GREY, George Harry, Lord Grey (1765-1845), of Enville Hall, Staffs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1790 - 1796
1796 - 1802

Family and Education

b. 31 Oct. 1765, 1st s. of George Harry Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford, by Lady Henrietta Bentinck, da. of William, 2nd Duke of Portland. educ. Winchester 1779-83; Trinity Coll. Camb. 1784. m. 23 Dec. 1797, Henrietta Charlotte Elizabeth, da. of Francis Wemyss Charteris, Lord Elcho, 2s. 2da. suc. fa. as 6th Earl of Stamford 23 May 1819.

Offices Held

Col. Cheshire militia 1789, 1794-1804, brevet col. 1794-1804; ld. lt. Cheshire 1819.

Chamberlain and v.-adm. 1827-d.

Biography

Lord Grey, the Duke of Portland’s nephew, joined the Whig Club on 1 May 1787 and Brooks’s Club, sponsored by his uncle, on 8 May 1789. He was listed by the party as in quest of a seat, for which he was prepared to pay £4,500, before the election of 1790. He secured one for Aldeburgh on the Crespigny interest. On 12 Apr. 1791 he voted with opposition on Grey’s Oczakov resolutions, and was considered favourable to repeal of the Test Act in Scotland the same month. No further minority vote is known, nor any speech by him. He was duly listed a Portland Whig in December 1792, thought of for Windham’s ‘third party’ in February 1793 and transferred his support to government with his uncle. He took up militia duties. In 1796 he declined an opening for Cheshire, of which his father was lord lieutenant; was defeated at Grampound, standing on Lord Eliot’s interest; but came in for the latter’s borough of St. Germans instead. Leaves of absence were granted on 9 Dec. 1796 and 6 Mar. 1801, but there is no particular evidence of parliamentary activity. He did not seek re-election in 1802.

As a local magnate, Grey was respected for ‘the excellence of his private character and the firm yet courteous manner in which he discharged his public duty’. He died 26 Apr. 1845.

HMC Kenyon, 544; Gent. Mag. (1845), i. 647.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Winifred Stokes

Notes