Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley

Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, (13 November 180216 June 1869), known as The Lord Eddisbury between 1848 and 1850, was a British politician. He served as Postmaster General between 1860 and 1866.

Early life and education Stanley was the eldest of twin sons born to John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley, and Lady Maria Josepha, daughter of John Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield. His twin brother, Hon. William Owen Stanley (1802–1884), was a Liberal Party politician. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.

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. 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.

Marriage and issue

Lord Stanley of Alderley married Henrietta Maria (21 December 180716 February 1895), a daughter of Viscount Dillon, in 1826. Lord and Lady Stanley of Alderley had 12 children:

Henry Edward John, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley (1827–1903) Hon. Alice Margaret (20 August 1828 – 19 May 1910), married Augustus Pitt Rivers Hon. Henrietta Blanche (3 July 1830 – 5 January 1921), later Countess of Airlie, wife of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie (1826–81); a grandmother of Clementine Churchill, and a great-grandmother of the Mitford sisters Cecilia (3 July 1831 – 22 September 1839), died from head injury after falling from a window in Gosport, Hampshire Hon. Maude Alethea (1833–1915), activist for women and children Margaret Olga Stanley (1 March 1835 – 27 January 1836), died in infancy Lt. Col. Hon. John Constantine (30 September 1836 – 23 April 1878), Grenadier Guards Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley (1839–1925) Hon. Katherine Louisa (1842–1874), later Viscountess Amberley, wife of John Russell, Viscount Amberley; mother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell Rt. Rev. Hon. Algernon Charles (16 September 1843 – 23 April 1928), Roman Catholic Bishop of Emmaus (in partibus) Rosalind Frances (1845–1921), later Countess of Carlisle, became the chatelaine of Castle Howard and a radical temperance campaigner. Hon. Mary Ethelfreda Stanley (25 July 1849 – 15 September 1849), died in infancy

Three of their daughters died young. A stained glass window in their memories was erected in 1860 at St Mary's Church, Nether Alderley.

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)

Arms