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Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was a British Whig statesman and Prime Minister. Descended from a long line of Northumbrian gentry, Grey was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was elected to Parliament at the age of 22 in 1786. He became a part of the Whig circle of Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, and soon became one of the major leaders of the Whig party. Grey was noted for advocating Parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation. His affair with the Duchess of Devonshire, herself an active political campaigner, did him little harm although it nearly caused her to be divorced by her husband. In 1806 Grey, now Lord Howick due to his father's elevation to the peerage as Earl Grey, became a part of the Ministry of All the Talents (a coalition of Foxite Whigs, Grenvillites, and Addingtonites) as First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Fox's death later that year, Howick took over both as Foreign Secretary and as leader of the Whigs. The government fell from power the next year, and Howick went to the Lords the same year, succeeding his father as Earl Grey. He continued in opposition for the next 23 years. In 1830, the Whigs finally returned to power, with Grey as Prime Minister. His Ministry was a notable one, seeing passage of the Reform Act 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. As the years had passed, however, Grey had become more conservative, and he was cautious about initiating more far-reaching reforms. In 1834 Grey retired from public life, leaving Lord Melbourne as his successor. Earl Grey tea is named after Grey. He is commemorated by Grey's Monument in the centre of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Also called simply "Monument", it consists of a statue of Lord Grey standing atop a 41 m (135 ft) high column. The monument lends its name to the station on the Tyne and Wear Metro located directly underneath. He also gave his name to Grey College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Durham.
Lord Greys Ministry, November 1830 - July 1834 Changes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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