Edward Whitley

Who was Edward Whitley?

Edward Ewart Whitley was an English solicitor and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1892.

Whitley was the son of John Whitley of Liverpool and his wife Isabella Greenall, and a nephew of the Conservative politician Gilbert Greenall. He was educated at Rugby School and admitted a solicitor in 1849. He became a senior partner in the legal firm of Whitley, Maddock, Hampson, & Castle, of Liverpool. He became a member of the Corporation of Liverpool in 1866, and was Mayor of Liverpool in 1868. He became a J. P. for Liverpool.

In 1880 Whitley was elected as one the three Members of Parliament for Liverpool and held the seat until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. He was then elected MP for Everton, which he held until his death aged 66. He was buried in Alvanley Churchyard, near Helsby in Cheshire.

In 1878 Whitley married Elizabeth Eleanor Walker. His residences were The Grange, Halewood, near Liverpool and 185 Piccadilly.

Whitley is commemorated by Whitley Street in Liverpool, and by a triangular piece of rocky ground in Everton called Whitley Gardens.

There is a statue of Edward Whitley in St George's Hall, Liverpool.