Background

Charles Greville was born on the 2nd of April 1794. His father Charles Greville was a second cousin of the 1st Earl of Warwick, and his mother was Lady Charlotte Bentinck, daughter of the 3rd Duke of Portland, formerly a leader of the Whig party and a first minister of the crown. Much of his childhood he spent at his grandfather's house at Bulstrode. He was one of the pages of George III.

Education

He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford but he left the university early.

Career

Charles Greville was one of the pages of George III. After his studies he was appointed private secretary to Earl Bathurst before he was twenty. The interest of the duke of Portland had secured for him the secretaryship of the island of Jamaica, which was a sinecure office, the duties being performed by a deputy, and the reversion of the clerkship of the council. Greville entered upon the discharge of the duties of a clerk of the council in ordinary in 1821, and continued to perform them for nearly forty years.

He therefore served under three successive sovereigns, George IV, William IV. and Victoria, —and although no political or confidential functions are attached to that office, it is one which brings a man into habitual intercourse with the chiefs of all the parties in the state. Well-born, well-bred, handsome and accomplished, Greville led the easy life of a man of fashion, taking an occasional part in the transactions of his day and much consulted in the affairs of private life. Until 1855 when he sold his stud he was an active member of the turf, and he trained successively with Lord George Bentinck, and with the duke of Portland.

But the celebrity which now attaches to his name is entirely due to the posthumous publication of a portion of a Journal or Diary which it was his practice to keep during the greater part of his life. These papers were given by him to his friend Mr Henry Reeve a short time before his death (which took place in 1865), with an injunction that they should be published, as far as was feasible, at not too remote a period after the writer's death.

The journals of the reigns of George IV and William IV (extending from 1820 to 1837) were published in obedience to his directions about ten years after his death. Few publications have been received with greater interest by the public; five large editions were sold in little more than a year, and the demand in America was as great as in England. These journals were regarded as a faithful record of the impressions made on the mind of a competent observer, at the time, by the events he witnessed and the persons with whom he associated. Greville did not stoop to collect or record private scandal. His object appears to have been to leave behind him some of the materials of history, by which the men and actions of his own time would be judged. He records not so much public events as the private causes which led to them; and perhaps no English memoir-writer has left behind him a more valuable contribution to the history of the 19th century. Greville published anonymously, in 1845, a volume on the Past and Present Policy of England to Ireland, in which he advocated the payment of the Roman Catholic clergy.

Achievements

• Grenville was known as one of the finest political diarists of his time. His fame rested on the publication of his memoirs which were issued in eight volumes between 1874 and 1887. They were an important historical source for the first half of the nineteenth century.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Greville Memoirs. A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV: Volume 1

    (This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)

  • The Greville Memoirs. A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV: Volume 3

    (This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)

  • The Greville Memoirs. A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV: Volume 2

    (This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)

  • The Greville Memoirs. A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860: Volume 1

    (This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)

  • The Greville Memoirs. A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860: Volume 2

    (This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)

  • The Greville Memoirs. A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852: Volume 3

    (This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)

Connections

Father:

Charles Greville

Mother:

Lady Charlotte Bentinck

Brother:

Henry Greville

1801–1872, Attaché to the British embassy in Paris from 1834 to 1844. He also kept a diary, of which part was published by Viscountess Enfield, Leaves from The Diary of Henry Greville (London, 1883–1884).