Henry Handley

Henry Handley (17 March 1797 – 29 June 1846) was a British Whig politician.

Handley was the third, but first surviving, son of Benjamin Handley, an attorney and banker, and his wife Frances née Conington. He began his education at Charterhouse School in 1805, before moving to Eton College in 1822, and then matriculating at Christ Church, Oxford in 1815. In 1816, he then entered Lincoln's Inn. In 1825, he married Caroline Edwardes, daughter of William Edwardes, 2nd Baron Kensington, and they had two sons, and eight daughters, while another illegitimate child is also recorded for Handley. He inherited his father's estate in 1828. In 1835 he helped revive Nicholas Cundy's proposal for a "Grand Northern Railway", running between London and York. As well as forming a company for the project, Northern and Eastern, Handley obtained the services of engineer James Walker to survey the proposed route. In 1836 various proposals for such lines were considered by parliament; the Northern and Eastern line was approved, but only as far as Cambridge (George Stephenson had convinced parliament that a Northern line via Derby was sufficient). Construction on the "Handley Testimonial in Sleaford" (now known as "Handley's monument"), designed by William Boyle, began in 1850 and was completed in 1852. A street was later named after him.