HOLLAND, Edward (1806-1875), of Dumbleton Park, Evesham, Worcs.

Holland was born in Trieste, then under French occupation, where his father represented the trading firm of Holland and Humble.1S. Paget (ed.), Henry Scott Holland: memoir and letters (2nd edn, 1921), 3; J. Chapple, Elizabeth Gaskell. The Early Years (1997), 106. The family was ‘presumed, on good authority, to be a junior branch of the baronial family of Holland’.2H.S. Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire (1873), 291. The family derived ‘through the Hollands of Clifton and Mobberley, from the Hollands of Upholland’: B. Holland, rev. H.C.G. Matthew, ‘Holland, Henry Thurstan, first Viscount Knutsford’, Oxford DNB, xxvii. 671. His grandfather, Samuel (1734-1816) was a Dissenter and farmer of Sandlebridge, Cheshire.3Chapple, Elizabeth Gaskell, 52-3, 184. Also a land agent, he purchased the Maer estate in Staffordshire on behalf of his kinsman, Josiah Wedgwood. His father, Swinton (1777-1827), though ‘somewhat brusque and unpolished’, was ‘an energetic man of affairs’, who prospered as a Liverpool merchant before making a large fortune as a partner in Baring Brothers Company from 1815. Holding a quarter-share in the firm, and controlling its Bishopsgate counting house, he purchased a splendid estate at The Priory at Roehampton in 1819, which became the meeting place of an international circle of merchants and financiers.4Chapple, Elizabeth Gaskell, 105, 179, 180; Morning Chronicle, 28 Nov. 1805. Having been declared bankrupt in March 1802, he quickly recovered to become an authority on currency control, giving evidence to the secret parliamentary committee on bank repayments in 1819: A List of Bankrupts, with their Dividends, Certificates, &c. (1806); PP 1819 (282) iii. 3 [116-25]. Edward Holland was first cousin to both Sir Henry Holland, the noted physician, and the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. He was second cousin to Charles Darwin, to whom he lent horses to ride when in London, and whose sister, Catherine, described the young Holland in 1832 as ‘awfully pompous’.5D. Berry, ‘Holland, Sir Henry, first baronet’, Oxford DNB, xxvii. 668-9; Chapple, Elizabeth Gaskell, 183; F. Burkhardt & S. Smith (eds.), The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, i (1985), 275. He was the uncle of Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918), the theologian and social reformer: J.H. Heidt, ‘Holland, Henry Scott’, Oxford DNB, xxvii. 669-71.

In the pursuit of wealth, the family was not ‘overburdened by its dissenting conscience’, and Holland took his degree at Trinity College, Cambridge.6Chapple, Elizabeth Gaskell, 182. Holland’s brother, Frederick, became vicar of Evesham. When his father died suddenly in December 1827 he became a landed proprietor of influence as lord of the manor of Dumbleton, a 2,000 acre estate ‘of a very superior quality’, near Evesham. He constructed a large mansion there in 1833 and, being an experimental farmer and sheep breeder, developed a model farm on the estate, becoming an advocate of steam-powered cultivation.7The Times, 6 Jan. 1875; Chapple, Elizabeth Gaskell, 181, 182; S. Darwin to C. Darwin, 15 Aug. 1832, Burkhardt & Smith, Correspondence of Charles Darwin, i. 256. His father purchased the estate for £80,000 from Lord Somers in June 1823: Chapple, Elizabeth Gaskell, 181.

In 1832 Holland had married the daughter of Elias Isaac, a successful Worcester banker.8Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 3 May 1832. In 1835 he stood as a Reformer for East Worcestershire, defeating the Conservative candidate. While claiming to ‘revere the established church’, he pointed to the ‘many abuses that ought to be removed’, and promised to pursue the claims of Dissenters.9Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 8 Jan. 1835; Parliamentary Test Book (1835), 83-4. At Westminster he supported the Whig ministry, voting for the Irish municipal corporations and church bills, and the factory regulation bill, but opposed the abolition of flogging in the army, the ballot, and a revision of the pension list.10Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 1 Sept. 1836; Dod’s Parliamentary Companion (1837), 98. In June 1836 he presented a petition to remove restrictions on trade with Malta, and served on the select committee on the protection of the rights of aborigines in British settlements in 1836-7. He advertised his radical sympathies by donating to Daniel O’Connell’s election petition fund in 1836, but misjudged the political mood in Evesham and was defeated by two Conservatives at the 1837 general election.11Hansard, 7 June 1836, vol. 34, c. 164; PP 1836 (538) vii. 1; PP 1837 (425) vii.1; Morning Post, 10 Jan. 1854.

The mainstay of several agricultural societies, and the architect of a ‘carefully considered’ scheme of local tenant-right, Holland actively promoted agricultural education. He believed in the necessary ‘union of capital with skill’ in farming, and advocated the judicious introduction of machinery.12Morning Post, 25 Sept. 1846. He was a prime mover in the establishment of the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester in 1844, becoming its chairman and chief financial supporter in 1847. An original member of the Royal Agricultural Society, he was for many years chairman of its education committee, being appointed president of the body in 1873.13The Times, 9, 16 Jan. 1875; www.dumbletonvillage.co.uk. He was prepared to differ with many of his constituents on the issue of free trade and donated funds to the Anti-Corn Law League. After repeal he made an agreement with his tenants that their future rents ‘should vary with the price of wheat’.14The Times, 3 Dec. 1842; R. Sayce, The History of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester (1992), 39.

Holland was spoken of as a candidate for one of the divisions of Worcestershire in 1846, but did not re-enter politics until January 1854 when, presenting himself as ‘a Church and State man’ and an independent supporter of the Aberdeen ministry, he was easily beaten by Sir Michael Hicks Beach at Gloucestershire East.15Morning Post, 25 Sept. 1846, 10 Jan. 1854; Standard, 16 Jan. 1854. He came forward, ostensibly on his own initiative,16Nevertheless, it was reported that Holland’s candidacy had been hastily arranged by William Hayter, the Liberal chief whip: Derby Mercury, 11 July 1855. for Evesham in July 1855, after the sitting Liberal member transferred to Cheltenham and the former member, Lord Marcus Hill, declined to stand.17Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 9 Jan. 1875, 14 July 1855. He was returned unopposed as an ‘Independent’ Liberal, unpledged to any party but in favour of measured administrative reform, a considerable extension of the franchise, and a vigorous prosecution of the war with Russia. Regarding education, he favoured a system that was ‘voluntary, if possible, and if not possible, then by the aid of Government’.18Standard, 10, 12 July 1855; Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 14 July 1855; Stenton, Who’s Who of British MPs, i. 196.

A ‘frank and genial’ presence in the House, Holland believed that the reformed Commons had suffered ‘a growing evil’, whereby as the country’s business grew, so ‘the speeches of the members had increased in length, in verbosity, and in paucity of intelligence’, and therefore warned his constituents not to expect long speeches from him.19Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 9 Jan. 1875, 14 July 1855. He nevertheless made a number of contributions to debate, such as when he questioned Lord Palmerston over the fate of the Crimean Tartars who had assisted the allies during the recent war in March 1856.20Hansard, 13 Mar. 1856, vol. 141, c. 45. The Tatar population largely disappeared from the region, having become subject to Russian reprisals after the departure of the allied troops: O. Figes, Crimea (2010), 420-1. He also attended the house quite regularly, participating in 60 of the 198 divisions that session.21J.P. Gassiot & J.A. Roebuck, Third letter to J.A. Roebuck: with a full analysis of the divisions in the House of Commons during the last session of parliament (1857), 31.

Having lost his first wife in 1851, he married his sister-in-law, the daughter of a Malta and city of London banker in Valletta in 1857.22Standard, 28 Jan. 1857. His brother, Frederick, had married Susan Christian in Malta in 1842: Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 3 Oct. 1842. He was re-elected for Evesham that year, defending his independence by claiming that he ‘was no party man, and voted as his conscience guided him’. Nonetheless, he had proved a consistent supporter of the ministry, opposing the abolition of income tax in February 1857, and supporting Palmerston over the Canton issue in March. Although he preferred open voting, he supported ballot motions in 1857-8, rallied to the ministry’s aid over the conspiracy to murder bill, 19 Feb. 1858, and maintained his support for the abolition of church rates in 1859.23Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 28 Mar. 1857, 14 July 1855. Having ridiculed Lord Derby’s reform bill as inferior to the measure prepared by Lord John Russell, he was re-elected for Evesham, defeating Edwin Chadwick, and advocating an extension of the franchise.24Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 16, 30 Apr., 2 May 1859.

In 1861 Holland appended his name to a Liberal address to Lord Palmerston on the subject of retrenchment, and in 1863 sat on the select committee on the Thames Embankment bill, but his principal concern in parliament was agriculture.25Birmingham Daily Post, 5 Feb. 1861; PP 1863 (219) xii. 413. During 1863-6 he introduced bills to prevent contagious diseases in sheep, to check the spread of cattle plague, and to regulate the practice of veterinary surgeons.26PP 1863 (98) iv. 181; PP 1866 (7) i. 481; PP 1866 (20) i. 499; PP 1866 (24) i. 513; PP 1866 (32) i. 527; (34) i. 545; PP 1866 (121) v. 581; Hansard, 9 May 1866, vol. 183, cc. 654-5; 17 July, vol. 184, cc. 988-9. He also sat on select committees on the prevention of cattle disease, which had, he contended, become more prevalent after the importation of foreign cattle was legalised, and for the regulation of the trade in animals by sea and rail.27PP 1864 (431) (431-I) vii. 1, 235; PP 1866 (427) (427-I) xvi. 423, 831; Hansard, 1 July 1863, vol. 172, cc. 43-4; 9 Mar. 1864, vol. 173, cc. 1751-2. He supported the extension of the borough franchise in 1864-5, and voted for the abolition of the Oxford University tests in 1865.

At his final election in 1865, he again qualified his support for the ballot by arguing that ‘the vote of a man was public property and ought to be exercised in public’, but spoke in favour of extending the franchise on the ground that the ‘working man ought to have a vote if he was in a position by intelligence and education’. He therefore supported the Liberal reform bill in 1866, 28Birmingham Daily Post, 12 July 1865. and backed Gladstone’s subsequent attempt to enfranchise compound ratepayers, 12 Apr. 1867. He also concerned himself with road transport and, having introduced a bill to regulate the use of locomotives on roads in 1865, served on the select committee on the turnpike trusts bill in 1867.29PP 1865 (63) ii. 665; PP 1865 (116) ii. 669; Hansard, 26 Apr. 1865, vol. 178, cc. 1060-71; PP 1867 (352) xii. 709. That year he also turned his attention to nautical matters, posing numerous questions on the admiralty’s sailing and steering rules with respect to collisions and loss of life at sea.30Hansard, 22 Feb. 1867, vol. 105, cc. 809-10; 11 Apr. 1867, vol. 186, cc. 1485; 27 May 1867, vol. 187, cc. 1128-9; 20 June 1867, vol. 188, cc. 170-1; 6 Dec. 1867, vol. 190, cc. 642-3; 2 Apr. 1868, vol. 191, c. 705; 25 June 1868, vol. 192, c. 2136. Having supported Gladstone’s resolutions on the Irish church, 3 Apr. 1868, he retired at the general election after one member was taken from Evesham under the terms of the 1867 Reform Act.31It was a measure that he himself had supported at the time of Derby’s reform bill in 1859: Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 30 Apr. 1859. He took no further part in politics.

A ‘martyr to gout’, Holland died of congestion of the lungs at his residence in January 1875. He was remembered as ‘strong and resolute in his actions’, yet ‘quiet and gentle in manner with a great kindness of heart and a strong vein of humour’.32Sayce, History of the Royal Agricultural College, 39; The Times, 6 Jan. 1875. He was succeeded by his eldest son Edward Thurstan Holland (1836-84), a barrister, who had married Marianne Gaskell in August 1866.33Leeds Mercury, 16 Aug. 1866; J.A.V. Chapple & A. Wilson (eds.), Private Voices. The Diaries of Elizabeth Gaskell and Sophia Holland (1996), 38-41. In 1844 his brother, George Henry Holland, married the daughter of Sir Robert Gifford, a former attorney-general and master of the rolls.