1083 Edward Crossley

Constituency  : Sowerby  1885-92

Edward  won   the  new  seat  of  Sowerby.

Edward  was  a  scion  of  the  famous  Halifax  carpets  dynasty. He  was  educated  at  Owens  College,  Manchester. He  was  the  son-in-law  of  the  former  MP  for  Leeds, Edward  Baines. He  was  mayor  of  Halifax  between  1874  and  1876  and  in  1884-85. Edwards's  principal  interest  was  astronomy. In  1867  he  became  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society.  He  built  an  observatory  at  Bernerside  and  bought  a  36-inch  telescope. He  co-authored  a  book  on  double  stars  in  1879. He  was  a  deacon  of  Square  Congregational  Chapel  though  in  1888  he  fell  out  with  the  minister  and  built  his  own  independent  Evangelical  Protestant  chapel  on  the  Isle  of  Wight..

Edward  was  a  keen  supporter  of  Home  Rule  and  referred  to  the  Liberal  Unionists  as  "chained  to  the  Tory  chariot".

Edward  was  a   campaigner  against  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act.

In  1895  Edward  donated  his  telescope  to  the  Lick  Observatory  in  California  where  viewing  conditions  were  better.  It  became  known  as  the  Crossley  reflector  and  saw  service  up  to  2010.

He  died  in  1905  aged  64.