page_title: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Lady Caroline Barrington (née Grey); Lady Georgiana Grey; Mary Elizabeth Grey (née Ponsonby), Countess Grey by Samuel Cousins, after Sir Thomas Lawrence mezzotint printed in colours, 1831 (circa 1805) 15 in. x 11 3/4 in. (380 mm x 299 mm) plate size; 20 3/8 in. x 16 1/8 in. (517 mm x 410 mm) paper size Given by Westminster Public Libraries, 1943 Reference Collection NPG D34958
context_page_description: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC, known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from November 1830 to July 1834.
  A member of the Whig Party, he was a long-time leader of multiple reform movements, most famously the Reform Act 1832. His government also saw the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, in which the government purchased slaves from their owners in 1833. Grey was a strong opponent of the foreign and domestic policies of William Pitt the Younger in the 1790s. In 1807, he resigned as foreign secretary to protest against the King's uncompromising rejection of Catholic Emancipation. Grey finally resigned in 1834 over disagreements in his cabinet regarding Ireland, and retired from politics. His biographer G. M. Trevelyan argues:
  in our domestic history 1832 is the next great landmark after 1688 ... [It] saved the land from revolution and civil strife and made possible the quiet progress of the Victorian era.
  Scholars rank him highly among all British prime ministers. Earl Grey tea is named after him.
context_section_description: On 18 November 1794, Grey married Hon. Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (1776–1861), only daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Imokilly and Hon. Louisa Molesworth. The marriage was a fruitful one; between 1796 and 1819 the couple had ten sons and six daughters:
  unnamed daughter Grey (stillborn, 1796)
  Lady Louisa Elizabeth Grey (7 April 1797 – 26 November 1841). She married John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, on 9 December 1816. They had five children, including Charles William, Grey's favourite grandson, who died young.
  Lady Elizabeth Grey (10 July 1798 – 8 November 1880). She married John Crocker Bulteel on 13 May 1826. They had five children.
  Lady Caroline Grey (30 August 1799 – 28 April 1875). She married Captain Hon. George Barrington on 15 January 1827. They had two children
  Lady Georgiana Grey (17 February 1801 – 13 September 1900), who never married.
  Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (28 December 1802 – 9 October 1894). He married Maria Copley on 9 August 1832.
  General Charles Grey (15 March 1804 – 31 March 1870). He married Caroline Farquhar on 26 July 1836. They had seven children, including Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey.
  Admiral Sir Frederick William Grey (23 August 1805 – 2 May 1878). He married Barbarina Sullivan on 20 July 1846.
  Lady Mary Grey (2 May 1807 – 6 July 1884). She married Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax, on 29 July 1829. They had seven children.
  The Honourable William Grey (13 May 1808 – 11 February 1815), who died at the age of six.
  Admiral The Honourable George Grey (16 May 1809 – 3 October 1891). He married Jane Stuart (daughter of General Hon. Sir Patrick Stuart) on 20 January 1845. They had eleven children.
  Thomas Grey (29 December 1810 – 8 July 1826), who died at the age of fifteen.
  Rev. John Grey MA, DD, Canon and Rector of Durham (2 March 1812 – 11 November 1895). He married Lady Georgiana Hervey (daughter of Frederick William Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol) in July 1836. They had three children. He remarried Helen Spalding (maternal granddaughter of John Henry Upton, 1st Viscount Templetown) on 11 April 1874.
  Reverend Francis Richard Grey (31 March 1813 – 22 March 1890). He married Lady Elizabeth Howard (daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and granddaughter of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire) on 12 August 1840.
  Captain the Hon. Henry Cavendish Grey (16 October 1814 – 5 September 1880)
  William George Grey (15 February 1819 – 19 December 1865). He married Theresa Stedink on 20 September 1858.
  He also had an illegitimate daughter with the Duchess of Devonshire:
  Eliza Courtney (20 February 1792 – 2 May 1859). She married General Robert Ellice on 10 December 1814.
caption: Mary Grey, Countess Grey with her children Caroline and Georgiana
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