James Stansfeld
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The Right Honourable Sir James Stansfeld |
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| President of the Local Government Board | |
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In office 19 August 1871 – 17 February 1874 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | New office |
| Succeeded by | George Sclater-Booth |
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In office 3 April 1886 – 20 July 1886 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | Joseph Chamberlain |
| Succeeded by | Charles Ritchie |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
5 October 1820 Moorlands, Halifax, Yorkshire |
| Died | 17 February 1898 (aged 77) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Radical Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Caroline Ashurst Stansfeld |
| Alma mater | University College, London |
Sir James Stansfeld GCB PC (5 October 1820 – 17 February 1898), was a British politician. He was appointed the first ever President of the Local Government Board in 1871, an office he held until 1874 and again briefly in 1886.
He was born at Akeds Road, Halifax, the only son of James Stansfeld (1792–1872), originally a member of a firm of solicitors, Stansfeld & Craven, and subsequently county-court judge in the district. His mother was Emma, daughter of John Ralph, minister of the Northgate-End Unitarian chapel, Halifax, and his sister married George Dixon. Brought up as a nonconformist, Stansfeld was in 1837 sent to University College, London, and graduated B.A. in 1840 and LL.B. in 1844. He was admitted a student of the Middle Temple on 31 October 1840, and was called to the bar on 26 January 1849; he does not seem, however, to have practised as a barrister, and later in life derived his income mainly from a brewery at Fulham.
On 27 July 1844 Stansfeld married Caroline, second daughter of William Henry Ashurst, a radical and friend of Giuseppe Mazzini, to whom Stansfeld was introduced in 1847: they became close. Stansfeld also sympathised with the Chartist movement, even if Feargus O'Connor denounced him. He also took an active part in propagating radical opinions in the north of England, frequently spoke at meetings of the Northern Reform Union, and was one of the promoters of the association for the repeal of "taxes on knowledge".
In 1859, Stansfeld was returned to Parliament as Radical member for Halifax, which he continued to represent for over thirty-six years. He voted consistently on the Radical side, but his chief energies were devoted to promoting the cause of Italian unity. He was selected by Giuseppe Garibaldi as his adviser when the Italian patriot visited England in 1862. In 1863, he moved in the House of Commons a resolution of sympathy with the Poles, and two months later was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty. In 1864, as the result of charges made against him by the French authorities, in connection with Greco's conspiracy against Napoleon III, Disraeli, in the House of Commons, accused him of "being in correspondence with the assassins of Europe."
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