Commander Edward Downes Law, 5th Baron Ellenborough (9 May 1841 – 9 December 1915), was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Naval career

Law was educated at

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

and entered the

in 1854 aged just 13. Law was a naval cadet with , serving in the Baltic during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

in 1855 and was awarded the

Baltic Medal The Baltic Medal was a campaign medal approved on 6 June 1856, for issue to officers and men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, and Royal Sappers and Miners who served between March 1854 and August 1855 in the Baltic Sea operations against Russia ...

. He became a sub-lieutenant in 1860 and a lieutenant in 1861, and in 1867 he passed as an interpreter in French. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, he was serving on the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the t ...

. He transferred to the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

, and was with her in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

during the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

(1859–1861) and was awarded the

Second China War Medal The Second China War Medal was issued by the British Government in 1861 to members of the British and Indian armies and Royal Navy who took part in the Second Opium War of 1857 to 1860 against China. The medal was designed by William Wyon. The ...

. In 1873, he was

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

commanding , and saw service during the

Third Anglo-Ashanti War The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African allies. Though the Ashanti emerged victorio ...

and was awarded the

Ashanti Medal The Ashanti Medal was sanctioned in October 1901 and was the first campaign medal authorised by Edward VII. This medal was created for those troops engaged in the Third Ashanti Expedition, also known as the War of the Golden Stool. This expedition ...

. He retired as

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

later in 1873.

Baron Ellenborough

Law was the eldest son of

Henry Spencer Law Henry Spencer Law (10 May 1802 – 15 July 1885) was the fifth son of Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough, and Anne Towry. He graduated from Cambridge University with a Master of Arts (M.A.). He was a practising barrister at the Inner Temple, and ...

and succeeded to the peerage on the death of his cousin,

Charles Towry-Law, 4th Baron Ellenborough Charles Towry Hamilton Towry-Law, 4th Baron Ellenborough (21 April 1856 – 26 June 1902), was a member of the House of Lords. He was the only child of Charles Towry-Law, 3rd Baron Ellenborough, and his second wife, Anne Elizabeth Fitzgerald-Day. ...

, in June 1902. He took his seat in the

on 29 July 1902.

Family

Lord Ellenborough married in 1906 Hermione Octavia Croghan Schenley, daughter of E. W. H. Schenley, of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and ward of

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, and they lived at Windlesham Court in Surrey. He died in 1915 and was succeeded by his brother

Cecil Law, 6th Baron Ellenborough Colonel Cecil Henry Law, 6th Baron Ellenborough, (23 November 1849 – 22 January 1931), was a British Army officer and a member of the House of Lords. Baron Ellenborough Cecil Henry Law was the third son of Henry Spencer Law and Dorothea (daug ...

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellenborough, Edward Downes Law, 5th Baron Edward 5 People educated at Charterhouse School 1841 births 1915 deaths