Earl Grey (UK 1806), Viscount Howick (UK 1806), Baron Grey of Howick (UK 1801), and a Baronet (GB 1746)

Arms: Gules, a lion rampant, within a boudure engrailed, argent, in dexter chief point a mullet of the last.

Crest: A scaling ladder or, hooked and pointed sable.

Supporters: Dexter, a lion guardant purpure, ducally crowned or; Sinister, a tiger guardant, proper.

The Grey family is one of great antiquity, Sir Thomas Grey, a knight who died in 1402, was married to Jane, daughter of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Among the sons of Thomas and Jane was Sir John Grey of Heaton who was styled Earl of Tankerville in Normandy.

Later descendant, William, was created a Baronet in 1619 and later raised to the Peerage as Lord Grey in 1623. Those titles fell extinct when that branch of the family tree died off with the 4th Lord Grey in 1706.

Of the present line, Sir Henry Grey, High Sheriff Northumberland was created a Baronet in 1746. He had three sons; 1-Henry, who died unmarried in 1808, 2-Thomas, who was killed in a duel with Lord Pomfret, and 3-Charles, the 1st Earl Grey.

Charles Grey, born 1729, was a distinguished Commanding Army Officer during the American Revolutionary War (1777), also served in the war with France (1794) and was raised to the Peerage in 1801 as Baron Grey of Howick. Lord Grey was further advanced in the Peerage to Viscount Howick and Earl Grey in 1806.

The "Earl Grey" tea, common in stores today, is said to have been blended for the 2nd Earl Grey by a Mandarin after a successful diplomatic mission with China. The blend was originally made from black China tea and treated with the natural oil of the citrus bergamot fruit.

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