Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville PC (20 July 1655 – 24 June 1701), 1st Viscount Glendale, and 3rd Baron Grey of Werke, was an English nobleman and statesman.

Early life

Grey was the eldest son of

Ralph Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Werke Ralph Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Werke (27 October 1630 – 15 June 1675) was an English peer. Early life Grey was baptised on 27 October 1630. He was the eldest son of William Grey, 1st Baron Grey of Werke and the former Cecilia Wentworth. The fam ...

and Catherine Ford, daughter of Sir Edward Ford of

Harting Harting is a civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is situated on the northern flank of the South Downs, around southeast of Petersfield in Hampshire. It comprises the village of South Harting and the hamlets of ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. He was baptised the day of his birth at Harting. His family seat was

Chillingham Castle Chillingham Castle is a medieval castle in the village of Chillingham in the northern part of Northumberland, England. It was the seat of the Grey and Bennett (later Earls of Tankerville) families from the 15th century until the 1980s, when it b ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, which he inherited on his father's death in 1675. His younger brother, Ralph was an officer in the Army and Whig MP for Berwick who served as the

Governor of Barbados This article contains a list of viceroys in Barbados from its initial colonisation in 1627 by England until it achieved independence in 1966. From 1833 to 1885, Barbados was part of the colony of the Windward Islands, and the governor of Barbad ...

. His sister, Hon. Catherine Grey, married Richard Neville, MP for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

Career

In 1682 Grey achieved notoriety for being found guilty of seducing his wife's sister, Lady Henrietta Berkeley for which he was arrested, tried and ultimately freed. In 1683 he was arrested for involvement in the

Rye House Plot The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York. The royal party went from Westminster to Newmarket to see horse races and were expected to make the ...

but escaped from the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

in July and fled with Lady Henrietta and her new husband to France. He later became one of the leaders of the

Monmouth Rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ir ...

, landing with Monmouth at Lyme Regis in June 1685. He was in command of the cavalry, and its defeat on two occasions may have been caused by his cowardice, possibly even by his treachery. He was taken prisoner and condemned for high treason, but he obtained a pardon by freely giving evidence against his former associates, and was restored to his honours in June 1686. During the reign of William III he was made

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

on 11 May 1695 and, on 11 June 1695, created Viscount Glendale and Earl of Tankerville. From 1695 until his death he was a Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital; from November 1699 until November 1700,

First Lord of the Treasury The first lord of the Treasury is the head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom, and is by convention also the prime minister. This office is not equivalent to the ...

. During the absence of the King from June until October 1700, he was a Lord Justice of the Realm, and from November 1700 until his death,

Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. Originally, ...

Personal life

Grey married Lady Mary Berkeley, daughter of

George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley PC FRS (1628 – 10 October 1698) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1654 until 1658 when he succeeded to the peerage. Life Berkeley was the son of George Berkele ...

and his wife, Elizabeth Massingberd. They were the parents of at least two daughters: * Lady Mary Grey (b. ), who married Charles Bennet, 2nd Lord Ossulston, on 3 July 1695. He was later created 1st Earl of Tankerville, new creation, and died on 31 May 1710. * Lady Annabella Grey (d. 1698), who married John Cecil, 6th Earl of Exeter, in 1697 but died in August 1698 leaving no children. He died on 24 June 1701. After Grey's death, Lady Mary married Richard Rooth of Epsom.

In popular culture

In Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

's novel about the

, ''

Micah Clarke ''Micah Clarke'' is a historical adventure novel by British author Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1889 and set during the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 in England. The book is a bildungsroman whose protagonist, Micah Clarke, begins as a boy seeking ...

'' (1889), Grey is represented as the character Lord Grey of Warke. In

Aphra Behn Aphra Behn (; bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barrie ...

epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...

, '' Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister'', Grey is represented as the character Philander. In the 1972 HTV series '' Pretenders'', which also depicted the Monmouth Rebellion, Lord Grey was played by David Jackson.

References

External links

The Trial of Ford, Lord Grey of Werk
* Greaves, Richard L
"Grey, Ford, earl of Tankerville (bap. 1655, d. 1701)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tankerville, Ford Grey, 1st Earl of 1655 births 1701 deaths Members of the Green Ribbon Club People of the Rye House Plot People from Harting Ford English politicians convicted of crimes Lords Privy Seal Members of the Privy Council of England Monmouth Rebellion Earls in the Peerage of England Adultery 3