Connection between Earl Grey and Canada - Lord Durham, PR, Grey Cup

The Earl Greys

2nd Earl Grey, Charles Grey (1764-1845)

served in the House of Commons 1786 to 1807

served in the House of Lords 1807-1845. He was a Lord when he served as Prime Minister, 1830-1834.

(not as rare as it sounds -- seven Prime Ministers governed from the House of Lords during the Victorian era, 1815-1882.)

Brit. PM/1832 Reform Bill (Lord Durham helped write it);

Earl Grey tea connection (although it is questioned whether he actually had much to do with the tea blend).

(his daughter, Louisa, married Lord Durham) (their daughter married Lord Elgin, Canadian Governor General)

Grey was one of the young Whig aristocrats who formed the Society of the Friends of the People (1792) to encourage lower and middle-class demands for parliamentary reform.

The Society of the Friends of the People was a group of 147 people, including 28 MPs and three peers, that campaigned for parliamentary reform.^[2]: 40 As a member of the committee who ran the society, Grey was careful to advocate moderation in calls for reform in order to distance themselves from the actions of French revolutionaries and to protect themselves from accusations of insurrection. The society’s manifesto said that its aim was to "reinstate the constitution upon its true principles" and indicated that Grey would move for reform in the next parliamentary session.

On 6 May 1793, Grey duly moved that a petition of the society, which outlined the abuses of the electoral system and called for parliament "to regulate the right of voting upon a uniform and equitable principle", should be put before a parliamentary committee. ...

from Wiki "Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey"

Grey’s parliamentary reform bill of 1797 was heavily defeated, and for some years afterward, Fox’s faction of the Whigs virtually withdrew from parliamentary life....

3rd Earl Grey, Henry George Grey (son of 2nd Earl)

(Brit. cabinet minister when Lord Durham was sent to Canada; free trader; repeatedly resigned from posts when peeved)

served in the House of Commons 1826 to 1841; 1841 to 1845,

then in the House of Lords 1845 to 1852.

As Viscount Howick, he frequently spoke in the British House of Commons.

For his views on Canadian politics in 1830s, see

Debate in the House of Commons, on the 15th April, 1834, on Mr. Roebuck's motion for "A select committee to inquire into the means of remedying the evils which exist in the form of the governments now existing in Upper and Lower Canada." reported in London for the Montreal Daily Advertiser

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=aeu.ark:/13960/t1xd1gj2w&seq=32&q1=votes

4th Earl Grey, Albert Grey (3rd Earl's nephew)

(son of General Sir Charles Grey)

Canadian Governor General 1904-1911

donated Grey Cup.

Also "perfect fanatic" on PR

After retiring as Gov-Gen, he campaigned and organized for proportional representation -- by "the removal of the disparity between Parliamentary constituencies with 40,000 electors, on the one hand, and on the other, other constituencies with less than as many hundreds." (through creation of equal-sized single- or two-member districts).

Earl Grey was also a proponent of PR in the sense of elected representation reflecting how votes are cast. In 1916 he was honorary president of the Proportional Representation Society of Canada and president of the British PR Society. (Grain Growers' Guide, Aug. 23, 1916)

Lord Durham

Wikipedia: "John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham"

known as "Radical Jack"

married Lady Harriet Cholmondeley (c. 1790-1815)

married Louisa (nee Grey) (1797-1841) daughter of 2nd Earl Grey, in 1816.

one daughter of him and Louisa (nee Grey) was Mary Louisa, later Lady Elgin.

Lady Mary Louisa (8 May 1819 – 9 March 1898), married James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin

James Bruce was governor general of Canada 1847-1854, so was in the vice-regal post when Responsible government was installed in Canada (1848) (pre-Confederation).

Elections had been held earlier than that in Canada - the first was in 1754 Halifax - but previously elected members did not hold power - appointed colonial overseers had held power until institution of Responsible Government.

(Edward Gibbon Wakefield was a reformer active in Canada and influenced Durham

see Wiki "Edward Gibbon Wakefield"

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Wikipedia: "John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham"

states one daughter of he and Louisa (nee Grey) was Mary Louisa, later Lady Elgin, as you say..

• Lady Mary Louisa (8 May 1819 – 9 March 1898), married James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin

• James Bruce was governor general of Canada 1847-54. so in the vice regal post when Responsible government was installed (1848),