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Edward Ellice (MP for St Andrews)

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For other people named Edward Ellice, see Edward Ellice (disambiguation).

Edward Ellice the Younger

Edward Ellice the Younger (19 August 1810 – 2 August 1880) was a British Liberal Party politician and landowner.

Life

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He was the eldest son of Edward Ellice, from his first marriage to Hannah Althea Grey, the youngest sister of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey.[1] The Ellice family was English by descent, and had settled in Aberdeenshire in the mid-17th century.[2] Edward Ellice was born in London in 1810[3] and was educated at Eton College (1823–1836) and at Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] He matriculated at the University of Cambridge on the 6 June 1828 and in 1831 was awarded a master of arts degree.[3]

In 1832, he was appointed as Private Secretary to John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham for his diplomatic mission to Russia.[3] Lord Durham was a close friend and a relative of Ellice's father, having married the Earl Grey's second daughter.[3] Ellice was an unsuccessful candidate for Inverness Burghs in the 1835 general election, but was elected to represent Huddersfield in a May 1837 by-election. In the general election that year he was elected to represent St Andrews Burghs, a seat he held until 1880.[3]

Ellice continued as Durham's private secretary during his term as Governor-General of the Province of Canada; whilst he was working in Canada, his wife Katherine and her sister were captured for six days during the Rebellions of 1837–1838.[2]

He remained a backbencher throughout his political career, taking special interest in the reform of the Scottish Poor Laws.[3] He supported the idea of "clearance", but viewed indiscriminate forcible eviction of the peasantry as "cruel and indefensible".[3]

He was offered a peerage by William Gladstone in 1869, but declined the offer,[4] and retired from Parliament in early 1880, shortly before his death aged 69.[3]

Ellice married the diarist Katherine Jane Balfour, daughter of General Balfour of Balbirnie, in 1834. She accompanied him to Russia and Canada.[2] Following her death in 1864, he married in 1867 Eliza Stewart, daughter of Thomas Campbell Hagart of Bantaskine, widow of Alexander Spiers of Elderslie.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Ellice, Edward (ELY828E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ a b c K. D. Reynolds, ‘Ellice , Katherine Jane [Janie] (1813–1864)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 19 June 2017
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Spain, Jonathan (30 May 2013). "Ellice, Edward (1810-1880), landowner and politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8651. Retrieved 27 January 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons, 1870
  • Oliver & Boyd's new Edinburgh almanac and national repository for the year 1850. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1850
  • Jonathan Spain, "Ellice, Edward (1810–1880)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 11 July 2006
  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Huddersfield
1837 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for St Andrews Burghs
1837–1880 		Succeeded by
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