Matthew Talbot Baines

The eldest son of Edward Baines of Leeds, a noted journalist and minor politician, Baines was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1820. He was called to the bar in 1825 and established a successful legal practice. In 1837 Baines was appointed Recorder of Hull, and in 1841 he became a Queen's Counsel. He then turned to politics and was elected to parliament for Hull in 1847, a seat he held until 1852, and then represented Leeds from 1852 to 1859. Only two years after entering the House of Commons, Baines was admitted to the Privy Council and appointed President of the Poor Law Board in the Liberal administration of Lord John Russell. The Liberals fell from power in February 1852, but in December of the same year he was again made President of the Poor Law Board in the coalition government of Lord Aberdeen. In 1855 he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in Lord Palmerston's first administration, and became a member of the cabinet in 1857. He remained in this office until the Liberals lost power in 1858. Baines retired from public life in April 1859 on grounds of ill-health, and died the following year at the age of fifty.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir John Hanmer, Bt	Member of Parliament for Hull 1847–1852	Succeeded by Viscount Goderich
Preceded by James Garth Marshall	Member of Parliament for Leeds 1852–1859	Succeeded by Edward Baines
Political offices
Preceded by Charles Buller	President of the Poor Law Board 1849–1852	Succeeded by Sir John Trollope, Bt
Preceded by Sir John Trollope, Bt	President of the Poor Law Board 1852–1855	Succeeded by Edward Pleydell Bouverie
Preceded by The Earl of Harrowby	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1855–1858	Succeeded by The Duke of Montrose