The Right Honourable The Lord Stanley of Alderley PC
The 2nd Baron of Alderley,c. 1865
Ministerial offices Postmaster General In office 17 August 1860 – 26 June 1866 Prime Minister The Viscount Palmerston The Earl Russell Preceded by The Earl of Elgin Succeeded by The Duke of Montrose President of the Board of Trade In office 31 March 1855 – 21 February 1858 Prime Minister The Viscount Palmerston Preceded by Edward Cardwell Succeeded by Joseph Warner Henley Paymaster General Vice-President of the Board of Trade In office 5 January 1853 – 30 January 1855 Prime Minister The Earl of Aberdeen Preceded by Charles Abbot Succeeded by Edward Pleydell-Bouverie In office 12 February 1852 – 21 February 1852 Prime Minister The Earl Russell Preceded by Granville Leveson-Gower Succeeded by Charles Abbot ParliamentaryUnder-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs In office 6 July 1846 – 12 February 1852 Prime Minister The Earl Russell Preceded by George Smythe Succeeded by Austen Henry Layard Paymaster General In office 19 June 1841 – 30 August 1841 Prime Minister The Viscount Melbourne Preceded by Sir Henry Parnell, Bt. Succeeded by Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt. Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury In office 21 April 1835 – 19 June 1841 Prime Minister The Viscount Melbourne Preceded by Sir George Clerk Succeeded by Sir Denis Le Marchant
Parliamentary offices Member of Parliament forNorth Cheshire In office 26 August 1847 – 8 June 1848 Preceded by George Legh Succeeded by George Legh In office 8 January 1833 – 22 July 1841 Preceded by constituency established Succeeded by George Legh Member of Parliament forHindon In office 1 June 1831 – 8 January 1833 Preceded by George Matthew Fortescue Succeeded by constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1802-11-13)13 November 1802
Died	16 June 1869(1869-06-16) (aged 66)
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig Liberal
Spouse	Henrietta Dillon-Lee ​ ​ (m. 1826)​
Children	10
Parent(s)	John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley Lady Maria Holroyd
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley,PC (13 November 1802 – 16 June 1869), known asThe Lord Eddisbury between 1848 and 1850, was a British politician. He served asPostmaster General between 1860 and 1866.

Stanley was the eldest of twin sons born toJohn Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley, andLady Maria Josepha, daughter ofJohn Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield. His twin brother, Hon.William Owen Stanley (1802–1884), was a Liberal Party politician.^[1] He was educated atEton College andChrist Church, Oxford.^[2]

Stanley entered theHouse of Commons asWhig Member of Parliament (MP) forHindon in 1831 and was later member forNorth Cheshire between 1832 and 1841, and between 1847 and 1848. He served underLord Melbourne asPatronage Secretary to the Treasury from 1835 to 1841, asUnder-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1841 and asPaymaster General in 1841 and underLord John Russell asUnder-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1846 and 1852.^[3] He was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1841^[4] and in 1848, two years before he succeeded to thebarony of Stanley, he was createdBaron Eddisbury, of Winnington^[3] in the County Palatine of Chester.^[5]

Stanley wasPresident of the Board of Trade underLord Palmerston from 1855 to 1858, andPostmaster-General under Palmerston and then Lord John Russell from 1860 to 1866. In 1861 he established thePost Office Savings Bank.

Lord Stanley of Alderley marriedHenrietta Maria (21 December 1807 – 16 February 1895), a daughter ofViscount Dillon, in 1826. Lord and Lady Stanley of Alderley had 12 children:^[6][7]

• Henry Edward John, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley (1827–1903)
• Hon. Alice Margaret (20 August 1828 – 19 May 1910), marriedAugustus Pitt Rivers
• Hon. Henrietta Blanche (3 July 1830 – 5 January 1921), later Countess of Airlie, wife ofDavid Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie (1826-81); a grandmother ofClementine Churchill, and a great-grandmother of theMitford sisters
• Cecilia (3 July 1831 – 22 September 1839), died from head injury after falling from a window inGosport, Hampshire^[8]
• 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 ofJohn Russell, Viscount Amberley; mother of the philosopherBertrand Russell
• Rt. Rev. Hon. Algernon Charles (16 September 1843 – 23 April 1928), Roman CatholicBishop of Emmaus (in partibus)
• Rosalind Frances (1845–1921), later Countess of Carlisle, became the chatelaine ofCastle 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 atSt Mary's Church, Nether Alderley.^[9]

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 descendantNancy Mitford as:

• The Ladies of Alderley: Letters 1841–1850 (Hamish Hamilton, 1938)
• The Stanleys of Alderley: Their letters 1851–1865 (Chapman & Hall, 1939)

Coat of arms of Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley

Crest On a chapeau gules, turned up ermine, an eagle with wings expanded or preying upon an infant proper, swaddled gules, handed argent. Escutcheon Argent, on a bend azure, three bucks' heads cabossed or, a crescent for difference. Supporters Dexter, a stag or, gorged with a ducal crown, line reflexed over the back, and charged on the shoulder with a mullet azure; sinister, a lion reguardant proper, gorged with a plain collar argent charged with three escallops gules. Motto Sans Changer (Without Changing)[10]

• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Edward Stanley

• Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies
• Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Hindon
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• 1802 births
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