Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood ( – 25 January 1795) was a British politician and landowner.

Early life

Edwin Lascelles born in the

British colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, the elder son of Henry Lascelles and his wife Mary Carter. His father split the family fortune, leaving Edwin's younger brother Daniel as head of the business, and raised Edwin as a

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

in the family's English estates. Edwin was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, and subsequently went on a Grand Tour in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

Military and political service

He fought in the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

, and entered Parliament as MP for

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

from 1744 to 1754. He was later MP for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

from 1761 to 1780 and for

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the River Wiske in the Vale of Mowbray and had a population of 16,832 in 2011. Northallerton is an administrative centre for York and North Yorkshire ...

from 1780 to 1790 (inheriting the latter seat from his father Henry and his brother Daniel). By 1748 Edwin was installed as Lord of the Manor of Harewood and he built

Harewood House Harewood House ( , ) is a English country house, country house in Harewood, West Yorkshire, Harewood, West Yorkshire, England. Designed by architects John Carr (architect), John Carr and Robert Adam, it was built between 1759 and 1771, for Ed ...

from 1759 to 1771. On Daniel's death childless in 1784 and their only other sibling Henry's death two years later, Edwin was left in sole charge of the fortune, to which he added 22

slave plantation A slave plantation is an agricultural farm that uses enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...

s, more than of land in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...

and 2,947 slaves (which were surrendered to planters' creditors because they defaulted on debts due to the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

) worth £293,000 (about £28.3 million today). Many planters depended on their sale of sugar and molasses to the American colonies for income. He was made Baron Harewood, of Harewood in the County of York on 9 July 1790, but died childless and the title became extinct. The fortune passed to his cousin Edward Lascelles (1740–1820), 1st Earl of Harewood.

Marriages

He was first married to Elizabeth Dawes, daughter of Sir Darcy Dawes, 4th Baronet, on 5January 1746–47. His second marriage was to Lady Jane Fleming, daughter of William Coleman and Jane Seymour, and widow of

Sir John Fleming, 1st Baronet Sir John Fleming, 1st Baronet (born c.1730, died 6 November 1763) was an Anglo-Irish baronet, created first Baronet Fleming. of Brompton Park in the County of Middlesex in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 22 April 1763. He married Jane Colem ...

, in 31March 1770. His stepdaughters were Jane Stanhope, Countess of Harrington and

Seymour Fleming Seymour Dorothy Fleming (5 October 1758 – 9 September 1818), styled Lady Worsley from 1775 to 1805, was a member of the British gentry, notable for her involvement in a high-profile criminal conversation trial. Early life and family Flemin ...

, later noted for the separation scandal involving her husband Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet. A picture of Seymour still hangs in

References

External links

thePeerage.com
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2007/02/22/abolition_harewood_house_feature.shtml {{DEFAULTSORT:Harewood, Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron 1710s births 1795 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 18th-century Barbadian people Merchants from the British West Indies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 Barons in the Peerage of Great Britain Peers of Great Britain created by George III

Edwin The name Edwin means "wealth-friend". It comes from (wealth, good fortune) and (friend). Thus the Old English form is Ēadwine, a name widely attested in early medieval England. Edwina is the feminine form of the name. Notable people and char ...

British slave owners 18th-century planters