Constituency : Kilmarnock Burghs 1844-74
Edward was the brother of the Earl of Radnor. As a sworn enemy of Gladstone he hasn't had a great press from historians.
Edward was a Whig barrister and first got involved in politics as a speechwriter for Palmerston. He joined Russell's government in its last days as under-secretary of state at the Home Office. Palmerston made him a privy councillor , paymaster-general and vice-president of the Board of Trade in 1855 but later that year switched him to President of the Poor Law Board which he held until 1858.
Thereafter Edward actively sought office but never achieved it. Palmerston occupied him with some church administrative posts on returning to power in 1859 but he joined the Adullamite faction in 1866 as a response to George Goschen's elevation to the Cabinet. He was publicly scolded by Mill for his opposition to parliamentary reform. In the 1868 General Election he was opposed by Edwin Chadwick who had been invited to stand as an advanced Liberal by burghers dissatisfied with Edward's Whiggish recalcitrance. Mill supported his candidature but Edward easily beat them off. He was a constant thorn in Gladstone's side particularly over the Irish University bill.
He retired in 1874 and devoted himself to business interests becoming chairman of the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders and director of the Great Western Railway. He died in 1889.
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