Grey was the eldest son of Rev.
Anthony Grey, 9th Earl of Kent, and his wife Magdalene Purefoy, daughter of William Purefoy of Caldecote, Warwickshire. In April 1640 he was elected
Member of Parliament for
Leicestershire for the
Short Parliament but did not sit in the
Long Parliament. On 4 June 1642 Grey was chosen by the parliament as first commissioner of the militia in Leicestershire. He inherited the title as
Earl of Kent on the death of his father in 1643. On 16 August 1644 he became a commissioner of martial law and on 24 August he became
Lord Lieutenant of Rutland. He became speaker of the House of Lords on 13 February 1645. He was resworn first commissioner of the great seal on 20 March 1645, and continued in office until 30 October 1646, when the seal was given to the speakers of the two houses. He was
Custos Rotulorum of Bedfordshire and was appointed
Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire by parliament on the
Long Parliament on 2 July 1646 and held the position until his death. Grey became speaker of the House of Lords on 6 September 1647 and became a member of the committee of the navy and customs on 17 December 1647. He was one of the lords commissioners who took the four bills to the king at the Isle of Wight, and had to bring them back unsigned. In January 1648, he was selected to replace
Earl of Essex as one of the seven peers on the Derby House Committee soon after it replaced the
Committee of Both Kingdoms as Parliament's principal proto-executive body. On 17 March 1648, he was renominated chief commissioner of the great seal together with another lord and two commoners, but took no part in the trial or death of the king. He remained in office until the commons voted the abolition of the House of Lords on 6 February 1649, and two days after placed the seal in other hands. Grey married firstly Mary Courteen, daughter of Sir
William Courteen and had a son Henry Grey who is believed to have died young. Mary died on 9 March 1644 and he married secondly on 1 August 1644 Annabel or
Amabel Benn, daughter of Sir
Anthony Benn and widow of Anthony Fane, the third surviving son of
Francis Fane. They had two children:
Anthony, who inherited the earldom, and Elizabeth, who married
Banastre Maynard, 3rd Baron Maynard. Grey died aged 56 and a monument to his memory was erected by his widow in
Flitton Church, Bedfordshire. == See also ==