The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-25 00:00:00

THE NEW LORD BELPER.

The Right Hon. Edward Strut% whose elevation
to the peerage as Lord Belper our columns an-
nounced on Saturday last, is the only son of the
late Mr. William Strutt, a manufacturer, of St.
Helen's-house, Derby, by Barbara, daughter of
Thomas Evans, Esq., of the same place. He was
born in 1801, and having received his early educa-
tion at a grammar-school in one of the midland
counties, went up to Trinity College, Cambridge,
in 1819, and graduated there in 1823. Soon
after this he entered into active business as a
cotton manufacturer in his native town. The
respect which his father had earned was main-
tained by the honesty and integrity of his
son, who was invited by his fellow-townsmen,
in 1830, to represent the borough in the Liberal
interest. Returning to Parliament, he made no
startling, sudden, or brilliant display, but gradu-
ally earned the character of a man of business, of
L common sense, and of sterling worth. He was a
member of St. Stephen's for. nearly 16 years before
place was offered him. In 1845 ho was sworn a
member ,of the Privy Council ; but it was only in
September, 1846, that he accepted the post of Chief
Commissioner of Railways, and in this capacity he
was busily engaged, in conjunction with Lord Dal-
housie, in carrying out plans for placing the exist•
ing lines of railroa under Government inspection.
This post he resigned,in March, 1848. He was elected
for Derby at every general election from 1830
until 1847, when, though•returned to Parliament
by a majority, he was unseated on petition, and
remained out of Parliament until July, 1851, when
he was returned for Arundel in the place of the
present Duke of Norfolk, then Earl of Arundel
and Surrey, who had accepted the Chiltern Hun-
dreds. At the general election of 1852 he was re-
turned, in conjunction with Mr. John Walter, as
M.P. for Nottingham, near which place he owns a
seat called Kingston-hall. On the down4l of Lord
Derby's Ministry, in December, 1852, Lord ,Aber-
deen selected Mr. Strutt as Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster, an honourable sinecure, which
he continued to hold till June, 1854, when, in order
to facilitate a new disposition of places among the
members of the Cabinet, and more especially to
make room for Lord John Russell, he was ejected
from his position iu a rather summary manner, and
was, a Reformer of the advanced
superseded by Lord Granville. Mr. Strutt is, or
politicalevents
Houses creed as a member of the House
osaefth all
Coooml, his
mons being summed up, in a few words, as
(tin favour of the ballot, short Parliaments, and
civil and religious liberty." In 1837 he married.
Emily, daughter of the late Bishop Otter, of Chi-
chester, by whom he has a family -of three
sons. The title of Lord Belper has been chosen.
by Mr. Strutt, on account of his family con-
nexion with that place, to the manufacturing pros-
perity of which his uncle, the late Mr. Jedediah
Strutt, contributed so largely. It may be re-
membered that in the retiring address which he
issued to his constituents in July last, on accepting
the Chiltern Hundreds, Lord Belper alluded to his
own position as being still a manufactUrer, thus
identifying himself still with the order frOm which
he has sprung. " The name, style, and title"
which his Lordship has chosen, is almost better
known upon the continent than in this country,
for there is scarcely a woman whoplies her knitting
needle in the towns and villages of Germany but
makes use of the materials on the wrapper of
which the name of Belper is printed in large
characters..