The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 2 March 1829
“March 2nd.
“Now I wonder if Ogg† is to be depended on. Our Whigs, who hate the Beau and Peel and Grey with all their
hearts, and are mad to the last degree that the two former have taken the
Catholick cause out of their own feeble and perfidious hands, and who are
always croaking about the projected Bill as being sure to contain some
conditions and provisions that will be quite inadmissible to the dear
Liberals—the said Whigs are to-day more chopfallen than ever upon the
visits that have been taking place the last two
* One should hesitate to withdraw the veil from this
ugly affair, were it not that it has been freely discussed and made
public property in the recently published letters of Madame de Lieven. † Lord
Kensington. |
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| 1829.] | THE GARTH SCANDAL. | 197 |
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days by the
Beau and Chancellor to
Windsor, and then the Beau waiting upon the D. of Cumberland as soon as he came back. In
short, it is settled amongst them that the Dutchess of
Gloucester and D. of Cumberland have made
such an impression upon Prinney against the
Pope, that he is considered as quite certain to be upon the jib; and such is
the supposed consternation of the Ministers, that Tommy Tyrrwhitt told me he had seen with his own eyes to-day
Lord Ellenborough come into the Court
of Chancery twice, go upon the Bench to the Chancellor, put his mouth close
under his wig, and keep it there at least five minutes at a time.
“So, having just met old
Ogg in the street in spectacles, he having lost an eye since I
last saw him, and after hearing an account of the different calamities
affecting his life, property and character, we got to this Windsor gossip. So
says Ogg in his accustomed manner—‘Damme! I
know exactly what it is all about, and if you promise never to mention my
name, I’ll tell you.’ I need not observe that the condition
he imposed upon me I should have gratuitously adopted, as the disclosure would,
with most, destroy my story. However, he swore he knew the facts of his own
knowledge, and they are these.
“Knight, a barrister of the
Court of Chancery, has been advertising the Chancellor lately that on this day he should move for an
injunction against Sir Herbert Taylor
about Garth’s letters, which have
been placed in his hands under some agreement with Garth,
and which the latter or his creditors wish to make more favorable for
themselves; £3000 a year for life and £10,000 in hand were the considerations,
but it is sought to make it £16,000 in hand. Ogg adds that
it is the fear of all this being made publick that has caused all these
mutinies between the Beau and Prinney and Chancellor and D. of Cumberland. Ogg says, too, that he knows all the contents of these letters,
and stated quite enough of them to account for all this Windsor hurry-scurry. .
. .
“Well, I had a really charming dinner at old
Sally’s* yesterday. Lady Sefton and her 2 eldest
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| 198 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. VIII. |
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daughters, the young Lady
Salisbury, Lord Arthur
[Hill], Sefton, Henry [Molyneux], a
Talbot, Hy. de loos,
Montgomery and Sebright. . . . Upon my word I was wrong about Lady Lyndhurst. She has beautiful eyes and such a
way of using them that quite shocked Lady
Louisa and me. . . . Old
Clare fairly rowed me last night, or affected to do so, for not
coming to see her in Ireland. You know her son and his wife are
parted, the latter giving as her reason for wishing it that she had only
married him to please her mother, and that
now she was dead there was no use in going on together. He has given her back
every farthing of her fortune, which was £50,000 or £60,000.”
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.
King Ernest Augustus, of Hanover (1771-1851)
The fifth and last surviving son of George III; he was king of Hanover 1837-1851. Though
acquitted, he was thought to have murdered his valet, Joseph Sellis.
John Fitzgibbon, second earl of Clare (1792-1851)
A Harrow friend of Byron's, son of the Lord Chamberlain of Ireland; he once fought a duel
with Henry Grattan's son in response to an aspersion on his father. Lord Clare was Governor
of Bombay between 1830 and 1834.
Thomas Garth (1800-1875)
Military officer, the son of General Thomas Garth and Princess Sophia; he claimed to have
letters proving that his father was the Duke of Cumberland with which he tried to blackmail
the government.
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 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.
Arthur Moyes William Sandys, second baron Sandys (1792-1860)
Irish military officer; he was the second son of Arthur Hill, second Marquess of
Downshire and Mary Sandys, Baroness Sandys; educated at Eton, he was MP for County Down
(1817-36) before he succeeded to the title.
Sir John Saunders Sebright, seventh baronet (1767-1846)
Son of the sixth baronet (d. 1794), he was educated at Westminster School and after
military service was an independent Whig MP for Hertfordshire (1807-34). Maria Edgeworth
described him as “quite a new character ... strong head, and warm heart, and oddity
enough for ten.”
Sir Herbert Taylor (1775-1839)
He was aide-de-camp and private secretary to the duke of York, afterwards to George III
and William IV; he was MP for Windsor (1820-23) and published
Memoirs of
the Last Illness and Decease of HRH the Duke of York (1827).
Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt (1762-1833)
The nephew of the scholar of the same name; he was educated at Eton and Christ Church,
Oxford, and was MP for Okehampton (796-1802), Portarlington (1802-06) and Plymouth
(1806-12), private secretary to the Duke of Clarence, and Black Rod.
