Robert Reschid Stanley (1828–1911) was a British grocer, tea trader and mayor (1874–76) of Stalybridge, near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He is best known for his conversion to Islam. As a Muslim, he served as vice chair at the

Liverpool Muslim Institute The Liverpool Muslim Institute was founded by Abdullah Quilliam in 1887. Overview William Henry Quilliam was born in Liverpool in 1856. He developed an interest in Islam when travelling in Morocco. In 1887 he converted to the religion, taking t ...

Early life

Robert Stanley was born in 1828 in Cardiff. He was sent from Cardiff at the age of 10 to be an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

at his Christian Israelite uncle's shop in

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

. When he was 19 years old, he established a grocer's shop and a tea-trading business in Stalybridge.

Career

Stanley was first elected in 1863 as a councillor for the Dukinfield Ward of Stalybridge. In 1867, he became a Justice of the Peace. Two years later, he became councillor for the Stayley Ward of Stalybridge. He was also elected on the

School Board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

of Stalybridge in 1871. He served as the chairman of the building committee which helped in construction of the new Victoria Market, now known as th
Stalybridge Civic Hall
In 1874, he became the mayor of Stalybridge and served until 1876. He served on the Joint Waterworks Committee in the construction of the

Yeoman Hey Reservoir Yeoman Hey Reservoir is a reservoir in the English Peak District. On its margin is a commemorative stone laid by the King of Tonga in 1981. The reservoir is within the boundaries of Greater Manchester but was formerly in the West Riding of Yorksh ...

which was intended to bring fresh water to the towns of

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

, Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge. he was one of the original Trustees of Stamford Park which was built in 1873, when money was raised by the people of Dukinfield, Stalybridge and Ashton during the municipal socialist reforms of the era. In 1876, Robert attracted controversy in Parliament when he refused to call a public meeting to discuss the '

Bulgarian Atrocities The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally su ...

' which the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

had been accused of. In 1898, at the age of 69, he converted to Islam and, as was the case with many of the British Muslim convert community, adopted the name 'Reschid'. He was the owner of the New Inn, a pub in Ashton-upon-Lyne which he sold prior to his conversion. His path towards conversion has been researched by his great-great-great-granddaughter, Christina Longden in books ''His Own Man'' and ''Imagining Robert''. Longden gives presentations and talks about Stanley's life and British Islam.robertreschidstanley.wordpress.com In 1999, Stanley's great-great-grandson, Brian Longden, was researching his family history and discovered that Stanley had converted to Islam; Brian's own son, had himself converted in 1991, knowing nothing about his ancestor. After his conversion, he was appointed by his friend,

William Abdullah Quilliam William Henry Quilliam (10 April 1856 – 23 April 1932), who changed his name to Abdullah Quilliam and later Henri Marcel Leon or Haroun Mustapha Leon, was a 19th-century convert from Christianity to Islam, noted for founding England's first m ...

, Shaykh al-Islām of the British Isles, to serve as the vice-president of the

, arguably the first mosque in the United Kingdom. Stanley became a supporter of the Ottoman Empire and corresponded with the Caliph, Abdul Hamid II, advising him on agricultural, industrial and military matters. He died, aged 83, in 1911 in his home town of Stalybridge.

Personal life

Stanley was previously a member of the

Christian Israelite Church The Christian Israelite Church was founded in 1822 by John Wroe. History From 1822 to 1831, the church had its headquarters in the town of Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, United Kingdom, which the church wanted to turn into a "new Jerusalem". W ...

. He married Emma Meredith on 17 October 1847 in the Christian Israelite Sanctuary. They had 11 children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Robert 1828 births 1911 deaths British grocers British former Christians British Muslims Conservative Party (UK) councillors Mayors of places in Greater Manchester Converts to Islam from Protestantism People from Stalybridge 19th-century British businesspeople