STANLEY, Edward (1790-1863), of Ponsonby Hall, Cumberlands and 49 Albemarle Street, London

Stanley, who served as a silent member for Cumberland West for two decades,1As Stanley shared a name with Lord Edward Stanley (later fourteenth earl of Derby and prime minister), MP for North Lancashire, 1832-1844, and Edward John Stanley (later Baron Eddisbury), MP for Cheshire North, 1832-41, 1847-48, the precise extent of his contributions in the Commons is difficult to determine. The indexes to Hansard (1832-1852) distinguish between ‘Lord Edward Stanley’ and ‘Edward J. Stanley’, and there is only one entry for ‘Edward Stanley’ in the period 1832-1852. As this sole entry was for a speech in favour of the ballot, 24 May 1833, which Edward Stanley, MP for Cumberland West, consistently opposed, it was probably given by Edward J. Stanley, Liberal MP for Cheshire North. On this basis, it appears that Stanley made no known speeches during his Parliamentary career. The extent of his select committee service is also unclear. He sat on the 1837 select committee on the survey of parishes and the 1837-8 committee on the Highways Act, when the parliamentary papers listed his constituency next to his name: PP 1837 (285), vi. 78; PP 1837-38 (463), xxiii. 254. An ‘Edward Stanley’ sat on select committees on the British channel fisheries, official houses, and London’s water supply, though the parliamentary papers do not distinguish between Stanley and the MP for Cheshire North: PP 1833 (676), xiv. 68; PP 1834 (480), xi. 449; PP 1834 (571), xv. 2. was the eldest son of George Edward Stanley, an East India judge, who owned estates at Ponsonby and Dalegarth, in Cumbria. Stanley’s branch of the family had held estates at Dalegarth for over five hundred years in unbroken succession from father to son.2R.S. Ferguson, Cumberland and Westmoreland MPs from the Restoration to the Reform Bill of 1867 (1871), 437. Their lineage can be further traced to Sir John Stanley (c.1350-1414), a soldier and administrator and native of Cheshire, from whom the Stanleys of Knowsley, the earls of Derby, were descended.3J. Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain (1833), 95-6.

At the 1832 general election Stanley was brought forward by the Lowther interest, led by the earl of Lonsdale, for Cumberland West. Following a hard fought campaign in which he zealously advocated the defence of agricultural concerns, he was returned in second place.4The Times, 26 Dec. 1832. Reflecting his support for the landed interest, he was in minorities for a select committee on agricultural distress and relief of taxation, 21 Feb. 1834, and for the repeal of the malt tax, 27 Feb. 1834. He also backed Attwood’s motion for currency reform, 24 Apr. 1833, and Althorp’s motion to replace church rates with a land tax, 21 Apr. 1834. He voted against the third reading of the poor law amendment bill, 1 July 1834, and thereafter remained implacably opposed to the legislation.

At the 1835 general election Stanley reiterated his support for the agricultural and shipping interests, both of which he claimed were ‘in a very languishing state’, and following a difficult nomination, at which he was accused of being ‘Lord Lowther’s tool’, he was re-elected at the top of the poll.5Parliamentary test book (1835), 149; Morning Chronicle, 21 Jan. 1835. He was in the Peel ministry’s minorities for Manners Sutton as speaker, 19 Feb. 1835, on the address, 26 Feb. 1835, and against Irish church appropriation, 2 Apr. 1835. Thereafter he opposed Melbourne’s second administration on most major issues, and voted against the ballot, 7 Mar. 1837. Standing again at the 1837 general election, he stated that he would oppose any measures which would endanger the established church, and renewed his critique of the poor law. Describing the legislation as ‘not at all calculated for Cumberland’, he criticised its ‘bastardy clauses’ and the ‘undue power given to the commissioners’.6Carlisle Journal, 5 Aug. 1837. Re-elected unopposed, he continued to follow Peel into the division lobby on most major issues, and voted for his motion of no confidence in the Whig ministry, 4 June 1841.

Stanley launched a scathing attack on Melbourne’s ministry at the 1841 general election, criticising ‘their wavering and incapacity’, and lamenting that ‘they have aimed a blow against the three great interests of empire – colonial, shipping and agriculture’. Reflecting his landed background, he insisted that ‘the commercial and manufacturing interests of the kingdom … are not so important as the agricultural interest, which is beneficial to every class of society’.7Carlisle Journal, 17 July 1841. Returned without a contest, Stanley loyally supported Peel’s ministry on most major issues, but he remained staunchly opposed to any significant alteration in the corn laws, and broke with the premier over repeal, 15 May 1846. At the 1847 general election, when he was again re-elected without opposition, he insisted that he ‘would do nothing to prevent the free trade changes from having a fair trial’, though he subsequently voted for a motion to reconsider the corn laws, 14 May 1850.8The Times, 13 Aug. 1837. In his final Parliament, Stanley generally followed Disraeli into the division lobby, including his motion to relieve the distress of land owners, 13 Feb. 1851, but his attendance, which had been declining for some time, was generally poor, and there was little surprise when he retired from public life at the dissolution of 1852.9In the 1849 session Stanley was present for 36 out of 219 divisions: Hampshire Telegraph, 20 Oct. 1849.

Stanley died at the family seat of Ponsonby Hall in August 1863, leaving effects valued at under £3,000.10England and Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of wills and administration, 1861-1941, 11 Sept. 1863. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, George Edward. The family papers are held at the Cumbria Record Office.11Cumb. R.O. DSTAN/2.