).
Leopold I King of Belgium (1790-1865)
The son of Prince Francis Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; after serving in the Russian
army he married Princess Charlotte in May 1816; in 1831 he was inaugurated as the first
king of the Belgians.
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
The Times. (1785-). Founded by John Walter, The Times was edited by Thomas Barnes from 1817 to 1841. In the
romantic era it published much less literary material than its rival dailies, the
Morning Chronicle and the
Morning
Post.
