Edmund Backhouse (MP)

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For other persons of the same name, see Edmund Backhouse.

Edmund Backhouse (1824 – 7 June 1906), banker, J.P. on the County Durham and for the North Riding of Yorkshire benches. He was Member of Parliament for Darlington

Youngest son of Jonathan Backhouse (1779-1842), banker, of Polam Hill, Darlington, and of his wife Hannah Chapman Backhouse, daughter of Joseph Gurney of Norwich. Both parents were ministers of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), travelling in Great Britain and North America.

Married to Juliet Mary, daughter and sole heir of Charles Fox of Trebah in Cornwall, and his wife, Sarah.

In 1845 he became a junior partner in Jonathan Backhouse & Company (Backhouse's Bank).

In 1867, he was elected M.P. for Darlington as a Liberal. He was re-elected in 1874. He retired from Parliament in 1880.

Backhouse was the father of Sir Jonathan Backhouse, 1st Baronet and grandfather of Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet.

He bought Trebah from his father-in-Law and died there on 7 June 1906, aged 82 years.

[edit] Obituary in The Times (June 8, 1906)

Mr. Backhouse was a genial good-hearted gentleman, at once a banker and a country squire. He was diligent and painstaking in all he undertook in public or private life, and was considered one of the ablest representatives sent from the north to Parliament. He was not an orator, but his speeches were characterised by good sense and extreme caution. His judgement was considered safe and he was always conscientious.