{{Short description|British Whig politician}} {{see also|Handley family}} {{use British English|date=May 2019}} {{use dmy dates|date=May 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Henry Handley | honorific_suffix = | image = | alt = | caption = | office = Member of Parliament <br> for South Lincolnshire | term_start = 17 December 1832 | term_end = 7 July 1841 | predecessor = ''New constituency'' | successor = Christopher Turnor<br />John Trollope | alongside = Gilbert Heathcote | office2 = Member of Parliament <br> for Heytesbury | term_start2 = 3 August 1820 | term_end2 = 9 June 1826 | predecessor2 = Edward Henry à Court-Repington<br />Charles Ashe à Court-Repington | successor2 = Edward Henry à Court-Repington<br />Henry Stafford Northcote | alongside2 = Edward Henry à Court-Repington | birth_date = 17 March 1797 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1846|06|29|1797|03|17}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | alma_mater = Christ Church, Oxford<br />Eton School<br />Charterhouse School | birth_name = | party = Whig | other_party = | parents = Benjamin Handley<br />Frances Conington | spouse = {{marriage|Caroline Edwardes|15 October 1825}} | children = 11 }}

'''Henry Handley''' (17 March 1797 – 29 June 1846) was a British Whig politician.<ref name="stooks-smith">{{cite book |last=Stooks Smith |first=Henry. |editor=Craig, F. W. S. |title=The Parliaments of England |orig-date=1844-1850 |edition=2nd |year=1973 |publisher=Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn=0-900178-13-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/parliamentsofeng0000smit/page/195 195–196] |url=https://archive.org/details/parliamentsofeng0000smit/page/195 }}</ref><ref name="mosse">{{cite book|last1=Mosse|first1=Richard Bartholomew|title=The Parliamentary Guide: a concise history of the Members of both Houses, etc|date=1838|pages=172, 175|accessdate=16 May 2019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHcEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA141 |via= Google Books }}</ref><ref name="hop">{{cite web |last1=Farrell |first1=Stephen |title=HANDLEY, Henry (1797–1846), of 7 Charles Street, Mdx. and Culverthorpe Hall, nr. Sleaford, Lincs. |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/handley-henry-1797-1846 |website=The History of Parliament |accessdate=16 May 2019 |date=2009}}</ref>

Handley was the third, but first surviving, son of Benjamin Handley, an attorney and banker, and his wife Frances née Conington. He began his education at Charterhouse School in 1805, before moving to Eton College in 1822, and then matriculating at Christ Church, Oxford in 1815. In 1816, he then entered Lincoln's Inn. In 1825, he married Caroline Edwardes, daughter of William Edwardes, 2nd Baron Kensington, and they had two sons, and eight daughters, while another illegitimate child is also recorded for Handley. He inherited his father's estate in 1828.<ref name="hop"/>

Handley was elected a Whig MP for Heytesbury at a by-election in 1820 and held the seat until 1826, when he was not re-elected. Around this time, he and his family lived in Culverthorpe Hall, five miles from Sleaford, which Henry was renting. The year after his marriage Handley left parliament and became a gentleman farmer at Culverthorpe.<ref name="hop"/>

In 1832, at the request of local freeholders, he was elected again to parliament, this time representing the new constituency (along with Gilbert Heathcote) and a member of the Whig party. Handley received local praise for his parliamentary action and was again elected in 1835 and 1837.<ref name="craig1832">{{cite book|editor1-last=Craig|editor1-first=F. W. S.|editor-link=F. W. S. Craig|title=British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885|date=1977|publisher=Macmillan Press|location=London|isbn=978-1-349-02349-3|edition=1st|page=419}}</ref><ref name="stooks-smith"/><ref name="mosse"/><ref name="hop"/>

During the early 1830s Handley was a proponent of steam power; both in relation to agriculture and the railways. In 1829 he had offered a prize to anyone able to create a successful steam plough.<ref name="wright">{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=Neil Richard |title=Lincolnshire towns and industry, 1700–1914 |date=1982 |publisher=History of Lincolnshire Committee for the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology |isbn=9780902668102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnlnAAAAMAAJ |via = Google Books |accessdate=16 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nottingham & Newark Mercury |date=16 January 1830 |page=5}}</ref> In 1835 he helped revive Nicholas Cundy's proposal for a "Grand Northern Railway", running between London and York. As well as forming a company for the project, Northern and Eastern, Handley obtained the services of engineer James Walker to survey the proposed route. In 1836 various proposals for such lines were considered by parliament; the Northern and Eastern line was approved, but only as far as Cambridge (George Stephenson had convinced parliament that a Northern line via Derby was sufficient).<ref name="wright"/><ref name="hop"/>

Handley's support of the Whig government in an 1840 vote of no confidence caused a falling out with his party and he decided not to stand in the 1841 general election. Nevertheless, his candidacy was proposed and seconded, although he was not re-elected. A year after leaving parliament for the second time Handley became president of the recently formed Royal Agricultural Society; he had been one of 12 trustees during the society's formation in 1838/39.<ref name="wright"/>

Handley died on 29 June 1846 at Surrenden-Dering, Kent, he is buried at Pluckley. The following year Sleaford townspeople began raising a subscription to construct a memorial in the town, eventually obtaining £942.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Handley |first1=Robert Clive |title=The Handley Family of Newark and Sleaford, U.K. and Australasia |date=1992 |isbn=9780646058511 |pages=86–87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spEVAQAACAA |via = Google Books |accessdate=16 May 2019}}</ref> Construction on the "Handley Testimonial in Sleaford" (now known as "Handley's monument"), designed by William Boyle, began in 1850 and was completed in 1852.<ref name="wright"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pawley |first1=Simon |title=The Book of Sleaford |date=1996 |publisher=Baron Birch |isbn=9780860235590 |page=102 |edition=Illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TaEDPQAACAAJ |via = Google Books |accessdate=16 May 2019}}</ref> A street was later named after him.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-henry-handley | Mr Henry Handley }}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef| before = Edward Henry à Court-Repington |before2= Charles Ashe à Court-Repington }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Heytesbury | years = 1820–1826 | with = Edward Henry à Court-Repington }} {{s-aft| after= Edward Henry à Court-Repington |after2= Henry Stafford Northcote }}

{{s-new|constituency}} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for South Lincolnshire | years = 1832–1841 | with = Gilbert Heathcote }} {{s-aft| after= Christopher Turnor |after2= John Trollope }}

{{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handley, Henry}} Category:UK MPs 1820–1826 Category:UK MPs 1832–1835 Category:UK MPs 1835–1837 Category:UK MPs 1837–1841 Category:Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Category:1797 births Category:1846 deaths Category:People educated at Charterhouse School Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Category:People educated at Eton College Category:English barristers