The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 24 July 1837
“July 24th.
“. . . Friday I dined at Rogers’s, and thought I understood from him that
Lady Holland was to be my only
companion, my lord being picked up by the
Queen. Instead of that, however, I found in addition to
Madagascar, Lord
and Lady Langdale, the American Minister
(Stevenson) and his lady, Lady Seymour, Mrs.
Abercromby, Lord Minto,
Pow Thompson, Miss Rogers and Allen. . . . I sat between Lady Langdale
and Mrs. Abercromby . . . the only drawback to our
communications was that I presently found we three had only
three ears between us.
“On Saturday I dined at Dulwich; dinner in the
picture gallery for 30—a triennial dinner to savants and virtuosos. Our
artists were Chantrey,
Wilson, Barry,
Wilkie, &c., &c.,—our
Mecænases, Lansdowne,
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Sutherland and Argyll, the latter of whom carried me in his
barouche—poets and wags, Rogers,
Sidney Smith and Creevey! . . . I think the only thing I have
to tell you of our dear Queen is Argyll’s description of her
reception of Lyndhurst on the levee day. She
had shown her usual pretty manner to those who preceded
Lyndhurst; but when his turn arrived, she drew up as
if she had seen a snake, and Lyndhurst turn’d as red
as fire and afterwards looked as fierce as a fiend. Lord Grey . . . says that in the House of Lords he actually cried from pleasure at the
Queen’s voice and speech; and he added that,
after seeing and hearing three Sovereigns of England, the present one surpasses
them all—easy—in every respect.”
John Allen (1771-1843)
Scottish physician and intimate of Lord Holland; he contributed to the
Edinburgh Review and
Encyclopedia Britannica and published
Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in
England (1830). He was the avowed atheist of the Holland House set.
Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860)
English architect who travelled in Greece, Turkey, and Egypt (1817-20) and won the
competition for rebuilding the Houses of Parliament (1836).
Henry Bickersteth, baron Langdale (1783-1851)
Son of a physician of the same name; he studied at Caius College, Cambridge and the Inner
Temple, was a friend of Sir Francis Burdett and Jeremy Bentham, and was appointed master of
the rolls and created Baron Langdale in 1836. In 1835 he married Lady Jane Elizabeth
Harley, daughter of the Earl of Oxford.
Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1781-1841)
English sculptor who worked as a statuary from 1804; he employed the poet Allan
Cunningham in his studio from 1814. He was knighted in 1835.
John Singleton Copley, baron Lyndhurst (1772-1863)
The son of the American painter; he did legal work for John Murray before succeeding Lord
Eldon as lord chancellor (1827-30, 1834-35, 1841-46); a skilled lawyer, he was also a
political chameleon.
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.
Gilbert Elliot, second earl of Minto (1782-1859)
Son of the first earl (d. 1814), educated at Edinburgh University; he was MP for
Ashburton (1806-14), British ambassador to Berlin (1832-34) and first lord of the Admiralty
(1835-41).
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.
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).
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
Sarah Rogers (1772-1855)
Of Regent's Park. the younger sister of the poet Samuel Rogers; she lived with her
brother Henry in Highbury Terrace.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845)
Clergyman, wit, and one of the original projectors of the
Edinburgh
Review; afterwards lecturer in London and one of the Holland House
denizens.
Andrew Stevenson (1784-1857)
Educated at William and Mary, he was a Virginia congressman and American minister to the
United Kingdom (1836-41).
Charles Poulett Thomson, baron Sydenham (1799-1841)
The son of John Thomson, a London merchant; patronized by Jeremy Bentham, he was MP for
Dover (1826-32) and Manchester (1832-39), and was governor-in-chief of British North
America (1839-41).
Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841)
Scottish-born artist whose genre-paintings were much admired; he was elected to the Royal
Academy in 1811.
