GREY (formerly NEVILLE), Henry (1683-1740), of Horton, Northants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

21 Nov. 1709 - 1713
1 Dec. 1719 - 1722
11 Mar. 1723 - 1727
1734 - 9 Sept. 1740

Family and Education

b. 17 Aug. 1683, 2nd s. of Richard Neville* and bro. of Grey Neville*.  educ. travelled abroad (Holland, Germany, Italy, France) 1699–1700.  m. 1720, Elizabeth, da. of James Griffin†, 2nd Baron Griffin of Braybrooke, sis. and coh. of Edward, 3rd Baron Griffin, s.psuc. uncle Hon. Ralph Grey* in Northumb. estates 1706, e. bro. at Billingbear 1723.1

Offices Held

Biography

On 17 Jan. 1707 Henry Neville petitioned the Commons for a private bill to enable him to change his name to Grey in order to fulfil the conditions of his inheritance from his maternal uncle, Ralph, Lord Grey of Warke, who had left him extensive properties in Northumberland. The ensuing bill, brought in by a friend, Richard Hampden II, passed quickly. Now Henry Grey, he was returned unopposed in a by-election at Wendover in 1709 on the Hampden interest. However, he was not an active Member, possibly because he was preoccupied by his financial circumstances. During 1710 he was trying to sell his house in Arlington, Berkshire and his ‘northern estates’, having ‘hardly anything to live on’. Despite his financial difficulties, he was successful in a contested election in that year, although defeated at Orford. He was classed as a Whig in the ‘Hanover list’, and was one of the Members who supported Mungo Graham prior to the latter’s removal from the House on 10 Feb. 1711. Grey’s financial difficulties were still unresolved, and he was unable to repay a loan of £700 received the previous year. Grey voted on 7 Dec. for the ‘No Peace without Spain’ motion, while on 24 Jan. 1712 he acted as a teller for a motion to adjourn the debate on the charges of bribery and corruption against the Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill†). In September he was one of the sureties for the bail of George Ridpath, a Scottish Whig journalist who had been arrested for three libels written in the Observator and Flying Post. The following year Grey was unsuccessful at the election in Berwick-upon-Tweed, where he probably enjoyed the support of the Duke of Roxburghe and local Presbyterians as well as the Grey interest. He was also defeated at a by-election for Wallingford on 15 Mar. 1714. Grey sat as a Court Whig under the first two Georges, and died on 9 Sept. 1740.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Ivar McGrath

Notes

  • 1. Berks. RO, Braybrooke mss D/EN/18/1; Northants. RO, Isham mss IC 4282, John to Sir Justinian Isham, 4th Bt.*, 11 June 1720.
  • 2. Huntington Lib. Stowe mss 58(5), p. 263; 58(7), p. 225; 58(8), pp. 181–2; 58(10), pp. 55–57; SRO, Montrose mss GD220/5/808/18b, Graham to Duke of Montrose, 13 Feb. 1711; Scots Courant, 15–17 Sept. 1712; DNB (Ridpath, George).