Edward Stanley (Bridgwater MP)
Edward James Stanley DL JP (16 December 1826-29 September 1907), was a British Conservative politician.
Stanley was the son of Edward Stanley, of Cross Hall, Lancashire, a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for that county, and his wife Lady Mary, daughter of James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale. This branch of the Stanley family descended from Peter Stanley (d. c. 1686), younger son of Sir Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baronet, whose elder son Sir Edward Stanley, 3rd Baronet, was the ancestor of the branch of the family that have held the earldom of Derby since 1736. Stanley was educated at Oxford University. He entered Parliament for Somerset West in a 1882 by-election, a seat he held until 1885. He then represented Bridgwater until 1906, when he retired from the House of Commons at the age of 79. Apart from his parliamentary career he was also a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for both Somerset and Lancashire.
Stanley married the Hon. Mary Dorothy, daughter of Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton, in 1872. He died in September 1907, aged 80. His wife survived him by thirteen years and died in March 1920.