Everything about Edward Baines totally explained
Edward Baines (
1774 –
August 3 1848), English newspaper-proprietor and politician, was born in
1774 at
Walton-le-Dale, near
Preston,
Lancashire. He was educated at the grammar schools of
Hawkshead and Preston, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to a printer in Preston. After remaining there for four years and a half, he moved to
Leeds, finished his apprenticeship, and at once started his own business. He took a keen interest in political and social movements. His political opinions led him to sympathize with
non-conformity and he soon joined the Independents.
In 1801 the assistance of party friends enabled him to buy the
Leeds Mercury. Provincial newspapers at that time didn't possess much influence; it was no part of the editor's duty to supply what are now called "leading articles", and the system of reporting was described as "defective" by the
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Baines made a complete change in the
Mercury. His political articles gradually made the paper the organ of Liberal opinion in Leeds, and the connection of the Baines family with the paper made their influence powerful for many years in this direction. Baines soon began to take a prominent part in politics; he was an ardent advocate of parliamentary reform, and it was mainly by his influence that
Thomas Macaulay was returned for
Leeds in
1832; and in
1834 he succeeded Macaulay as member. He was re-elected in
1835 and
1837, but resigned in
1841.
In parliament he supported the Liberal party, but with independent views. Like his son Edward after him, he strongly advocated the separation of church and state, and opposed government interference in national education. His letters to
Lord John Russell on the latter question (
1846) had a powerful influence in determining the action of the government. He died in
1848. His best-known writings are:
The History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of York;
History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of Lancaster;
History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. He was also the author of a
History of the Wars of Napoleon, which was continued under the title of
A History of the Reign of George III.
His
Life (
1861) has been written by his son,
Sir Edward Baines (
1800-
1890), of St Ann's Hill, Leeds, who was editor and afterwards proprietor of the
Leeds Mercury, M.P. for
Leeds (
1859-
1874), and was knighted in
1880; his
History of the Cotton Manufacture (
1835) was long a standard authority. An elder son,
Matthew Talbot Baines (
1799-
1860), went to the bar; he became recorder of
Hull in (
1837), M.P. for
Hull in
1847, president of the Poor Law Board in
1849, was returned as M.P. for Leeds
1852, again became president of the Poor Law Board (till
1855), and entered the cabinet as
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in
1856. The youngest daughter of Edward Baines - Margaret (d.1891) - married another political figure,
Charles Reed, in 1844.
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