Sir Henry Edwards, 1st Baronet CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (20 July 1812 – 23 April 1886) was an English Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1847 and 1869.

Edwards was the son of Henry Lees Edwards and Lea Priestley. He was J.P.

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 and Deputy Lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 for the West Riding of Yorkshire and reached the rank of Colonel in the 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment Yeomanry Cavalry.

In 1847 Edwards was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Halifax

Halifax (UK Parliament constituency)

Halifax is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.- Boundaries :...

 and held the seat until 1852. In 1857 he was elected MP for Beverley

Beverley (UK Parliament constituency)

Beverley has been the name of a parliamentary constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire for three separate periods. From medieval times until 1869, it was a parliamentary borough, consisting solely of the market town of Beverley, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons...

 and was re-elected in subsequent elections. He was created baronet

Edwards Baronets

There have been seven Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Edwards, three in the Baronetage of England and four in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Only one creation is extant as of 2007....

 of Pye Nest on 3 August 1866. After the 1868 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1868

The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom...

  the election was declared void on 11 Mar 1869. No writ was issued to replace the members and the constituency was disenfranchised by an Act which received Royal assent on 4 July 1870. Edwards was High Sheriff of Yorkshire

High Sheriff of Yorkshire

The High Sheriff of Yorkshire was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. A list of the sheriffs from the Norman conquest onwards can be found below...

in 1872.

Edwards died at the age of 73.

Edwards married Maria Churchill Coster, daughter of Thomas Coster, on 19 April 1838. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Henry.

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