GREVILLE, CHARLES CAVENDISH FULKE (1794-1865). An English diarist. He prepared for college at Eton, entered Christ Church Col lege, Oxford. but left without a degree to become the private secretary of Lord Bathurst. Later he was appointed to the secretaryship of Jamaica— a sinecure position, as he never visited the is land. At the age of twenty-seven he became clerk of the council, a position he held till 1859, and by means of it became conversant with the plans and purposes, as well as with the men them selves, of every Ministry of these forty years. As he was keen, honest, and unbiased, and pos sessed of a vigorous and interesting style, he was qualified to record the events and life around him. He improved his opportunity by keeping a political diary or journal for a large portion of his life. These memoirs were placed in the hands of his friend, Mr. Henry Reeve, with the injunction to have them published at a not too distant date after his death. Acting on this re quest, the diary for the reigns of George IV. and William 1V., 1820-37, was published in 1875, in three volumes. Later, other volumes, covering
the years from the accession of Queen Victoria to 1860, were issued. The memoirs afford a valuable insight into the private views and motives of the leaders of English political life. Greville records not so much public events as the private causes which led to them; and perhaps no English memoir-writer has left behind him a more valuable contribution to the history of last century. Greville published anonymously, in 1845, a volume on the policy of England toward Ireland, in which he advocated the payment of the Roman Catholic clergy; he was also the author of several pamphlets'on the events of his day.
A biographical notice by Henry Reeve may be found in the preface to his edition of the Grev ille Memoirs (London, 1875) ; see also the Eng lish Historical Review, January, 1886, and April, 1887. His works have been collected and edited under the title, Greville Memoirs: Journal of the Reigns of George IV., William IV., and Queen Victoria (8 vols., London, 1896).