Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer

Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer ( – 11 April 1755) was a British Tory politician and peer. In 1727 he established the political and social club which would become the Cocoa Tree Club. He was the nephew of Great Britain's Chief Minister between 1711 and 1714, Robert Harley.

Early life Harley was the son and heir of Sarah Foley (the third daughter of Thomas Foley of Witley Court) and Edward Harley of Eywood, the Auditor of the Imprest and the next younger brother of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.

Career He was returned to Parliament as the member for Herefordshire in 1727, sitting until 1741. He vigorously defended the past record of his uncle Robert's governments during Queen Anne's reign and was averse to the Jacobite flirtations of Tories such as Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn. He remained a committed Tory in the House of Lords; in 1745, Lord Chesterfield referred to him and Williams-Wynn as "the only two people to be regarded" in the Tory party. Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (1726–1790), also an MP for Hertfordshire; he married heiress Susannah Archer, a daughter of William Archer. Hon. John Harley (1728–1788), the Bishop of Hereford who married his cousin Roach Vaughan, daughter of Gwynne Vaughan of Trebarried; their son, Edward became 5th Earl of Oxford. Hon. Thomas Harley (1730–1804), Lord Mayor of London who married Anne Bangham, the daughter of Edward Bangham, MP for Leominster. Rev. Hon. William Harley (d. 1769). Lady Sarah Harvey (d. 1737). Lady Martha Harvey, who married Charles Milborne, of The Priory, Abergavenny, in 1764.

Lord Oxford died on 11 April 1755 and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Edward.