Letter – Charles Grey to Robert Wilson – 15 Jan 1824

Document Type: Letter
Date: 15 Jan 1824
Correspondent: Charles Grey
Recipient: Robert Wilson
Archive Source: DUL GRE B D
  • Transcription
  • Notes
  • Comments (0)
  • Change font
    If columns/tables do not appear straight, change font
      Gov. House/ Devonport. Jan 19 1824

My Dear Wilson

	I received your letter this morning and return the enclosed copy of your letter to Lambton. I had already given him exactly the same opinion on both points, & it is extremely gratifying to me to find that we so completely agree. I have only in addition expressed my regret that we should have suffered <myself> to be drawn into a personal altercation with such a fellow.

      I have an affair of the same kind on my hands with that villain & Madman Beaumont for he is both. I thought I should have heard no more of him after his sending me, previously to his going abroad, a written apology for the most outrageous and unjustifiable conduct of which one Man was ever guilty to another. That I have received this morning a letter from him, which again shows a determination to bring matters to a hostile <issue>, & have sent my answer to Sr. W. Gordon into whose hand I had before put myself. The story is too long to tell, but Gordon is in possession of the whole correspondence, & of everything there has passed, & I have directed him to make you acquainted with it. I certainly feel that he has no claim to be treated as a gentleman, but as his family think proper to deny his insanity, and he is still received in Society, I don't like to take that ground. I have, however, left it entirely to Gordon to act for me as he thinks best, and if he consults you I am sure you will <relate> your regard for my <integrity>, to outweigh that of my honour. The thing I am most anxious to prevent is any alarm to Lady Grey.

      I feel with you fully confident that Lambton's affair will have no further consequence, the good one may follow from it if it teaches him to exert a little more command over himself on similar occasions. I see the correspondence has appeared in the Papers, so I suppose Capt Cochrane & Sir H.Williamson must have considered Mr. Pemberton’s refusal of the <satisfaction> which we had demanded as final. I have not yet heard from Lambton since the day before yesterday, when I received the first communication of this unpleasant affair, & I shall be very curious to hear what occurred to occasion the Publication.

      I think Lady Grey rather better. She desires to be most <readily> remembered to you

      <ever> yours/ Grey
GRE/B60/4/136. Sir Robert Wilson (1777-1849) was MP for Southwark between 1818-31 and a friend of Grey. He was described by Grey as ‘one of the ablest men in Europe’, an opinion not widely shared. Grey spent the winter at Devonport between 1823-6 for the sake of his wife’s health. ‘Radical Jack’ Lambton of County Durham was Grey’s son-in-law. The background to the Lambton affair referred to in this letter was as follows ‘On 7 Jan. 1824 Lambton, who had been ‘bilious and nervous’ lately, got into a furious row with one Thomas Pemberton, a ‘blackguard’ under prosecution for excise fraud, at a meeting of the River Wear commissioners. His friends talked him out of the folly of fighting a duel with such a reprobate.’ D.R.Fisher, ‘LAMBTON, John George (1792-1840)’, in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009

Leave a comment

We welcome further information or corrections on topics and incidents mentioned in individual letters. It might take a while before your comments are checked for adding to public view within the website. We cannot undertake further research in response to questions.

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*

General Discussion
Suggested correction or addition

*

  Return to search results or refine/create new search
The Dukesfield Smelters and Carriers Project aimed to celebrate and discover the heritage of the Dukesfield Arches & lead carriers' routes between Blaydon and the lead mines of Allendale and Weardale. A two year community project, it was led by the Friends of the North Pennines in partnership with Hexhamshire and Slaley Parish Councils and the active support of Allendale Estates. It was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the generous support of other sponsors. Friends of the North Pennines: Charity No:1137467