Constituency : Oldham 1880-85
Edward captured the second seat at Oldham for the Liberals.
Edward was the son of Baron Stanley of Alderley. He was educated at Eton and Oxford and became a barrister. He was an agnostic and a member of the Liberation Society. he attacked clerical restrictions at Oxford He had been unsuccessfully contesting Oldham since a by-election in 1872 where he was backed by the National Education League although many nonconformists decried his religious views. W R Ward described him as a "prominent wild man among the secularising Liberals". He became a member of the London School Board in 1876 ; with a short break he held his place until 1904 and was constantly at odds with the church schools. as leader of the Progressive party. He saw elementary education as the key and wanted to build as many new schools as possible.In 1873 he married Mary , the daughter of Lowthian Bell.
Edward never spoke in Parliament. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Housing of Working Classes. Stuart Rendel described him as "political garlic.Put him in the ministerial dietary and the whole party would reek of him". He told Mundella he was "as bad as the Tories."
Edward was defeated in 1885. The Tory victor told Salisbury "The Irish did not vote straight and their strength had been considerably exaggerated, while Mr S R Platt , the great employer of labour , though a churchman himself, used all his influence to secure Lyulph Stanley's return". He unsuccessfully contested the seat again in 1892 although Sidney Webb commented in a letter that "Stanley has done better than was expected".
Edward published a book Our National Education in 1899.
Edward succeeded his elder brother to the barony in 1903.
Edward was the father of Asquith's female friend, Venetia Stanley.
He died in 1925 aged 86.
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