Robert Henley, 2nd Baron Henley

The Right Honourable The Lord Henley
Arms of the Baron Henley: Quarterly: 1st and 4th: Gules, on a chevron argent between three garbs or banded vert as many escallops sable (Eden); 2nd and 3rd: Azure, a lion rampant argent ducally crowned or a bordure of the second charged with eight torteaux (Henley)
Member of Parliament for Fowey
In office 1826–1830
Preceded by	Viscount Valletort George Lucy
Succeeded by	George Lucy Lord Brudenell
Personal details
Born	Robert Henley Eden (1789-09-03)3 September 1789 London, England
Died	3 February 1841(1841-02-03) (aged 51) Whitehall, Westminster, London
Political party	Tory
Spouse	Harriet Peel ​ (m. 1823)​
Parents	Morton Eden, 1st Baron Henley (father) Lady Elizabeth Henley (mother)
Relatives	Robert Henley (grandfather) Sir Robert Peel, 1st Bt. (father-in-law) Anthony, 3rd Baron Henley (son)
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Robert Henley Henley, 2nd Baron Henley (né Eden, 3 September 1789 – 3 February 1841), styled Hon. Robert Eden from 1799 to 1830, was a British lawyer, Member of Parliament, peer, and writer.

Early life and education

Robert Henley was born Robert Eden at Lambeth Palace, London,[1] the second son of diplomat Morton Eden, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Lord Chancellor Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington (c. 1708–1772) and eventual heiress to her brother, Robert Henley, 2nd Earl of Northington.[2]

Robert's other uncles were Sir John Eden, 4th Baronet; Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland; and William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland.[3]

His father was knighted in 1791 and in 1799 raised to the peerage as Baron Henley, of Chardstock, in the Peerage of Ireland,[4] in honour of his wife's family. Her brother Robert, 2nd Earl of Northington, died unmarried in 1786, and the earldom and subsidiary title of Baron Henley in the Peerage of Great Britain had become extinct.[5]

Robert was educated at Eton College, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1807, graduating B.A. 1811, and M.A. 1814.[6][7]

Career and peerage

Henley served as a Master in Chancery from 1826 to 1840 and between 1826 and 1830 he also sat as member of parliament for Fowey.

In 1823, his elder brother, Hon. Frederick Eden, a barrister and heir to their father's barony, died unmarried at his chambers at Inner Temple.[8] In 1830, he succeeded his father as second Baron Henley, but as this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords.

The following year, Lord Henley assumed by royal licence the surname of Henley in lieu of Eden. in commemoration of his maternal ancestors, and the same year he published a biography of his maternal grandfather, entitled Memoir of the Life of Robert Henley, Earl of Northington, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

Marriage and issue

Henley married Harriet Peel, daughter of Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet, and sister of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, in 1823. They had four sons, two of whom survived to adulthood:[9]

• Hon. Anthony Henley (Eden) (1825–1898), succeeded as third earl
• Robert Henley Eden (13–18 July 1826), died in infancy
• Hon. Rev. Robert Henley (7 March 1831 – 7 August 1910), Vicar of Putney, Surrey, married in 1852 Emily Louisa Aldridge
• Hon. Morton Henley (5 November – 1 December 1832), died in infancy

After several months of illness, Lord Henley died in February 1841, aged 51, at his home at 19 Whitehall Place, Westminster, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest surviving son, Anthony. Lady Henley died in 1869.[10]

References

1. "Extract of a Letter from Plymouth". Chester Courant. 22 September 1789. p. 2. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
2. "Obituary: Lord Henley". The Gentleman's Magazine 1841-04: Vol 15. 15. Open Court Publishing Co: 425. April 1841. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
3. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 1270. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
4. "No. 15153". The London Gazette. 29 June 1799. p. 655.
5. Mosley 2003, p. 1866
6. Lester, V. Markham. "Henley, Robert [formerly Robert Henley Eden], second Baron Henley (1789–1841)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8456. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
7. Foster, Joseph (1888–1891). "Eden, Robert Henley" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: James Parker – via Wikisource.
8. "Deaths". Yorkshire Gazette. 15 November 1823. p. 3. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
9. Lodge, Edmund (1901). The Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire as at Present Existing: Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility. Hurst and Blackett Limited. p. 360. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
10. Mosley 2003, p. 1867

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Viscount Valletort George Lucy	Member of Parliament for Fowey 1826–1830	Succeeded by George Lucy Lord Brudenell
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Morton Eden	Baron Henley 1830–1841	Succeeded by Anthony Henley