Constituency Dates
Ludlow 1774 – 13 Aug. 1794
Family and Education
b. 7 Mar. 1754, 1st s. of Robert, 1st Baron Clive. educ. Eton 1762-70; Ch. Ch. Oxf. 1771. m. 7 May 1784, Lady Henrietta Antonia Herbert, da. of Henry Arthur, 1st Earl of Powis, and sis. and h. of George, 2nd Earl, 2s. 2da. suc. fa. as 2nd Baron Clive [I] 22 Nov. 1774; cr. Baron Clive of Walcot [GB] 13 Aug. 1794; Earl of Powis 14 May 1804.
Offices Held

Recorder, Shrewsbury from 1775; ld. lt. Salop 1775 – 98, 1804 – d.; recorder Ludlow from 1801; ld. lt. Mont. 1804–30.

Gov. Madras 1798 – 1803; P.C. 21 Nov. 1805.

Address
Main residences: Oakley Park, Salop; Claremont, Surr.
biography text

Returned unopposed for Ludlow on the Clive-Powis interest before he was of age, Edward Clive seems after his father’s death to have been directed politically by his father’s friends, Wedderburn and Strachey, voting with the North Administration in every division for which a list of its supporters is extant. At the opening of the session in November 1778 North asked him to second the Address, but Clive excused himself;1North to the King, 10 Nov. 1778, Fortescue, iv. 215. and there is no record of his having spoken in the House. The Public Ledger wrote about him in 1779:

Votes always with the ministry, and entirely under the direction of Mr. Wedderburn, who has the English peerage in view for him ...

In 1780 he met with strong opposition at Ludlow. In the new House Clive again voted with the North Administration; but was abroad at the time of the division on Shelburne’s peace preliminaries. When the Coalition Government was being formed Clive was apparently considered for some office;2Ibid. vi. 275. voted for Fox’s East India bill; and on the dismissal of the Coalition went into opposition. He died 16 May 1839.

Author
L.B.N.
Volume
Commons 1754-1790
Notes
  • 1. North to the King, 10 Nov. 1778, Fortescue, iv. 215.
  • 2. Ibid. vi. 275.