Rt Hon Charles II Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (1764 – 1845) British Politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

It’s not commonly known that Lord Grey was the namesake of the Earl Grey tea blend.

He was a principal Whig architect of the Reform Act of 1832 enacted by Parliament during the second year of his term of office as Prime Minister. The act served to modernize the old MP electoral process and usher in a new era of parliamentary administration.

His father, General Charles Grey, 1st Earl of Grey, led British troops during both the American and French Revolutions. He’s considered by military historians to have been one of the most important military leaders of the 18th century. Toward the end of the American Revolutionary War, he was knighted into the Order of the Bath and promoted to the rank of commander-in-chief of the British Army in America. He never actually served in the latter capacity on the battlefield as the war ended soon after he accepted the post.

Earl Grey was an agnatic descendant of Anchetil de Greye (1052 – 1087) 2 who was one of the proven Knight Companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. He is the primogenitor of the ancient English noble House of Grey. Lady Jane Grey (1537 – 1554), “The 9-Days Queen”, was his agnatic descendant.

John de Grey II, Baron Grey of Rotherfield, (Anchetil’s 9th great-grandson) was one of the founder knights of the Order of the Garter that Edward III Plantagenet (1312- 1377) King of England established in 1348. It is the oldest order of chivalry in British history.

Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton (Anchetil’s 7th great-grandson) is the eponym of one of the four British Inns of Court. Formerly known as Portpool Manor, the property upon which Gray’s Inn now stands was gifted to the legal society by him during the latter part of the 13th century.

Earl Grey was an agnatic cousin of William the Conqueror (1028 – 1087) 1st Norman King of England.

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

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