Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley

The Right Honourable The Lord Stanley of Alderley PC
Lord Stanley of Alderley, 1856.
President of the Board of Trade
In office 31 March 1855 – 21 February 1858
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	Edward Cardwell
Succeeded by	Joseph Warner Henley
Postmaster General
In office 17 August 1860 – 26 June 1866
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston The Earl Russell
Preceded by	The Earl of Elgin
Succeeded by	The Duke of Montrose
Personal details
Born	13 November 1802 (1802-11-13)
Died	16 June 1869 (1869-06-17)
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig Liberal
Spouse(s)	Hon. Henrietta Dillon (1807–1895)

Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley PC (13 November 1802 – 16 June 1869), known as The Lord Eddisbury between 1848 and 1850, was a British politician.

Background

Stanley was the son of John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley, and Lady Maria Josepha, daughter of John Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield.

Political career

Stanley entered the House of Commons as Whig Member of Parliament (MP) for Hindon in 1831 and was later member for North Cheshire between 1832 and 1841, and between 1847 and 1848. He served under Lord Melbourne as Patronage Secretary to the Treasury from 1835 to 1841, as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1841 and as Paymaster-General in 1841 and under Lord John Russell as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1846 and 1852. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1841 and in 1848, two years before he succeeded to the barony of Stanley, he was created Baron Eddisbury, of Winnington in the County Palatine of Chester.

Stanley was President of the Board of Trade under Lord Palmerston from 1855 to 1858, and Postmaster-General under Palmerston and then Lord John Russell from 1860 to 1866. In 1861 he established the Post Office Savings Bank.

Family

Lord Stanley of Alderley married Henrietta Maria (21 December 1807 – 16 February 1895), a daughter of Viscount Dillon, in 1826. Lord and Lady Stanley of Alderley had ten children:

• Henry Edward John, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley (1827–1903)
• Hon. Alice Margaret (1828–1910), wife of Augustus Pitt Rivers
• Hon. (Henrietta) Blanche (1830–1921), later Countess of Airlie, wife of David Ogilvy; a grandmother of Clementine Churchill, and a great-grandmother of the Mitford sisters
• Hon. Maude Alethea (1832–1915)
• Hon. Cecilia (d. 1839)
• Hon. John Constantine (1837–78)
• Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley (1839–1925)
• Hon. Algernon Charles (1843–1928), Roman Catholic Bishop of Emmaus (in partibus)
• Hon. Katherine Louisa (1844–74), later Viscountess Amberley, wife of John Russell, Viscount Amberley; mother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell
• Hon. Rosalind Frances (1845–1921), later Countess of Carlisle, became the chatelaine of Castle Howard and a radical temperance campaigner.

Lord Stanley of Alderley died in June 1869, aged 66, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry. Lady Stanley of Alderley died in February 1895, aged 87.

In the 1930s his family's letters were published by his descendant Nancy Mitford as:

• The Ladies of Alderley: Letters 1841–1850 (Hamish Hamilton, 1938)
• The Stanleys of Alderley: Their letters 1851–1865 (Chapman & Hall, 1939)

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Edward Stanley

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by George Fortescue John Weyland	Member of Parliament for Hindon 1831 – 1832 With: John Weyland	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for North Cheshire 1832 – 1841 With: William Egerton	Succeeded by William Tatton Egerton George Legh
Preceded by William Egerton George Legh	Member of Parliament for North Cheshire 1847–1848 With: William Egerton	Succeeded by William Egerton George Legh
Political offices
Preceded by Viscount Howick	Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1834	Succeeded by W. Gregson
Preceded by Sir George Clerk, Bt	Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 1835–1841	Succeeded by Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bt
Preceded by Sir Henry Parnell, Bt	Paymaster-General 1841	Succeeded by Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt
Preceded by George Smythe	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1846–1852	Succeeded by Austen Henry Layard
Preceded by The Earl Granville	Paymaster-General Vice-President of the Board of Trade 1852	Succeeded by The Lord Colchester
Preceded by The Lord Colchester	Paymaster-General Vice-President of the Board of Trade 1853–1855	Succeeded by Edward Pleydell Bouverie
Preceded by Edward Cardwell	President of the Board of Trade 1855–1858	Succeeded by Joseph Warner Henley
Preceded by The Earl of Elgin	Postmaster General 1860–1866	Succeeded by The Duke of Montrose
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Eddisbury 1848–1869	Succeeded by Henry Stanley
Preceded by John Stanley	Baron Stanley of Alderley 1850–1869