The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 29 October 1834
“Brooks’s, Oct. 29, 1834.
“. . . At Stoke we had the Russian again,* an English merchant from Riga,
Younger by name, the Duc de
Richelieu, Tom Duncombe,
Col. Armstrong, Poodle Byng and myself. Whilst at dinner on
Sunday the two Colonels arrived, Berkeley and Henry,† with Charles
Grenfell, all from Croxteth. . . . Essex is very pathetic about himself, is he not? and very
tender about the Greys. It is just seven years since he
was all for Canning’s Government,
and, like Sefton, all gall against
Lord Grey. When
Grey came into office this month four years ago,
Essex was one of his earliest and most constant
toadies, and Lady Grey used to treat him
like a dog; so much so that one day when I was there, after he had left the
room, Lord Grey said:—‘Upon my life,
Mary, you are too bad in your rude manner of
treating Essex, and I am sure he sees and feels
it.’ To which our Countess replied:—‘I mean that
he should see it, because I can never forget the
shameful conduct of himself and others to
you.—‘Oh,’ said Grey,
‘that is gone by, Mary, and we must forget
it.’ She used, at that time, to treat Sefton exactly in the same way, and for the same reason; but
lords and M.R’s have great rewards for perseverance in toadying.”
Thomas Armstrong (1837 fl.)
Colonel in the Coldstream Guards; he was groom of the bedchamber to William IV.
Frederick Gerald Byng [Poodle] (1784-1871)
Son of John Byng, fifth viscount Torrington; he was a dandy acquaintance of the Prince
Regent and a clerk at the Foreign Office.
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
Thomas Slingsby Duncombe (1796-1861)
A grandson of Bishop John Hinchliffe, he was educated at Harrow and did military service
before pursuing a political career as a Whig MP who supported Radical causes; he was MP for
Hertford borough (1826-32) and Finsbury (1834-61). Thomas Creevey described him as an
improvident gambler.
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 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).
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.
Henry Richard Molyneux (1800-1841)
The third son of the second earl of Sefton; he was lieutenant-colonel of the 60th Rifles,
and died of a disease contracted in India.
