John Grey (land agent)

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John Grey
John Grey, 1852 portrait by George Patten
BornAugust 1785
Millfield Hill, Glendale, Northumberland, England, Kingdom of Great Britain
DiedJanuary 22, 1868 (aged 82–83)
River Tyne, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Resting placeEngland, United Kingdom
OccupationLand agent
SpouseHannah Eliza
ChildrenJosephine Butler
Parent(s)George Grey
Mary Grey

John Grey (1785–1868), of Dilston, was an English land agent and agriculturist. He was the father of Josephine Butler, the feminist campaigner.

Life

The eldest son of George Grey of West Ord, near

Sir Walter Scott, and entered public life when seventeen years old.[1]

The first public question that Grey took part in was the

Reform Bill of 1832. He enjoyed the confidence of Earl Grey and Lord Althorp (Lord Spencer), and spoke on the hustings at Alnwick.[1]

In 1833 Sir James Graham placed under Grey's sole management the northern estates belonging to

Tithe Commutation Act, the land drainage scheme, and free trade. From early years (1803) he had concentrated on agricultural improvement. He had originally farmed in north Northumberland, where, with others, he created a new system of agriculture, both in breeding cattle and cultivating the land.[1]

In the administration of the agricultural and mining estates of Greenwich Hospital, Grey was raised the net rental of the property in twenty years from £30,000 to £40,000. He was visited by foreigners, and Baron Liebig saw on visiting Dilston his own discoveries applied to the improvement of the Northumbrian crops. Grey's management was denounced in some newspapers. In the autumn of 1857 he lost the greater part of his savings by the failure of the Newcastle bank.[1]

Grey retired from the management of the Greenwich Hospital estates in 1863, aged 77. He moved to Lipwood House on the banks of the River Tyne, near Haydon Bridge, where he died on 22 January 1868.[1]

Family

Grey married, in 1815, Hannah Eliza, daughter of Ralph Annette of The Fence, near Alnwick, by whom he had a family of three sons and seven daughters, who included

Jane Lundie Bonar
.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Grey, John (1785-1868)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 23. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11550. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Grey, John (1785-1868)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 23. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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