Charles Hervey Grey (1875-1955)
Charles Hervey Grey was born Charles Hervey Hoare in 1875 in London, eldest son of Charles Hoare and Katherine Hervey. The Hoare family owned the bank bearing their name, which had been founded in the 17th century and during Charles' childhood, the family lived with his father's parents, in Wells and then near Basingstoke, Hants. Charles was educated at Oxford and then qualified as a solicitor. He volunteered for the Imperial Yeomanry during the Boer War, gaining a commission, and maintained this connection with the Yeomanry (and subsequently the Territorial Army) even after the war ended. In 1909, he married Marie, widow of Sir Lepel Griffin and daughter of Ludwig Leupold of Genoa. He served with distinction in the First World War, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and was awarded the DSO with bar.
His wife died in 1917, but in 1919 he remarried, this time to Cecily, the widow of Viscount Mountgarret. She was the daughter of Arthur Duncombe and, through her mother, granddaughter of Margaret Henrietta Maria Grey, who was in turn the granddaughter of the 6th Earl of Stamford. Cecily’s father had changed his name to Arthur Grey by Royal Licence in 1905, and Charles Hoare similarly changed his name to Charles Hervey Grey in 1927. This was in accordance with the terms of a trust established by Cecily’s great-uncle, George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford.
During the 1920s, Charles Grey gained a reputation as a distinguished horticulturalist with particular expertise in alpines and bulbs. He lived for many years near Cranbrook in Kent, designing gardens at Hartridge House and then at Hocker Edge, where he established a nursery. His wife, Cecily, shared this passion and together they published a book on hardy bulbs (1938) as well as contributing articles to the magazine The Northern Gardener and other journals. The Duncombe family home was Sutton Park in Easingwold, Yorkshire, and in the 1940s the couple moved to Malton. In 1950, Charles was instrumental in the establishment of the Northern Horticultural Society’s garden at Harlow Carr near Harrogate (now owned by the Royal Horticultural Society). Charles died in 1955 and Cecily in 1961.