1571 Edward Holden

Constituency : Heywood  1906-10

Edward  took  over  from  George  Kemp  at  Heywood.

Edward  was  the  son  of  a  calico  bleacher  from  Tottington. He  started  in  clerical  work  then  became  a  banker's  apprentice. He  studied  at  Owen's  College  at  night. In  1881, he  started  working  at  Birmingham  and  Midland  Bank  and  rose  through  the  ranks  as  it  expanded  rapidly  through  acquisitions. In  1898,  he  personally  arranged  the  acquisition  of  the  City  Bank  and  became  managing  director  of  the resulting  London, City  and  Midland  Bank. When  it  as  renamed  the Midland  Bank  in  1908,  he  became  its  chairman. By  his  death  it  was  the  largest  bank  in  the  world.

Edward  made  only  one  parliamentary  speech, an  assessment  of  the  final  balance  sheet  in  1906  which  was  rather  pessimistic.

In  1908  Edward  was  mooted  to  succeed  Asquith  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. This  prompted  a  threat  to  resign  from  the  Cabinet  from  Lloyd  George  who  then  took  the  position  himself.

Edward  was  created  a  baronet  in  1909. He  twice  refused  a  peerage.

Edward  stood  down  in  January  1910.

The  government  still  took  economic  advice  from  Edward  and  in  1915  he  went  to  New  York  to  stabilise  exchange  rates  and  negotiate  a  loan.

He  died  of  a  heart  attack  in  1919  aged  71.