Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/191

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Grey
183
Grey

of the bill for Fenwick's attainder. He vigorously opposed the bill for disbanding the army in 1698. He became a lord of the treasury on 28 May 1699 (ib. iv. 521), first Commissioner of the treasury on 17 Nov. of that year (ib. iv. 583), a lord justice during the king's absence at the end of June 1700 (ib. iv. 661), and lord privy seal on 28 Oct. following (ib. iv. 702, 704). He died on 25 June 1701 (ib. v. 65). By his wife Mary, daughter of George, lord Berkeley, he had an only daughter, Mary, married in June 1695 to Charles Bennet, second lord Ossulston (ib. iii. 492), who, after the extinction of the male line of the Greys, was created Earl of Tankerville. The barony of Grey of Werk became extinct in 1706 on the death of Tankerville's brother Ralph, who was governor of Barbadoes in 1698.

[Burke's Extinct Peerage, p. 253; Burnet's Own Time, Oxford ed., ii. 359, iii. 23, 25; Macaulay's Hist. of England; Ranke's Hist. of England; State Trials, ix. 359-62; Luttrell's Brief Historical Relation, i. 265. 269.]

G. G.

GREY, Sir GEORGE (1799–1882), statesman, was the only son of George, third son of Charles, first earl Grey [q. v.], and Mary, daughter of Samuel Whitbread of Bedwell Park, Hertfordshire. His father was a favourite captain of Sir John Jervis. and George was born at Gibraltar while Captain Grey was engaged in the duties of his naval command. Captain Grey retired from active service in 1804, was made superintendent of the dockyard at Portsmouth, and was created a baronet in 1814. Lady Grey was of a strongly religious character, a friend of William Wilberforce, and impressed upon her son in early days a fervent and simple piety which never left him. He was educated by the Rev. William Buckle, vicar of Pyrton, near Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, with whom he stayed till he entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1817. There he studied diligently, and graduated in 1821, having taken a first class. His original intention was to take holy orders, but after reading theology at home for a time he came to the conclusion that he was not fitted by temperament for clerical work. In 1823 he settled in London to read law, was called to the bar in 1826, and rapidly obtained occupation. In 1827 he married Anna Sophia, eldest daughter of Henry Ryder, bishop of Lichfield, son of the first Earl of Harrowby, and next year succeeded to the baronetcy on his father's death.

Gray's ability and his connections alike marked him out for political life, and after the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 he entered parliament as member for the newly enfranchised borough of Devonport. He soon made a reputation in the House of Commons as an able speaker, a man of businesslike habits, and of sterling worth, and in 1834 was offered by Lord Melbourne the post of under-secretary for the colonies under Thomas Spring-Rice, afterwards Baron Monteagle [q. v.]. Lord Melbourne's ministry fell before the end of the year, but on Lord Melbourne's return to power in the following April, Grey went back to his place, which became important by the removal of Grant to the upper house as Lord Glenelg. He had important work to do in carrying out the provisions for the emancipation of slaves in the West Indies, and his firmness and obvious integrity of purpose strongly impressed the house. The conduct of the government towards Canada was not wise, and Grey in 1836-8 had hard work to do in justifying it against criticism. One of his best speeches was made in 1838 in defence of Lord Glenelg against a vote of censure proposed by Sir W. Molesworth.

In the beginning of 1839 Charles Grant, lord Glenelg [q. v.], resigned, and Grey was advanced to the post of judge-advocate-general, which he retained till June 1841, when he became for a few months chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. In 1845, by the death of his uncle. Sir Henry Grey, he became possessor of a family estate at Falloden in Northumberland, which continued to be his home for the remainder of his life. In the House of Commons he increased his reputation for sound judgment and skill in dealing with detailed business; but he never sought the honour of a slashing speaker, nor did he take much part in purely party debates. When Lord John Russell came into power in 1846 he chose Grey as home secretary, a post which he continued to hold with slight interruption for nearly twenty years, and which he made his own as few ministers have ever done. Careful in action and moderate in speech, he never invited opposition. He never attempted to be smart, nor spoke with bitterness. Of tall and commanding figure, endued with genuine kindliness and genial manners, he was known to be a man of high character whose word could be implicitly trusted. He did not aspire to be a great orator, but spoke with fluency and almost excessive rapidity, aiming only at clearness of statement and such emphasis as came from the expression of spontaneous feeling. He was in all ways a striking contrast to his predecessor Sir James Graham, whose measures to relieve the Irish famine he had immediately to carry out. In the same session he carried the Convict Discipline Bill, which substituted for transportation abroad the employment of convicts on public works at home.

On the dissolution of 1847 Grey aban-