No. 18.
THOMAS PHILIP, BARON GRANTHAM, BARON LUCAS, EARL DE GREY, K.G.
Brown coat trimmed with fur. White waistcoat. Black cloak.
BORN 1786, DIED 1859.
After Robinson.
HE was the eldest son of Thomas Robinson, second Lord Grantham (of that name), by Lady Mary Yorke, second daughter of the second Earl of Hardwicke. Succeeded to the barony of Grantham on the death of his father, and to the earldom of De Grey on the death of his maternal aunt (who was Countess De Grey in her own right), and at the same time he assumed the surname of De Grey, in lieu of that of Robinson. In 1805 he married the beautiful Lady Henrietta Cole, fifth daughter of the first Earl of Enniskillen. He was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, and Privy Councillor during Sir Robert Peel’s Administration of 1834 and 1835, and on the return of Peel to power in 1841 Lord De Grey went to Ireland as Viceroy. Here he made himself remarkable by his extreme hospitality and the splendour of his establishment, while he discharged the more essential and difficult duties of his office with zeal and ability. His departure in 1844 (when he resigned on account of his health) was much regretted, while Lady De Grey left a name which was long remembered in Dublin, not only for the charm of her manners and the beauty of her person, but for the encouragement which she afforded to native talent and manufactures. On leaving Ireland Lord De Grey retired from official life, and contented himself with voting in Parliament as a Liberal Conservative. He became Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Knight of the Garter, and aide-de-camp to the Queen. He was a member of many scientific and industrial institutions, Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of Antiquarians, etc. He had several children, of whom only two daughters survived,—Anne Florence, who married the sixth Earl Cowper, and Mary, married to Captain Henry Vyner. Lord De Grey died in 1859, when the barony of Lucas devolved on his eldest daughter, and his other titles on his nephew, now Marquis of Ripon. He was a man of undoubted talent, and occupied himself in carrying out designs as an architect, decorator, and landscape gardener. When he inherited the houses of Wrest, in Bedfordshire, and the fine mansion in St. James’s Square, on the death of his aunt, the Countess De Grey, he pulled down the former, and rebuilt it, according to his own designs, in the style of a French château. The pictures which adorn the walls were painted expressly for him; the tapestry, which lends so rich a colouring to the interior of Wrest, was woven under Lord De Grey’s immediate direction in the ateliers of the Gobelins; while the rich gilding, cornices, and ceilings were all executed under his supervision, and do the greatest credit to his taste and ingenuity. He also supplemented the plans, and enlarged the ornamentation of the already beautiful gardens and pleasure-grounds which surround the house.
No. 19.
THE HONOURABLE PENISTON LAMB, ELDEST SON OF THE FIRST VISCOUNT MELBOURNE.