Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey - Youth, Education, and Early Career

Youth, Education, and Early Career

Grey was the son of General Sir Charles Grey— a younger son of former British prime minister the second Earl Grey and later the private secretary to Prince Albert and later still to Queen Victoria— and his wife, Caroline Eliza Farquhar, daughter of Sir Thomas Harvie Farquhar, Bt. Many members of the family had enjoyed successful political careers based on reform, including to colonial policies; Grey's grandfather, while prime minister, championed the Reform Act 1832 and in 1846, Grey's uncle, the third Earl Grey, as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies during the first ministry of the Earl Russell, was the first to suggest that colonies should be self-sustaining and governed for the benefit of their inhabitants, instead of for the benefit of the United Kingdom.

Grey was educated at Harrow School and then Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied history and law. After graduating in 1873, Grey became private secretary to Sir Henry Bartle Frere and, as Frere was a member of the Council of India, Grey accompanied Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, on his tour of India. In 1877, Grey married Alice Holford, daughter of Robert Stayner Holford, the Member of Parliament for East Gloucestershire. Together, they had five children, one of whom died in early childhood.