Parental Letters to Edward Lyulph Stanley

Letters written to Edward Lyulph Stanley from:

• (a) Numbers 1-6 (February-March, 1855), his father Edward John, 2nd Lord Stanley of Alderley;
• (b) Numbers 7-228 (1853-1857, 1871-1874), his mother Henrietta Maria, Lady Stanley of Alderley.

Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley and 1st Baron Eddisbury (1802-1869), politician, was born on 13 November 1802 at Alderley Park, Cheshire, the eldest son of John Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1822 and graduated BA with third-class honours in classics in 1825. He married Henrietta Maria Dillon-Lee (1807-1895), eldest daughter of the 13th Viscount Dillon, on 7 October 1826 at Florence.

Stanley was returned to parliament for Hindon, Wiltshire, in 1831, and represented North Cheshire from 1832 to 1841, and from 1847 to 1848. On 12 May 1848 he was created Baron Eddisbury, and he succeeded to the barony of Stanley of Alderley on 23 October 1850. He served as under-secretary for the colonies in 1833-4, and as under-secretary to the Home department from July to November 1834. He was appointed secretary to the Treasury in 1835, paymaster-general from June to September 1841, and a privy councillor on 11 August 1841. In July 1846, Palmerston chose him as under-secretary for foreign affairs, a post he held until February 1852. He was vice-president of the Board of Trade in February 1852 and again from 1853; he was appointed president in March 1855 and remained in this office until February 1858. In August 1860 he was appointed by Palmerston as postmaster-general with a seat in the cabinet, remaining until July 1866. He refused the offer of a seat in Gladstone's cabinet in 1868 because of his declining health. Stanley died at his London home on 16 June 1869. He was buried at Alderley Park on 23 June 1869.

Source: Ian D.C. Newbould, 'Stanley, Edward John, second Baron Stanley of Alderley and first Baron Eddisbury (1802-1869)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. By permission of Oxford University Press - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/26267.

Henrietta Maria Stanley, née Dillon-Lee (1807-1895), Lady Stanley of Alderley, political hostess and campaigner for women's education, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 21 December 1807, the eldest child of Henry Augustus Dillon-Lee, 13th Viscount Dillon (1777-1832). In 1814 she married Edward John Stanley. She was one of the original lady visitors of F.D. Maurice's foundation for the higher education of women, Queen's College in Harley Street, established in 1848, and from this developed a wider interest in schemes for women's education. She supported the campaign to secure the admission of women to the university local examinations. She was a member of the National Union for the Improvement of Women's Education, founded in 1871, and the Girls' Public Day School Company (1872); and from 1874 she campaigned for the Medical College for Women. She wrote of her campaigns in an article, 'Personal recollections of women's education', in The Nineteenth Century, August 1879.

In 1872 she become a signatory of the Girton College memorandum and articles of association and for the remainder of her life she gave generously of her time and her money to Girton. Lady Stanley retained her interest and involvement in politics, breaking with Gladstone over home rule and becoming a moving spirit in the Women's Liberal Unionist Association. She died at her home in London on 16 February 1895.

Source: Gillian Sutherland, 'Stanley , Henrietta Maria, Lady Stanley of Alderley (1807-1895)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. By permission of Oxford University Press - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/26271.