Earl Grey
(1802-1894)
13 April 1861

Volume 3, page 91, sitting number 3056.

The British politician Henry Grey was the eldest son of Charles Grey, who served as Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834 and carried the Great Reform Bill of 1832. He was styled Viscount Howick from 1807 until 1845, when he succeeded his father and became 3rd Earl Grey. 

He served under his father as Under-Secretary for the Colonies from 1830 to 1833, resigning because the Cabinet would not back the immediate abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire, though the same government was subsequently responsible for the emancipation of the slaves. He was later Secretary of War from 1835 to 1839 and Colonial Secretary from 1846 to 1852.

He was unique among politicians of the period in maintaining that the colonies should be governed for their own benefit and not that of Britain, and in his policy of granting self-government whenever possible. However, he was a supporter of convict transportation, and was opposed to Gladstone's Home Rule for Ireland policy.

On 9 August 1832 he married Maria, daughter of Sir Joseph Copley, 3rd Baronet of Sprotborough. The marriage produced no children. Lord Grey died on 9 October 1894, at the age of 91, and was succeeded in the earldom by his nephew, Albert Grey.