Beautiful Lady Grey

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 308, 28 December 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

Beautiful Lady Grey

THE published references to the I marriage and separation of the g%atest of New Zealand Governors and his wife have never been entirely satisfying to" readers who tried to fill up vital gaps in the story of the pair who," in their time, were so popular with the colonists. When the Greys bade farewell to New Zealand after the first eight years' regime at Government House in Auckland no one in so prominent a position could have been more liked for #her pleasant, kindly • qualities than the young and beautiful Mrs. Grey, the daughter of an Australian Governor. She' had then been married for thirteen years. Her maiden name was Eliza Lucy Spencer; her father was Captain Sir Richard Spencer, R.N., who governed the settlement of King George's Sound at Albany (West Australia). She met young Captain Grey about 1839, and the pair were married after a short, and, we may believe, a rather impetuous, acquaintance. From the governorship of South Australia, Grey was appointed to New Zealand, and his wife accompanied him to Auckland in 1845. The Short-Lived CMli All that is familiar history; what one is interested in just now is the manner and cause of the rift between the pair. There was one source of contention in the early era, and that arose over the death of the only child borne by Mrs. Grey,, a son, which lived its short life of a few months before the pair left South Australia. There was a report published that Captain Grey believed his wife had neglected the child; this was the root of the unhappy difference which later developed between the pair. In New Zealand, Mrs. Grey took a large part in the social functions of the day, at Auckland Government House and in other parts of the colony. I came across several notes in Donald Maclean's M.S. journal in Taranaki, mentioning her early interest in the Grey Institution, as it. was called, an establishment for Maori girls on the hill called Pukehe, at New Plymouth Another entry by Maclean mentioned a bush picnic near the town, when she entertained the New Plymouth children nearly a hundred in number. She travelled with the Governor all over the colony from the Bay of Islands to the new settlement of Otago. Some information about the portrait which accompanies this article can b given here, on the authority of the lat< Horace Fildes, of Wellington, one of ou best historical authorities, whose deatl was greatly regretted. He was a kindl; man to whom numerous writers ii Wellington turned for authentic infor mation in many matters of early coloni sation. I In sending me the photograph of th oil painting of Lady Grey, from whid this illustration is reproduced, he note

that it was painted in London by William Gush, an eminent artist of the day, in 1854, the year when the ex-Governor and his wife arrived from New Zealand. A steel engraving was afterwards made from the portrait, and this was reproduced in a fashionable magazine in London, the "Keepsake." Mr. Fildes acquired in London a copy of this magazine, containing the engraving, titled, and also containing a portrait of Lady Molesworth, wife of Sir William Molesworth, the Chief Secretary for the Colonies. There was no doubt about this being the authentic portrait of Lady Grey.

By James Cowan

At the period of this portrait Lady Grey was probably about 34 years old. and at the height of her graceful beauty. It was no wonder she captivated all colonial hearts in the period of her husband's two Governorships, in South Australia and New Zealand. The spontaneity of her courtesy and kindness to all kinds of society, and to all churchee, enhanced the regard in which she war popularly held. The Roman Catholic Bishop, the Right Rev. Jean Baptiste Pompallier, wrote that Lady Grey's benefits towards the orphans and the schools of his congregation would never be forgotten by his clergy and flock and himself. The Maoris especially grieved for her departure, in 1853. Nine of the many Maori addresses of farewell collected in C. 0. Davis' "Maori Mementos," refer to Lady Grey in terms of great gratitude and affection. Voyaging to South Africa Sailing from Auckland in the Quarrel on the last day of 1853, the Greys went first to England, and then to the Cape. They did a great deal of longdistance voyaging under sail during the nex'. few years. On the second voyage from London to the Cape, their ship was H.M.S. Forte, Captain E. Tournour, the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Harry Keppell, just appointed to the Cape Command. The Forte called at Rio de Janeiro, and left there for Simon's Bay on June 7, 1880. Two days later, Sir Harry Keppell relates in his book, "A Sailor's Life Under Four Sovereigns," that the captain and the surgeon of the ship informed him, "under great pressure, that the Governor would either commit suicide or murder his wife." Keppell decided to return to Rio. He reached that port on the 12th of June, and landed the Governor and Lady Grey and her maid. Next day Keppe'll sent an officer to ask when his Excellency would be ready to embark again. Sir George wrote in reply that he was then ready, and that if Keppell would not write ; home about the incident he (Grey) would not do so. Keppell adds to this: "I kept my word," underlining the word • "my." ■ When the ship anchored at Simon's ! Bay, Sir George Grey landed immediately in a shore boat* and, unknown to 1 Keppell, visited Admiral Sir Frederick ' Grey, the retiring Cape Commander. Sir 1 Harry Keppell paid his respects next day and on mentioning the Lady Grey incident at Rio ascertained that Admiral Grey had been informed of it by Sir e George. The proposal not to communil cate with England came in the first i place from him (Keppell).

It is not thought that Lady Grey accompanied her husband on his second term in South Africa. The "Keppell scandal," whatever it really was, caused her to sail for England from South America. Presumably Sir George arranged the passage for her. At anyrate. from that time until his death in England in ,1898 tiny lived apart. Sir Harry Keppell presently felt the weight of Sir Gcorpe Grey's anger in a roundabout way. He was removed, by Acfmiralty instructions, to an inferior command, the south-cast coast of America. On calling at Rio on his way to the new stations, he was further informed that he was superseded and was to return to England. English newspapers further informed him that his removal from the two commands was clue to what was featured as "the Keppell scandal." There were varj'ing versions of the alleged scene or scenes on board H.M.S. Forte at Rio. Koppell struck his flag at Portsmouth and was not again employed by the Admiralty for five years. Sir George Grey remained High Commissioner of South Africa until 1861, when he returned to Xcw Zealand. The Cause of the Rift In his old age in England Sir George and his wife became reconciled, after a separation of 34 years. One biographei says Queen Victoria brought about th« reunion; another says the Gladstones The venerable pair, however, did nol draw close to each other in spirit, anc they were both in feeble old age. A* one of Mark Twain's or Bret Harte'i characters might have said, they wen both "sot in their ways," and the" recon ciliation came far too late. It is stated however, that Lady Grey nursed he husband for some time before his death but she died a few days before him. As for that scandal aboard the Fort* there does not seem to be more than i ' very flimsy foundation on which to buih a story that overshadowed two lives fo ; more. than 30 years. I was told thi incident, many years ago, by the siste

of a lialf caste Maori girl whom Lady' Grey took with her from Xew Zealand as her companion and maid. When she returned to Xew Zealand the young woman, extremely loyal to her mistress and friend, strongly defended her against the rumours that she (Lady Grey) had fallen in love with Sir Harry Keppell, or Kep)iell with her. There was nothing to justify Sir George Grey in his furious fit of anger at Rio. All that happened to account for it was this:— Lady Grey and her maid were trying to open—or to fasten—an awkward*box in her cabin and could not manage it. Lady Grey at this moment happened to see Sir Harry Keppell passing, the door being open on to the main cabin at the time. On the impulse of the moment Lady Grey stepped out and asked him to help them with the box. The gallant officer, of course, rendered what service he could to the two women and left the cabin. Just at that moment the Governor came up and he saw Keppell in the act of leaving the cabin. Immediately, in a sudden passion of jealousy, he jumped to the belief that the pair" were plaving him false. The half caste maid "was there at the time, and the Admiral had only stepped in for a few moments, or perhaps minutes. The Governor was not satisfied with the reasonable and natural explanation. His suspicious and jealous nature may have misinterpreted every courtesy and every approach to flirtation during the voyage from England, and it is possible that the scene at the cabin door appeared to him the climax of weeks of friendship between the lovely lady and the handsome sailor. That, it would seem, is all there was to it, a quite harmless service, yet it brought years of grief to Lady Grey and a cold, unforgiving determination on the part of her husband. First he obtained what revenge he could upon the impulsive and no doubt susceptible Keppell. and then he banished his wife from his life. It was a tragedy altogether out of proportion to the trifle that began it.