Papers of Rev Harry Grey (1783-1860) and his wives

The papers of Rev Harry Grey and his wives consist of correspondence (EGR4/6/1) and other papers (EGR4/6/2), which include a manuscript autobiography of Rev Harry Grey.

The papers of George Harry Grey (1737-1819), 5th Earl of Stamford, contain a receipt from Harry Grey for £200 paid by Lord Stamford (EGR4/1/6/2/12), and correspondence relating to Lord Stamford's offer, rejected by Harry Grey, of the living of Ashton under Lyne co. Lancs (EGR4/1/9/6/5-6). Among the papers of George Harry Grey (1765-1845), 6th Earl of Stamford, is a map showing property owned by Harry Grey in Millington township (EGR4/2/7/2/49). The papers of George Grey (1821-82) contain two letters from his father Harry Grey (EGR4/7/2/2 & /4), and an account for the executorship of Harry Grey's will (EGR4/7/2/5). The papers of William Grey (1819-72) contain three letters from his father Harry Grey (EGR4/8/6/36, /40 & /43), and copies made by William Grey of the last entry in his father's diary, and of his father's memoranda concerning his will and codicils (EGR4/8/7/4 & /5). The papers of various members of the Grey family contain a bundle of letters from Rev Harry Grey to his cousin Maria Leycester (EGR4/10/22), and two letters to his daughter Frances Charlotte Elizabeth (EGR4/10/26-27).

The subfonds EGR5, Papers of the White Family, contains a letter from Harry Grey to ?William White discussing the negotiations over the marriage of William Grey and Harriet White (EGR5/2/4/29). Within the subfonds EGR11, Papers from Dunham Massey Hall relating to the Cheshire and Lancashire Estates, there is an account for the appointment of Rev Harry Grey and others as domestic chaplains to the 6th Earl of Stamford, 1819 (EGR11/2/8/84). The miscellaneous papers from Dunham Massey Hall contain a letter from Hugo Worthington to Rev Harry Grey concerning the latter's estate, 1817 (EGR13/26/4), and letters from Rev Harry Grey to Rev James Richey and Miss Pidsley, 1842 & 1843 (EGR13/38-39).

Harry Grey second son of Hon John Grey, the younger son of Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford, was born on 8 July 1783. Between the ages of six and thirteen he attended the school run by Rev James Winfield in Northgate Street, Chester. In 1796 he entered Eton and in 1802 went up to Brasenose College, Oxford. On leaving Oxford he determined to entry the ministry, having first to overcome a speech impediment. He was ordained a deacon on Trinity Sunday 1807 at Eccleshall and was nominated to the curacy of Stoke upon Tern co. Salop by his uncle Rev Oswald Leycester, rector of the parish. In the following year was ordained as a priest.

In 1809 Harry Grey accepted the living of Knutsford, Cheshire. A man of strong evangelical convictions, he aroused enmity among a faction of the parish who opposed his attempts to reform the church's liturgy and the parish's lax morals. His health broke down and he was forced to discontinue his residency from 1813 to 1817, moving to Clifton near Bristol. He returned to Knutsford briefly but left the parish for good in 1818, and resigned the living in 1824.

Harry Grey's first wife was Frances Elizabeth ('Fanny') Ellis of Caernarvon, whom he met at Knutsford. They married in 1811, and had nine children. After 1818 they lived at Clifton, moving to Frenchay near Clifton, Gloucestershire, in 1827, and thence to Tor, Devon, in 1832. Fanny died on 18 April 1846, and a year later Harry Grey married Mary Hervey of Exeter. After their marriage they moved to Babbacombe near Torquay, Devon, where Harry Grey died on 26 March 1860.