810 Evelyn Ashley

Constituency  :  Poole  1874-80, Isle  of  Wight  1880-85

The  1874-80  Parliament  was  the  Liberal  party's  first  prolonged  period  in  opposition. It  was  marked  by  Gladstone's  first  retirement  and  the  succession  of  Lord  Hartington  who  pursued  a  mild  course  as  Disraeli  brought  in  his  superficial  social  legislation. This  all  changed  with   the  eruption  of  the  Eastern  Question  which  brought  Gladstone  roaring  back  to  prominence  in  denunciation  of  the  government's  immoral  Turkish  policy. As  you  would  expect  Liberal  by-election  victories  increased  as  the  parliament  wore  on.

Evelyn  took  over  at  Poole  in  May  1874  after  the  disqualification  of  Charles  Waring. He  had  been  the  unsuccessful  Liberal  at  the  general  election.

Evelyn's  maiden  speech  was  on  a  measure  extending  the  Factory  Acts  to  women  in  the  silk  trade. In  1875  he  clashed  with  the  independent  MP  for  Stoke  , Dr  Kenealy  after  referring  to  his  misconduct  as  a  barrister  at  a  political  dinner. That  same  year  he  led  a  delegation  of  Liberal  MPs  trying  to  get  Gladstone  to  speak  on  the  Eastern  Question.

Evelyn  was  an  echo  from  the  party's  past. He  was  Lady  Palmerston's  grandson, formerly  his  step-grandfather's  private  secretary  and  biographer  and  heir  to the  Palmerston  estates  which  he  inherited  in  1888. His  father  was  the  factory  reformer  Lord  Shaftesbury. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge  and  became  a  barrister  although  he  did  not  practise  until  Palmerston's  death. In  1860  he  was  sent  to  Italy  to  report  on  the  situation  there.

In  1880  Evelyn  was  appointed   Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Trade  by  Gladstone  and  then  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  from  1882 to  1885. In  1881  he  publicly  promised  to  vote  for  the  next  women's  suffrage  bill.

Evelyn  was  defeated  in  1885  and  the  following  year  he  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists. He  stood  for  North  Dorset  in  1886, Glasgow  Bridgeton  in  1887,  Ayr  Burghs  in  1888  and  Portsmouth  in  1892  and  1895  but  never  succceeded  in  returning  to  the  Commons. In  1891  he  was  made  a  privy  councillor; the  queen  queried  his  nomination  but  Salisbury  explained  it  as  a  necessary  favour  to  Hartington.

He  died  in  1907  aged  71.