Maria Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley (born Lady Maria Josepha Holroyd; 1771–1863) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

letter writer and liberal advocate.

Life

Stanley was born in 1771 to Abigail (née Way) and John Baker Holroyd (later) 1st Earl of Sheffield. They lived at an estate called Sheffield Park in Sussex that her father had bought after inheriting a fortune from his uncle. Her father, a politician, became an Earl in 1781. In 1783 he was awarded another title in the Irish peerage with a special remainder that it could be inherited by his daughters. Her father's only son (at the time) had died aged five. She was precocious and she and her sister, Louise, would write and perform plays. The theme of many of these plays was a question; whether a daughter would be allowed to choose her own husband or whether it would be imposed by her parents. When she was twelve her intelligence attracted the interest of

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is k ...

who was a close friend of her father. Gibbon proposed that he should teach her over the next four years. Stanley chose her own husband. She sorted through many likely groups and she decided to choose a man as well educated as herself. She married John Stanley, 7th Baronet and in time 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley, in 1796. Her husband was known as an Icelandic explorer. They went to live at Alderley Park in Cheshire. The Stanley family had lived there for around two hundred years, but the hall had been damaged by fire in 1779. The 7th Baronet and Baroness had commissioned a new hall to be constructed in 1818 in the south of the estate on a site then occupied by Park House. They lived there for fifty years and there were 11 children of the marriage, with sons who were twins and seven daughters surviving to become adults. The sons were

Edward John Edward John (born July 8, 1949) is a prominent First Nations political leader in Canada. Early life The son of Louis and Amelia John, he was born in the Carrier village of Tachie, along the north shore of Stuart Lake, about 60 km from ...

(1802–1869), the elder twin who inherited the title, and

William Owen Stanley Hon. William Owen Stanley (13 November 1802 – 24 February 1884) was a British Liberal Party politician. Life Stanley was the son of John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley, and Lady Maria Josepha, daughter of John Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sh ...

(1802–1884), a Liberal Party politician. Of the seven daughters who survived: *Lucy Anne married a naval officer named Marcus Theodore Hare and they had three children. *Isabella Louisa (1801–1839) married William Parry, and was mother of Edward Parry. *Matilda Abigail married

Henry John Adeane Henry John Adeane DL (18 June 1789 – 11 May 1847) was an English barrister and politician. Early life and education Adeane was the second but first surviving son of Robert Jones Adeane of Babraham, Cambridgeshire, and Annabella Blake, daughte ...

Death and legacy

Stanley died in

Shiplake Shiplake consists of three settlements: Shiplake, Shiplake Cross and Lower Shiplake. Together these villages form a civil parish situated beside the River Thames south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The river forms the parish bounda ...

in 1863. In 1896, her early letters were published as "Girlhood of Maria Josepha Holroyd (Lady Stanley of Alderley)".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alderley, Maria Stanley, Baroness Stanley of 1771 births 1863 deaths British reporters and correspondents People from Shiplake