Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford
Encyclopedia
Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (27 October 1896 – 18 August 1976) was an English peer, who rarely sat in the House of Lords
.
He took his seat in the House of Lords on 19 March 1919.
He was the heir-male of the "Nine Days’ Queen", Lady Jane Grey
(1536/37-1554). Through the families of Brandon
, Grey, Seymour
, Dudley
and Ward
he was also a descendant of Henry VII of England
.
His seat, Dunham Massey Hall, Altrincham
, came to the Grey family in 1758 through the marriage in 1736 of the Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford
to Lady Mary Booth, daughter and sole heiress of George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington
.
estate in 1917, on attaining his majority. In keeping with his father’s outlook, he ran the estate on paternalistic lines, charging his agricultural tenants low rents in the belief that farming was less a business than a way of life.
Educated at Eton College
and at New College, Oxford
from 1919, he was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Territorial Force Reserve during the First World War
. In 1918–1919 he served as honorary attaché at the British legation in Bern. In the 1922 coalition government of David Lloyd George
, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary
(unpaid) to Viscount Peel, Secretary of State for India
.
Highly respected in Altrincham
, he was invited to become Charter Mayor of that town in 1937, the year of George VI’s coronation. He continued as Mayor of Altrincham until 1938. For many years he served as a Justice of the Peace
and Deputy Lieutenant
for the county of Cheshire
.
With dedication and perseverance he reassembled many of the Grey
and Booth
treasures – principally family portraits and an outstanding collection of Huguenot
silver – which had been alienated from the earls of Stamford on or before the death, in January 1905, of Catherine, Countess of Stamford and Warrington
.
Amongst his other treasured possessions were Guercino’s “Allegory with Venus, Mars, Cupid and Time”, and a wood-carving by Grinling Gibbons
after Tintoretto
’s “Crucifixion”.
Simon Jenkins
's reference to "genteel poverty" is only half the truth.
Except on rare occasions in aid of charity, and by converting it into a military hospital
during the First World War, Lord Stamford did not open his home to the public, choosing to live as a recluse. An idealist, he espoused the principles of Christian socialism
and, although lacking their panache, his outlook was in harmony with the Young England
movement. He and his mother were close friends of Hewlett Johnson
, whom he may well have helped in his preferments to the deaneries of Manchester
and Canterbury
. He moved in the circle of Ramsay MacDonald
.
At Dunham Massey he entertained the exiled Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
after the latter’s expulsion from (the then) Abyssinia
. Of a shy and peaceable disposition, he was a staunch supporter of the League of Nations
.
He is said to have persuaded Robert Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson
, Minister of Agriculture, to preserve the medieval deer park
at Dunham Massey from tree-felling during the Second World War
. He sold his Carrington
estate to a company which became a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell
, but added to the landholding at Dunham Massey by prudent purchases of other farms in the post-War years.
On 17 July 1946 he and his mother entertained Kinf George VI
and the Queen
, to luncheon at Dunham Massey.
on 18 August 1976 both his peerage titles of Earl of Stamford
and of Baron Grey of Groby
became extinct. He bequeathed his Dunham Massey estate, the hall and its contents to the National Trust
. He left a diary
which records his collecting activities.
He was buried not in the family chapel in the parish church of Bowdon
but in the churchyard of St Mark's, Dunham Massey
, where he lies near his mother and with some family servants.
A memorial to Stamford in the Bowdon parish church describes him as “A Landowner devoted to the Welfare of his People”. There is another memorial to him at Bradgate Park
, Leicestershire
, an ancestral Grey estate, but one which he did not own.
The Dunham Massey archive is now in the possession of the John Rylands University Library
, Manchester
, to which Stamford added the archive of Gilbert White
, curate
of Selborne
, Hampshire
, of whom he was a collateral descendant.
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
He took his seat in the House of Lords on 19 March 1919.
Heritage
Born in London on 27 October 1896, he was known from birth by the courtesy title of Lord Grey of Groby. The only son of the 9th Earl of Stamford and his wife, née (Elizabeth Louisa) Penelope Theobald (1865–1959), he was the brother of Lady Jane Grey (1899–1991), who became on marriage Lady Jane Turnbull.He was the heir-male of the "Nine Days’ Queen", Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
(1536/37-1554). Through the families of Brandon
Brandon (surname)
Brandon is a surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Alexander Brandon , US musician and composer* Alfred Brandon , New Zealand politician* Alfred Brandon , Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand...
, Grey, Seymour
Seymour
- Places :Antarctica* Seymour Island, an island off the tip of Graham Land on the Antarctic PeninsulaAustralia*Seymour, Victoria*Electoral district of Seymour, an electoral district in VictoriaCanada...
, Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
and Ward
John Ward, 1st Viscount Dudley and Ward
John Ward, 1st Viscount Dudley and Ward , known as John Ward until 1740 and as the 6th Baron Ward from 1740 to 1763, was a British peer and politician....
he was also a descendant of Henry VII of England
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
.
His seat, Dunham Massey Hall, Altrincham
Altrincham
Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...
, came to the Grey family in 1758 through the marriage in 1736 of the Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford
Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford
Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford was an English peer, styled Lord Grey from 1720 to 1739.Harry Grey was born in Enville Hall, the eldest son of Henry Grey, 3rd Earl of Stamford. He was educated at Rugby and Westminster. In 1736, he married Lady Mary Booth, the only daughter and heiress of George...
to Lady Mary Booth, daughter and sole heiress of George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington
George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington
George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington was the son of Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington by his wife Mary, the daughter and sole heiress of Sir James Langham, Bart. As the eldest surviving son, he inherited the title of Earl of Warrington on his father's death in 1693...
.
Life-span
Having inherited the earldom of Stamford at the age of thirteen, he took over the management of the Dunham MasseyDunham Massey
Dunham Massey is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The parish includes the villages of Sinderland Green, Dunham Woodhouse and Dunham Town, along with Dunham Massey Park, formerly the home of the last Earl of Stamford and owned by the National Trust...
estate in 1917, on attaining his majority. In keeping with his father’s outlook, he ran the estate on paternalistic lines, charging his agricultural tenants low rents in the belief that farming was less a business than a way of life.
Educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and at New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
from 1919, he was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Territorial Force Reserve during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1918–1919 he served as honorary attaché at the British legation in Bern. In the 1922 coalition government of David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
(unpaid) to Viscount Peel, Secretary of State for India
Secretary of State for India
The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...
.
Highly respected in Altrincham
Altrincham
Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...
, he was invited to become Charter Mayor of that town in 1937, the year of George VI’s coronation. He continued as Mayor of Altrincham until 1938. For many years he served as a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
and Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
for the county of Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
.
With dedication and perseverance he reassembled many of the Grey
Baron Grey of Codnor
Baron Grey, of Codnor in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of England. Sir Henry Grey, grandson of Richard de Grey and who saw military service under Edward I, was summoned to Parliament by writ in 1299...
and Booth
Booth Baronets
There have been three Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Booth, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. One creation is extant as of 2010...
treasures – principally family portraits and an outstanding collection of Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
silver – which had been alienated from the earls of Stamford on or before the death, in January 1905, of Catherine, Countess of Stamford and Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
.
Amongst his other treasured possessions were Guercino’s “Allegory with Venus, Mars, Cupid and Time”, and a wood-carving by Grinling Gibbons
Grinling Gibbons
Grinling Gibbons was an English sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including St Paul's Cathedral, Blenheim Palace and Hampton Court Palace. He was born and educated in Holland where his father was a merchant...
after Tintoretto
Tintoretto
Tintoretto , real name Jacopo Comin, was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso...
’s “Crucifixion”.
Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon David Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist and author, and since November 2008 has been chairman of the National Trust. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and London's Evening Standard, and was previously a commentator for The Times, which he edited from 1990 to 1992...
's reference to "genteel poverty" is only half the truth.
Except on rare occasions in aid of charity, and by converting it into a military hospital
Military hospital
Military hospital is a hospital, which is generally located on a military base and is reserved for the use of military personnel, their dependents or other authorized users....
during the First World War, Lord Stamford did not open his home to the public, choosing to live as a recluse. An idealist, he espoused the principles of Christian socialism
Christian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...
and, although lacking their panache, his outlook was in harmony with the Young England
Young England
Young England was a Victorian era political group. The group was born on the playing fields of Cambridge and Eton. For the most part, its unofficial membership was confined to a splinter group of Tory aristocrats who had attended public school together, among them George Smythe, Lord John...
movement. He and his mother were close friends of Hewlett Johnson
Hewlett Johnson
The Very Reverend Hewlett Johnson , was an English clergyman, Dean of Manchester and later Dean of Canterbury, where he acquired his nickname The Red Dean of Canterbury for his unyielding support for the Soviet Union and its allies.-Life:Born in Manchester, the third son of Charles Johnson, a wire...
, whom he may well have helped in his preferments to the deaneries of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
. He moved in the circle of Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
.
At Dunham Massey he entertained the exiled Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
Haile Selassie I , born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974...
after the latter’s expulsion from (the then) Abyssinia
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...
. Of a shy and peaceable disposition, he was a staunch supporter of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
.
He is said to have persuaded Robert Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson
Robert Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson
Robert Spear Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson CH PC was a British Conservative Party politician who held a number of ministerial posts during the Second World War....
, Minister of Agriculture, to preserve the medieval deer park
Medieval deer park
A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...
at Dunham Massey from tree-felling during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He sold his Carrington
Carrington, Greater Manchester
Carrington is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Cheshire, the village is west of Greater Manchester Urban Area, and is the site of a large gas and chemical works, which produce gases by fractional distillation of...
estate to a company which became a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
, but added to the landholding at Dunham Massey by prudent purchases of other farms in the post-War years.
On 17 July 1946 he and his mother entertained Kinf George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
and the Queen
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
, to luncheon at Dunham Massey.
Legacy
Lord Stamford did not marry. At his death in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
on 18 August 1976 both his peerage titles of Earl of Stamford
Earl of Stamford
Earl of Stamford was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Henry Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Groby. This Grey family descended through Lord John Grey, of Pirgo, Essex, younger son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and younger brother of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk Earl...
and of Baron Grey of Groby
Henry Grey, 1st Baron Grey of Groby
Henry Grey, 1st Lord Grey of Groby , courtier, administrator and local politician, was the only surviving son of Lord John Grey of Pirgo, Essex, and Mary, daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu and Magdalen Dacre....
became extinct. He bequeathed his Dunham Massey estate, the hall and its contents to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
. He left a diary
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
which records his collecting activities.
He was buried not in the family chapel in the parish church of Bowdon
Bowdon, Greater Manchester
Bowdon is a suburban village and electoral ward in the Altrincham area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England.-History:...
but in the churchyard of St Mark's, Dunham Massey
Dunham Town
Dunham Town is a village in the civil parish of Dunham Massey in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It was historically a part of Cheshire.- History :...
, where he lies near his mother and with some family servants.
A memorial to Stamford in the Bowdon parish church describes him as “A Landowner devoted to the Welfare of his People”. There is another memorial to him at Bradgate Park
Bradgate Park
Bradgate Park is a public park in Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, England, just northwest of Leicester. It covers 850 acres . The park lies between the villages of Newtown Linford, Anstey, Cropston, Woodhouse Eaves and Swithland. The River Lin runs through the park, flowing into Cropston...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
, an ancestral Grey estate, but one which he did not own.
The Dunham Massey archive is now in the possession of the John Rylands University Library
John Rylands University Library
The John Rylands University Library is the University of Manchester's library and information service. It was formed in July 1972 from the merger of the library of the Victoria University of Manchester with the John Rylands Library...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, to which Stamford added the archive of Gilbert White
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
, curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
of Selborne
Selborne
Selborne is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is south of Alton. It will be just within the extreme northern boundary of the proposed South Downs National Park, which is due to take effect in mid-2010....
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, of whom he was a collateral descendant.
Further reading
- [www.burkespeerage.com Burke’s Peerage] (105th edn, 2nd impression), London, 1975, pp. 2515–2516
- The Complete Peerage, vol. 5, Alan Sutton: Gloucester, 1982
- Melville Henry Massue, The Blood Royal of Britain, London: 1903
- [www.debretts.com Debrett’s Peerage]
- [www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk Cracroft's Peerage]
- William, Earl of Stamford, 1850–1910, London: 1922
- James Lomax and James Rothwell, Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, National Trust: 2006