Quick Facts
Biography
Thomas de Grey, 2nd Baron Walsingham PC (14 July 1748 – 16 January 1818), was a British peer and politician. He served as Joint Postmaster General and was for many years Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords.
Biography
Walsingham was the son of William de Grey, 1st Baron Walsingham, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. and educated at Eton College (1760–65) and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1766). He succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Walsingham on 9 May 1781 and inherited his Merton, Norfolk estate from his uncle Thomas de Grey the same year.
He served as Groom of the Bedchamber to King George III from 1771 to 1777. His other public posts included Lord of Trade (1777–81), Under-Secretary of State for the American department (Feb. 1778 – Sept. 1780), Vice-Treasurer of Ireland (1784–7) and joint Postmaster General (1787–94).
Political career
Walsingham sat as Member of Parliament for Wareham in 1774, for Tamworth from 1774 to 1780 and for Lostwithiel from 1780 to 1781, when he succeeded his father and took his seat in the House of Lords. In 1783 Lord Walsingham was admitted to the Privy Council, and from 1794 to 1814 was Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords.
Family
Lord Walsingham married the Hon. Augusta Georgina Elizabeth, daughter of William Irby, 1st Baron Boston. He died in January 1818, aged 69, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, George.