The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 17 January 1837
“Jermyn Street, 17th.
“You see, my dear, that towards the end of last
week our Ellice received a dispatch from
Lord Durham saying he had accepted the
mission to Canada, but that he could do nothing without
Ellice. So we left Holkham on Saturday. . . . My
companion continued to the last as communicative as ever. . . . Lord Leicester is a marvellous man in everything,
but above all in his clear and perspicuous telling of stories, of which he has
great abundance. I was much amused one day when he was driving me, upon
Lady Holland’s name being
mentioned, he said to me:—‘I hope we shall find Charles Fox and Charlie Gore when we get home. I am very fond of
Charles Fox, and particularly of Lady Mary.’ I remarked that I had never
heard of Lord Holland being at
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| 1837-38.] | LADY CHARLOTTE BURY’S BOOK. | 333 |
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Holkham, and yet
that of course he must have been. ‘No,’ said he,
‘his uncle Charles used to
live here, and I have often asked Lord Holland, but of
course he would not come without Lady Holland, and it
was quite out of the question my asking her. I dine at Lord
Holland’s now and then. When I do so, I am as
attentive as I ought to be to Lady Holland, and there
is no kind of flattery she does not apply to me; but it won’t do! She
is not a woman I approve of at all. I am only surprised that so many people
have been bullied by her to letting her into their houses. For myself, I
have always made up my mind that she should never enter mine.’
Bravo! King Tom. What a charming subject to plague her
with the first time she gives me any offence. . . . Certain it is that this
Holkham is by far the greatest curiosity in England.”
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.
Charles James Fox (1749-1806)
Whig statesman and the leader of the Whig opposition in Parliament after his falling-out
with Edmund Burke.
Charles Richard Fox (1796-1873)
The eldest son of Lord Holland, born illegitimately and thus barred from the peerage; he
was aide-de-camp to William IV, and MP for Calne (1831-32) and Tavistock (1833-34). He was
an antiquary and member of the Society of Dilettanti.
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
Lady Mary Fox [née Fitz-Clarence] (1798-1864)
The illegitimate daughter of William IV; in 1824 she married Charles Richard Fox, the
illegitimate son of Lord Holland.
Charles Arthur Gore (d. 1846)
Captain in the 1st Regiment of Life Guards; he married the novelist Catherine Moody in
1823.
