A revision after a number of birthdays and reflecting some
changes as the reference date moves ever backward...now into
the life of a peer who inherited his title in 1815.
The current Earl Grey has now turned 80 (his elder brother held
the title when I first started posting this file) and the reference
date has moved almost 11 years before the death of his great-great-
grandfather's elder brother.
Princess Charlotte has turned 5...already the oldest daughter of
a son of a Prince of Wales,she is weeks from passing George VI as
oldest second child of a son of a Prince of Wales,though years from
being eldest-ever granddaughter,or second child of a child,of a Prince of Wales.
(At Victoria's death,George V's sister had daughters aged 9 and 7).
Zara Phillips turns 39 today...not yet eldest granddaughter of a Sovereign.
The Duke of Sussex is now older than George V was at the death of Victoria,
making him the oldest third-oldest grandson of a Sovereign and second-oldest
(behind his brother) son of a Prince of Wales.(At Victoria's death,Kaiser
Wilhelm II and his next brother were both older than the Duke of Cambridge,
and their sister Charlotte a year and a half older than Zara Phillips;
all three were younger than Peter Phillips).
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Consider,if you would,the United Kingdom and Empire
as they were on October 31st 1883.
Queen Victoria,over 6 months from 65,was on the throne;
her Golden Jubilee would be in the fourth year following,her
Diamond Jubilee ten years after that.The future Edward VII was
9 days from 42 (the current Prince of Wales is over 6 months past 71),
the future George V was under 5 months past 18(the Duke of Cambridge is
under 6 weeks from 38--George V was Prince of Wales at his age),not yet
Duke of York,and not yet heir apparent to his father;nor was his elder
brother (who had over eight years to live) yet 20.
The future Archbishops of Canterbury who would crown these Kings were
Bishop of Exeter and Dean of Windsor respectively.The oldest
British royal was George III's daughter-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge
(Augusta of Hesse-Cassel),born 1797.
The Church of England dioceses of Birmingham,Coventry,Chelmsford,Derby,
Guildford,Portsmouth,St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich,Sheffield,and Southwark
did not yet exist...nor did those of Bradford and Wakefield,now abolished,
or that of Southwell,from which Derby would one day be severed.That of
Newcastle was less than a year and a half old.
Macdonald,Baldwin,and Chamberlain were teenagers,Churchill was eight
years old,Attlee was under 10 months old,and no later Prime Minister
had yet been born (nor had any person in the world alive after 1999).
Keir Hardie,who years later would found the original Scottish
Labour Party,then the Independent Labour Party,and then the Labour
Party proper,was still in his twenties and had never been an MP.
William Gladstone (born 1809) was the only living person who had been
Prime Minister (years younger than his predecessors).His government
would soon seek passage of the Representation of the People Act 1884
(which would for the first time enable most men to vote),which would
be followed by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (which would establish
the norm of single-member constituencies) but these would only come into
effect with the following election.
Women would not vote in a General Election for over thirty-five years.
under 2 weeks before(the present peer is the great-great-great-grandson
of his first cousin).
The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury(born 1801,an MP from 1826,great-
great-great-grandfather of the present peer and his predecessor) and
3rd Earl Grey (born 1802,also an MP from 1826,elder brother of the
great-great-grandfather of the octogenarian present peer and of his predecessor)
were among the Knights of the Garter.
The 1st Earl of Lovelace (born 1805) had over 9 years to live,and
had been a Lord-Lieutenant since 1840.
The 3rd and 4th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield(born 1806)
had been a Knight of the Thistle since 1843,and had been an MP
from 1830 to 1840,with a spell in Government 1834-5.
Also among the Earls were the 6th Earl of Essex(born 1803),
and the 6th of Albemarle,born 1799,a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo.
The eldest of Earls were the 6th Earl of Buckinghamshire,
born 1793,and the 2nd of Stradbroke,born 1794,
commissioned in the Army in 1810,a Lieutenant 1814,
who missed Waterloo on account of a wound.
The 9th Viscount of Arbuthnott(born 1806) was alive,the
current peer is the 17th.
The 1st Viscount Portman (born 1799,first elected MP in 1823) was
alive,the present peer is the 10th.
The oldest Viscount,however,was the 1st and last of Eversley,born in 1794
and Speaker of the House of Commons 1839-57.
The senior Viscount was the 2nd Frankfort de Montmorency,
who had inherited his title in 1822.
Barons included the 3rd Baron Gardner,who had inherited that title
in 1815,the 2nd Baron Brougham and Vaux(born 1795,great-
great-grandfather of the octogenarian present peer),the 16th Baron
Saye and Sele(born 1799,great-great-grandfather of the 99-year-old
present peer),the 1st Baron Cottesloe (born