Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Baines, Edward
BAINES, Sir Edward, second son of the late Edward Baines (representative of the borough of Leeds in Parliament for seven years, 1834–41), and brother of the late Right Hon. M. T. Baines, M.P.. some time Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was born in 1800, and educated at the Protestant Dissenters' Grammar School, Manchester. For many years he was associated with his father as editor and proprietor of the Leeds Mercury, one of the most influential Liberal organs in the North of England; and he is the author of "The History of the Cotton Manufacture," "The Life of the late Edward Baines," "A Visit to the Vaudois of Piedmont," "The Woollen Manufacture of England," and other works bearing on the industrial progress and commerce of the nation. Sir E. Baines, who is President of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes, was elected M.P. for Leeds in his brother's place in 1859, but he lost his seat at the general election of Feb. 1874. In 1861 his attempt to introduce into Parliament a bill to reduce the franchise in boroughs to £6 was defeated on a division by 245 to 193 votes. In 1864 and 1865 the measure was again rejected by the House of Commons. Mr. Baines was a member of the Schools Inquiry Commission (1865 to 1868), and a supporter of the Endowed Schools Act of 1869, and the Elementary Education Act of 1870. As one of the leading Dissenting members, he took an active part in opposition to Church Rates and University Tests, and in supporting the Irish Church Disestablishment Bill. He was also a decided friend of the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and every measure of Free Trade. In Dec. 1880, he received the honour of knighthood. He is a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.