[384] Catherine, widow of the twelfth Earl of Desmond, died in 1604, having survived her husband seventy years. There seems much doubt about the principal dates of her life, e.g. those of her birth and marriage, but she is said to have attained the remarkable age of 140 years, and to have died by a fall from a cherry-tree. Sir Walter Raleigh records that he knew her and that she “was married in Edward IV.’s time.”
[385] Henry Brooke Parnell had been member for Maryborough in the Irish House of Commons, and was now member for Dundee. He was made Paymaster-General on that office being constituted in 1838. Afterwards created Lord Congleton.
[386] The Duke never allowed political feeling to interfere with what he considered public duty. As a politician he was a Tory; but as a soldier he had no politics.
[387] Lord Ellenborough (1790–1871) was a son of the Chief Justice, and sat in several Conservative Cabinets. He was Governor-General of India in 1844, and recalled from his post by the directors of the East India Company in opposition to the wish of the Cabinet, who at once recommended him for an earldom. He was too imaginative and daring for the post of Governor-General at this period of Indian administrative history; but his memory was often revived in the person of a more daring and more brilliant successor in that high office.
[388] Alexander, first Lord Ashburton, had been President of the Board of Trade in the brief Peel Administration of 1834–5. He married Miss Bingham of Philadelphia. See ante, p. 199.
[389] David William, third Earl of Mansfield (1777–1840).
[390] Charles William, fifth Earl (1786–1857).
[391] See ante, p. 261. Lady Francis was Harriet, eldest daughter of Charles Greville, the father of the diarist.
[392] Stafford House was built by the Duke of York. It is Crown property vested in the Commission of Woods and Forests. The present (1912) Duke of Sutherland obtained an extension of the Crown lease a few years ago.
[393] Charles Philip, fourth Earl of Hardwicke, had married Susan, daughter of the first Lord Ravensworth. See ante, p. 84, n.
[394] Tempora mutantur.
[395] At the opening of the Queen’s first Parliament in 1837 Lord Leveson [afterwards Lord Granville and Foreign Secretary] had moved in the House of Commons the address in reply to her speech, looking, wrote Disraeli, himself also a new member, “like a child.” Lord Leveson was twenty-two years old, and the Queen had met him a few years earlier at Christ Church. See ante, p. 60. His mother, Lady Granville, was Henrietta, daughter of the fifth Duke of Devonshire.
[396] Lady Lilford was a daughter of Lord and Lady Holland.
[397] Charles Christopher, first Lord Cottenham. On Lord Melbourne forming his second Ministry, the Great Seal was not offered to Brougham, but at first put into Commission. Pepys, Master of the Rolls, was one of the Commissioners, and became a little later Chancellor.
[398] William Henry, second Earl of Dunraven (1782–1850).
[399] See ante, p. 278.
[400] She was Louisa Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Grey the ex-Premier, mother of the “Master Lambton” of Lawrence’s portrait, who died, aged fourteen, and grandmother of the present Earl of Durham, K.G.
[401] King Otho had accepted the throne of Greece in October 1832, and ascended it three months later. This was done in virtue of a request from Greece to Great Britain, France, and Russia.
[402] Mahmud II., Sultan (1808–39), succeeded in the latter year by Abdul-Medjid.
[403] Of some fame, but little merit. He managed the stables of George IV., when Prince of Wales.
[404] This rule was followed with invariable and prudent strictness by the Queen throughout her reign. She was never swayed in action by gossip, however subtle or ill-natured—she required proof; and this rule governed her decision in regard to disputes as to the eligibility of all persons to be invited to Court.
[405] Lord Howe’s attitude was one of hostility to the Government. See ante, p. 113.
[406] George Bartley (died in 1858), a Shakespearean actor who could play Orlando as well as Falstaff. For a time stage-manager at Covent Garden.
[407] Drinkwater Meadows (1799–1869), an excellent performer in comedy of the more eccentric type.
[408] Edgar William Elton (1794–1843) created this part of Beauséant; he also played Romeo, and (with much success) Edgar in Lear.
[409] The disposal of these prisoners was a difficult matter which became acute in the interregnum between the departure of Lord Gosford and the arrival of Lord Durham. Sir John Colborne postponed a decision of the matter, and ultimately the prisoners were dealt with according to the gravity of the case, some being merely bound over, others deported to Bermuda.
[410] Great complaints were being made of the cruelty of the Jamaica planters to their negro apprentices, and Brougham had put himself at the head of an agitation in favour of immediate emancipation. Accordingly the Government introduced a Bill regulating the hours of labour, erecting arbitration tribunals for appraising the value of apprentices desiring a discharge, and forbidding the whipping or cutting the hair of female apprentices, or their being placed on a treadmill, or in the chair of a penal gang.
[411] Street riots had broken out at Lisbon, but the Queen behaved with great courage, and, after Costa Cabral had been installed as Civil Governor of the city, the insurgent forces were dispersed. The occurrence of Donna Maria’s nineteenth birthday on 4th April was marked by an amnesty, purporting to blot out the revolutionary actions of the last eighteen months.
[412] John, second Marquess and fifth Earl of Breadalbane, F.R.S. (1796–1862).
[413] A distinguished Peninsular officer, who had commanded the Portuguese division at Vittoria; Commander-in-chief at Bombay 1825–9.
[414] John, afterwards eleventh Earl of Westmorland, son of John, tenth Earl and Sarah Anne his wife, only daughter and heir of Robert Child of Osterley Park. His sister, Lady Jersey (who died in 1867), succeeded to the banker’s great fortune. See ante, p. 149.
[415] Major-General Sir A. Dickson, R.A., had been Superintendent of Artillery Operations in the Peninsula, and fought at Waterloo, and was Director-General of the Field-train Department.
[416] Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy (1769–1839), Captain of the Victory at Trafalgar. In 1830 he was First Sea Lord, and, later, Governor of Greenwich Hospital, a post he was holding at this time.
[417] Lord Minto. See ante, p. 200.
[418] Lord Howick. See ante, p. 200.
[419] “Your Majesty’s most affectionate Friend, Aunt, and Subject, Adelaide.”
[420] Lord Melbourne’s sister, afterwards Lady Palmerston. See p. 242.
[421] Dietz had been Governor to Prince Ferdinand, and accompanied him to Portugal, where he took a considerable part in political affairs.
[422] George, Lord Byron, succeeded his cousin the poet in 1824. He was an extra Lord-in-waiting to the Queen.
[423] It was altered by King Edward in 1905, and the Prime Minister now takes rank immediately after the Archbishop of York.
[424] Whig M.P. for West Riding of Yorkshire.
[425] Joseph Pease, M.P. for South Durham, had been a pioneer of railway construction, and had assisted his father in forming (upon the persuasion of George Stephenson) the Stockton and Darlington line.
[426] Sir George Grey of Falloden, Northumberland, second Baronet (1799–1882), Under-Secretary for the Colonies. Appointed Judge Advocate-General in 1839, and in 1846 Home Secretary under Lord John Russell, an office which he held for nearly twenty years. He was a man of fine presence and great social charm. His high moral qualities and freedom from personal ambition gained for him the esteem of both political parties and the confidence of his countrymen. He has been worthily succeeded in his title and all else by his grandson, Sir Edward Grey, K.G.
[427] This brilliant advocate, who died at the age of forty-seven, had been Peel’s Solicitor-General, and became Attorney-General in 1841. He appeared for Norton in his action for crim. con. against Melbourne, without any success, for the charge was triumphantly refuted.
[428] See ante, p. 149.
[429] The Hon. F. G. Byng, sometime Gentleman Usher of the Privy Chamber.
[430] He would have been 50 on January 22, 1838.
[431] She was an illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole (second son of Sir Robert) by Mary Clement, a sempstress in Pall Mall. Their two other daughters became Countess of Albemarle and Countess of Dysart respectively.
[432] Married her cousin George, seventh Earl Waldegrave.
[433] Wife of George, second Duke of Grafton.
[434] Father of the Admiral, Sir Beauchamp Seymour, Lord Alcester.
[435] To William, second Earl, when Lord Cavendish.
[436] Holland House was built by Sir Walter Cope in 1607. His daughter and co-heiress married Henry Rich, first Earl of Holland.
[437] Wife of James Howard, afterwards third Earl of Malmesbury.
[438] Sir William Knighton had been physician to George IV., when Prince of Wales, and was private secretary and Keeper of his Privy Purse when King. The King employed him in various confidential matters.
[439] Queen Victoria in 1872 wrote of Louis as “the former faithful and devoted friend of Princess Charlotte—beloved and respected by all who knew her—and who doted on the little Princess who was too much an idol in the House. This dear old lady was visited by every one, and was the only really devoted attendant of the poor Princess, whose governesses paid little real attention to her, and who never left her, and was with her when she died.” See p. 62.
[440] Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, was appointed Ambassador of the King of the French at Queen Victoria’s Coronation. He had been Wellington’s antagonist in the Peninsula, and this added to his popularity with the masses of the London streets.
[441] General Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., second son of the third Earl of Bessborough, and brother of Lady Caroline Lamb. He was the father of the late Sir Henry Ponsonby, Queen Victoria’s private secretary and Keeper of her Privy Purse.
[442] Lady Charlotte Campbell, daughter of the fifth Duke of Argyll, married, first, Colonel Campbell, and second, Rev. E. J. Bury; was Lady-in-Waiting to Caroline, Princess of Wales. She was a friend and patroness of Sir W. Scott, and wrote several novels. In 1838 appeared A Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV., which was attributed to her by Lord Brougham—a charge which was never denied. The work was severely criticised.
[443] Francis Charles, third Marquess (1777–1842), the “Lord Monmouth” of Coningsby. His son, here called Lord Yarmouth, succeeded him and died unmarried in 1870. The fourth Marquess was the founder of the magnificent collections now the property of the nation at Hertford House.
[444] Her paternity was in dispute between the Duke of Queensberry and George Selwyn.
[445] Lord Yarmouth, afterwards fourth Marquess, and his brother Lord Henry Seymour always lived in Paris. Lord Hertford possessed a fine apartment at the corner of the Rue Lafite and a country place called “Bagatelle” in the Bois de Boulogne. Subsequently they passed to Sir R. Wallace and later to Sir John Murray Scott. Bagatelle is now the property of the Municipality of Paris.
[446] Hortense Eugenie Claire, daughter of Duc de Bassano, Minister of Napoleon I., married 1833 to Francis Baring, afterwards third Lord Ashburton.
[447] Comte de Flahaut, son of Comtesse de Flahaut Adele, who was afterwards Baronne de Souza, had once been French Ambassador in London, as Sebastiani now was, but there was a competition between Flahaut and Soult as to which should be specially appointed to represent the King of the French at the Coronation. His likeness to Napoleon III. was considered remarkable and significant.
[448] Wife of Major-General Sir Guy Campbell, Bart., and daughter of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and his wife Pamela, daughter of Madame de Genlis.
[449] Afterwards George IV.
[450] Garth was an eminent physician in the time of William III. and Queen Anne. He wrote occasional verses fluently, and his poem “The Dispensary” had a great vogue for fifty years.
[451] Elizabeth, wife of Peregrine, third Duke of Ancaster.
[452] Georgiana, daughter of the third Duke of Ancaster, and widow of the first Marquess of Cholmondeley.
[453] Priscilla, also daughter of the third Duke of Ancaster. On the death of their brother unmarried, the barony of Willoughby de Eresby fell into abeyance between the sisters, which was terminated by the Crown in favour of Priscilla, the elder, in 1780.
[454] The barony of Fauconberg, of an earlier creation, was revived in 1903 in favour of the present (1912) Countess of Yarborough, daughter and co-heir of the twelfth Lord Conyers.
[455] Cromwell’s son-in-law was promoted from Viscount to be Earl Fauconberg. He left no child. His great-nephew was again created Earl, and married a sister of Peniston, first Viscount Melbourne. Their daughters married as follows: Lady Charlotte Bellasyse to Thomas Edward Wynn, Anne to Sir George Wombwell, Elizabeth successively to the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Lucan.
[456] Henry Fox (afterwards fourth and last Lord Holland) married Lady Augusta Coventry; at her death in 1889, Holland House, Kensington, became the property of Lord Ilchester.
[457] 21st December, 1785.
[458] Daniel Maclise (1806–70). His first success was a sketch of Sir Walter Scott drawn by him unobserved. His best-known works are the two cartoons in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1840.
[459] John, sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, Premier Earl of England. This question of the oath to be taken by Roman Catholic peers and members had been repeatedly brought forward by the Bishop of Exeter. It pledged the jurant to do nothing to “disturb or weaken the Protestant Religion or Protestant Government, or to subvert the Church establishment.” A gentleman wrote to the Bishop to say that he could not take the oath, as his wish was to upset the Church establishment, and he was therefore excluded from Parliament. See ante, p. 56.
[460] Prince George of Cambridge. See ante, p. 77.
[461] Eldest son of the third Earl of Roden, and died in his father’s lifetime. In 1841 he married Lady Fanny Cowper. See ante, p. 188.
[462] Grandson of the Duke of Norfolk. See ante, p. 190.
[463] Afterwards fourth Earl of Radnor. See ante, p. 60.
[464] Edward Vernon, fourth Lord Suffield (1813–53).
[465] Georgiana, Lady Seymour, Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament. One of the Sheridan sisters. See ante, p. 192.
[466] Daughter of Mr. Canning, the Prime Minister, and wife of the first Marquess of Clanricarde. See Vol. II. pp. 75 and 261.
[467] Daughter of the second Earl de Grey, K.G., and sister of Lady Cowper. She was married to Mr. Henry Vyner.
[468] Daughter of G. G. Vernon Harcourt, M.P. Lord Norreys succeeded in 1854 to the earldom of Abingdon. See ante, p. 132.
[469] Daughter of the eleventh Earl of Pembroke, afterwards wife of Viscount de Vesci. See ante, p. 77.
[470] Sister of Lady Emma Herbert, and wife of the third Earl of Clanwilliam.
[471] Daughter of the first Earl of Verulam. She married Lord Folkestone (see preceding page) in 1840. See ante, p. 189.
[472] Sister of Lord Jocelyn (see preceding page) and wife of the sixth Viscount Powerscourt.
[473] Daughter of the third Viscount Hawarden.
[474] Clementina, sister of the fourteenth Lord Elphinstone, afterwards wife of the fourth Viscount Hawarden.
[475] Daughter of Lord Anglesey, and sister of Lord Uxbridge. She married in 1851 Frederick, son of the third Earl Cadogan.
[476] Sir Thomas Acland, tenth Bart.
[477] Alexander, tenth Duke (1767–1852).
[478] Edward Adolphus, eleventh Duke. See ante, p. 68.
[479] James, sixth Duke (1816–1879).
[480] To rescind the Irish Church resolution of 1835.
[481] Charles William, third Marquess, half-brother of the eminent statesman, better remembered as Lord Castlereagh. Lord Londonderry was a soldier and diplomatist.
[482] George O’Brien, third Earl of Egremont, died unmarried in November 1837, aged eighty-six. Lady Munster was his illegitimate daughter, but his estates in Sussex and Cumberland were devised to other adopted heirs.
[483] An extreme instance of this partiality is described in Warren’s Ten Thousand a Year. In 1868 the jurisdiction to decide disputed elections was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas.
[484] John Thomas, first and only Earl of Redesdale (1805–86), Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords, 1851–86. Lord Redesdale was one of the last men in England who wore habitually in the daytime the old-fashioned “tail-coat.”
[485] Lady Catharine was daughter of the third Earl of Radnor, and Victor was her fifth son. See ante, p. 219.
[486] There is a portrait of the Queen by John Partridge in King George’s room at Buckingham Palace showing the hair done in this fashion.
[487] Charles, second Viscount Townshend, K.G., married Dorothy, sister of Sir Robert Walpole. Townshend was President of the Council 1720, and afterwards Secretary of State. There was jealousy between the brothers-in-law, and Horace Walpole sarcastically observed that things went well or ill according as the style of the firm was Townshend and Walpole or Walpole and Townshend.
[488] Henry Francis, fourteenth Baron Teynham (1768–1842).
[489] At the festival of the 14th July, 1790, held in the Champ de Mars he officiated at the altar. It was his last celebration of the Mass.
[490] Prince George of Cambridge.
[491] Sixth son of Lord Anglesey. He was second in command, to Lord Cardigan, of the Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea; he subsequently became Inspector of Cavalry, and later M.P. for Beaumaris.
[492] Eldest son of the fifth Earl de la Warr. See ante, p. 60.
[493] Afterwards sixth Earl Fitzwilliam, K.G., and A.D.C. to the Queen.
[494] She was younger daughter of the second Earl Talbot, and wife of the seventh Marquess of Lothian.
[495] Prince George, born 1819, succeeded his father on the throne of Hanover in 1851. He ultimately suffered from total blindness, caused by swinging a bunch of keys attached to a chain, that struck accidentally one of his eyes. He sided with Austria in 1866 against Prussia, and after Sadowa his kingdom was annexed to Prussia by decree. King George was a Knight of the Garter and Duke of Cumberland. He was a Prince of amiable disposition and simple manners. At his death he was succeeded in the dukedom by his eldest son, who married the younger sister of Queen Alexandra.