Sir Roger Gresley, 8th Baronet (27 December 1799 – 12 October 1837) was an English author and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1835 to 1837. Gresley was the son of Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley, 7th Baronet and his second wife Maria-Eliza Garway, daughter of Caleb Garway, of Worcester. He succeeded to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on the death of his father on 26 March 1808. He entered Christ Church, Oxford on 17 October 1817, where he remained until 1819, leaving the university without a degree. Gresley was a well known London

dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle des ...

and is said to have gambled away much of his fortune, having to sell most of his assets to remain solvent. In 1827 he sold Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal which his grandfather had built in connection with his mining interests. In 1826 Gresley stood for parliament unsuccessfully at

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

and instead served as

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

. He stood at

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

in 1830 and was elected but unseated. He was equally unsuccessful at New Romney in 1831, although he made a couple of speeches in parliament. Eventually he won a seat at

South Derbyshire South Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population of the local authority at the 2011 Census was 94,611. It contains a third of the National Forest, and the council offices are in Swadlincote. The district ...

in 1835 which he lost at the election of July 1837. Gresley was groom of the bedchamber to the

Duke of Sussex Duke of Sussex is a substantive title, one of several royal dukedoms, that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is a hereditary title of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It takes its name fr ...

, Captain of the Lichfield Troop of the Staffordshire Yeomanry (commissioned on 28 September 1819), and a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

. He was also an author who usually wrote his name Greisley. Gresley died at the age of 37, and was buried on 28 October 1837 at

Church Gresley Church Gresley is a large village and former civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. The village is situated between Castle Gresley and the town of Swadlincote, with which it is contiguous. By the time of the 2011 ...

, Derbyshire. Gresley married Lady Sophia Catherine Coventry, daughter of George William Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry and Peggy Pitches, on 2 June 1821. The marriage was commemorated in a poem by a friend John Taylor.John Taylor, Anacreo
Poems on Various Subjects
Published by Payne and Foss, 1827 They had no surviving children and the baronetcy passed to a kinsman Sir William Gresley. His widow remarried to Sir Henry des Voeux, Baronet and vicar of Stapenhill-cum-Caldwell. She died at 39 Berkeley Square, London, in 1875 and was buried with her second husband in the churchyard at Caldwell.

Publications

*''A Letter to the Right Hon. Robert Peel on Catholic Emancipation. To which is added an account of the apparition of a cross at Migné on the 17th. December, 1826,'' translated from the Italian, London, 1827, 8vo. *''A Letter to … John, Earl of Shrewsbury, in reply to his reasons for not taking the Test,'' London, 1828, 8vo. *''Sir Philip Gasteneys; a Minor,'' London, 1829, 12mo. *''The Life and Pontificate of Gregory the Seventh,'' London, 1832, 8vo

References

* ''Debrett's Baronetage of England'' 7th Edition (1839) pp 34/5 (Google Books) *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gresley, Roger, 8th Baronet 1799 births 1837 deaths People from South Derbyshire District Baronets in the Baronetage of England Tory MPs (pre-1834) Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Derbyshire UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1835–1837 English religious writers 19th-century English non-fiction writers Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford High Sheriffs of Derbyshire Staffordshire Yeomanry officers Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for City of Durham