GREVILLE, Sir Charles John (1780-1836), of 15 Chesterfield Street, Mdx.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

17 May 1816 - 1831
1832 - 15 May 1833
1835 - Aug. 1836

Family and Education

b. 5 Apr. 1780, 3rd but 2nd surv. s. of George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick, by 2nd w. Henrietta, da. of Richard Vernon of Hilton, Staffs; bro. of Henry Richard Greville*, Lord Brooke. educ. Winchester 1790-3. unm. KCB 2 Jan. 1815.

Offices Held

Cornet, Warws. fencibles 1795, lt. 1795; ensign 10 Ft. 1796, lt. 1796, capt. 1799; capt. 81 Ft. 1803; maj. 38 Ft. 1803, lt.-col. 1805, brevet col. 1813; col. 12 British Brigade at Paris 1815; maj.-gen. 1819; col. 98 Ft. 1832, 38 Ft. 1836.

Biography

Greville, who had seen action in India, Egypt, Portugal, the Netherlands and in Spain, where he took part in six battles, succeeded his elder brother Lord Brooke to his seat for the family borough when the latter became 3rd Earl of Warwick in 1816. He gave silent support to administration: he mustered with them on the civil list, 24 May 1816, on the public revenue bill 20 June, on the composition of the finance committee 7 Feb. 1817, for the employment of agents against sedition, 5 Mar. 1818, and for the ducal marriage grants, 15 Apr. That session he was on the ministerial dinner list. He voted against Catholic relief, 9 May 1817. In the next Parliament he voted with the majority on Wyndham Quin’s* case, 29 Mar. 1819, paired against burgh reform, 6 May, opposed Tierney’s censure motion, 18 May, and supported the foreign enlistment bill, 10 June.

His eventual retirement was due to a lingering illness, ‘the germ of which he most probably imbibed at Flushing’ (i.e. in the Scheldt expedition of 1809). He died 2 Dec. 1836.

Whilst he secured the love and attention of his officers, he never lost sight of a strict discipline, or the respect that was due to himself. No one knew better how duty should be performed; but in reproving any neglect or disobedience of orders, he never once made use of any harsh or ungentlemanly language.

Add. 38366, f. 135; Gent. Mag. (1837), i. 203.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes