Considering Grey's importance, and the prominence of the family he helped to found, it is surprising that he has been neglected by history. Only a short sketch in the Dictionary of National Biography, and an article by Sir John Fortescue in the Edinburgh Review have ever attempted even perfunctory assessments of his life. As a man and an army officer, Grey represented some of the best qualities of eighteenth-century British civilization. In America, he fought during the War of American Independence and in 1794 in the West Indies against France. Hence, as Nelson shows, his career is important in American History. Given his long service to the British nation in all her wars from 1744 to 1800, it is clear from Nelson's account that Grey is an important character in British history as well. During his lifetime, Grey proved himself a reliable and successful soldier, earning and deserving all his honors: Knight of the Bath in 1782, baron in 1801, viscount and earl in 1806.

The first book to examine in detail how British ministers and politicians sought to govern Ireland throughout the period of Anglo-Irish Union (1800-1921), this trenchant and original account argues that British politicians had little understanding or time for Irish matters, and oscillated between policies of coercion and assimilation.