The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 8 November 1825
“Well—now for Milbank and Ly.
Augusta†—or Gusty, as he calls her.
Their house is in every way worthy of them—a great, big, fat house three
stories high. . . . All the living rooms are on the ground
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| 1825-26.] | CREEVEY AS AN AUTHOR. | 93 |
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floor, one a very handsome one
about 50 feet long, with a great bow furnished with rose-colored satin, and the
whole furniture of which cost £4000. Everything is of a piece—excellent
and plentiful dinners, a fat service of plate, a fat butler, a table with a
barrel of oysters and a hot pheasant, &c., wheeled into the drawing room
every night at ½ past ten . . . but our events for
record are few. . . . In answer to your question about Brancepeth Castle, it
belonged to Mrs. Taylor’s uncle,
Mr. Tempest. . . . Having left it to
his nephew, Sir Harry Vane, the latter
sold it to Russell, who has rebuilt the
whole ancient castle. . . . Few people could devote £80,000 per ann. to
accomplish the job as Russell did. Lord Londonderry told Ly. Ramsden he wished he had never taken
Frances [Lady
Londonderry] there, for she had raved of nothing else ever
since, and was quite out of heart with all they are doing at Wynyard; and
Frances is quite right.”
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).
Mark Milbank (1795-1881)
Of Thorp Perrow in Yorkshire, the son of William Milbank and Dorothy Wise; in 1817 he
married Lady Augusta Henrietta Vane, daughter of Sir William Henry Vane, first Duke of
Cleveland.
Matthew Russell (1765-1822)
Colliery magnate, the son of Matthew Russell; he was MP for Saltash (1802-07, 1808-22)
and purchased and rebuilt Brancepath Castle.
Frances Ann Taylor [née Vane] (d. 1835)
Whig hostess, the daughter of Sir Henry Vane, first baronet (1729–1794); in 1789 she
married the politician Michael Angelo Taylor.
John Tempest (1742 c.-1794)
The son of John Tempest; educated at Westminster School, he was MP for Durham City
(1768-94).
Charles William Vane, third marquess of Londonderry (1778-1854)
Originally Stewart; he was the half-brother of Lord Castlereagh, and served under Sir
John Moore and the Duke of Wellington, fighting at Talavera; was minister to Prussia (1813)
and ambassador at the Congress of Vienna (1814) and held a variety of diplomatic and court
positions.
Sir Henry Vane, first baronet (1728-1794)
The son of George Vane (d. 1750); he married Frances Tempest, daughter of John Tempest,
and was prebendary of Durham.
William Harry Vane, first duke of Cleveland (1766-1842)
The son of Henry Vane, second earl of Darlington (d. 1792); educated at Christ Church,
Oxford, he was a lifelong friend of Henry Brougham and a notable sportsman.
