The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 5 March 1828
“5th.
“. . . So you see Prinney crept into town at last on Monday night in the dark,
when nobody could see his legs, or whether he could walk; but as there is a
Council at St. James’s to-day we must hear something of him shortly.
Lord Rosslyn is to be there to be sworn
in as Lord Lieutenant of Fife, and he has promised me to keep a sharp look-out
on the legs. . . . Here is an invitation for Sunday week from the Duke of Sussex, and Stephenson says, ‘Oh, you must
come, because it is a dinner purposely for Lord
Grey, and the 16 persons asked are selected as his tried friends, and the thing is meant as a marked
compliment from the Duke to Lord Grey’ Now
in the world, was there ever? Sussex being, or having
been, quite as much for Canning as any
of the other fools, rats and rogues. I find the Duke
of Bedford, Jersey and
old Fitzwilliam are of the elect, as
well as Taylor and myself; but neither Sefton nor Brougham.”
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, second earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833)
The nephew of the Marquis of Rockingham and lifelong friend of Charles James Fox and Lord
Carlisle; he was president of the Council (1806-07) and lieutenant of the West Riding from
1798 to 1819 when he was dismissed for his censure of the Peterloo massacre.
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).
Henry Frederick Stephenson (1790-1858)
The illegitimate son of the eleventh duke of Norfolk; he was private secretary to the
Duke of Suffolk and secretary to the Sublime Socity of Beef Steaks.
