Thomas Creevey (1768-1838) was a noted diarist and letter writer. Politically, he was an ally of Samuel Whitbread, the leader of the more left-wing Whigs. Creevey was an enemy of the Grenville-Fox alliance and a strong agitator against Nugent Buckingham's sinecure Tellership. 

• Born Liverpool March 1768; son of William Creevey, merchant and slave trader
• Educated at a grammar school in Hackney and Queens College, Cambridge; BA 1789; MA 1792
• Admitted to Inner Temple, 9 November 1789 and Gray's Inn on 7 November 1791
• Called to Bar on 27 June 1794
• Elected MP for Thetford 1802 
• Married Eleanor, widow of William Ord, on 16 June 1802; she was daughter of Charles Branding, MP for Newcastle on Tyne
• His step-daughter Elizabeth was his main confidant and features prominently in his letters
• Appointed Secretary to the Board of Control by Grenville in 1806, losing the post on Grenville's resignation in 1807
• Elected MP for Appleby 1820
• Elected MP for Downton
• Appointed by Lord Grey Treasurer of the Ordnance Office, 20 February 1830
• Appointed by Lord Melbourne as Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital with £600 a year and a house
• Died 5 February 1838.

After the death of his wife, he fell upon hard times. Charles Greville, another diarist, gave his opinions on Creevey's poverty:

September 23, I829: His wife died, upon which event he was thrown upon the world with about £200 a year or less, no home, few connections, a great many acquaintance, a good constitution, and extraordinary spirits. He possesses nothing but his clothes, no property of any sort; he leads a vagrant life, visiting a number of people who are delighted to have him, and sometimes roving about to various places, as fancy hap­pens to direct, and staying till he has spent what money he has in his pocket. He has no servant, no home, no creditors; he buys everything as he wants it at the place he is at; he has no ties upon him, and has his time entirely at his own disposal and that of his friends. He is certainly a living proof that a man may be perfectly happy and exceedingly poor, or rather without riches, for he suffers none of the privations of property and enjoys many of the advantages of wealth. I think he is the only man I know in society who possesses nothing.