Grey, Charles, 2nd Earl 1764-1845
English statesman

He was born in Fallodon, Northumberland, and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. He joined the Whig Opposition in parliament in 1786, and wasted little time in attacking the Government of William Pitt, the Younger, for its domestic and foreign policies and its union with Ireland in particular. On the Whigs' return to power in 1806, he became First Lord of the Admiralty, and as Foreign Secretary on the death of Charles Fox, piloted the abolition of the African slave trade. After succeeding his father to the earldom in 1807, he withdrew from doing battle in the Commons, but after the 1830 general election returned as Prime Minister of the new Whig Administration. He introduced his first Reform Bill a year later, and after its defeat and the dissolution of parliament, he returned even more resolved to secure its provisions. When the second bill was carried by the Commons but rejected by the Lords, there were violent demonstrations, and Grey piloted a third attempt that reached its second reading in the Lords but collapsed when Ministers resigned over its disenfranchisement clauses. After the Duke of Wellington failed to form a Government, Grey returned as premier and persuaded William IV to create a sufficient number of new peers to guarantee the legislation's adoption in the Upper House. His bill finally received royal assent in 1832, and Grey continued to lead the reformed parliament, extending his earlier antislavery measures to the colonies. However, a Cabinet split over reform of the Church of Ireland made Grey's position untenable, and he resigned in 1834.

Bibliography: G M Trevelyan, Lord Grey of the Reform Bill (1920)