Michael Biddulph, 1st Baron Biddulph (17 February 1834 – 6 April 1923) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 banker and Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

, later Liberal Unionist, Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP).

Biddulph was the eldest son of Robert Biddulph

Robert Biddulph (MP)

Robert Biddulph was a British Whig Member of Parliament.Biddulph was the son of John Biddulph, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, and his wife Augusta . He sat as Member of Parliament for Hereford between 1832 and 1837 and also served as a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Herefordshire...

 and his wife Elizabeth (née Palmer), and was educated at Harrow

Harrow School

Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...

. He was a partner in the London banking firm of Cocks, Biddulph and Co. In 1865 he was elected to the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 for Herefordshire

Herefordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

The county constituency of Herefordshire, in the West Midlands of England bordering on Wales, was abolished when the county was divided for parliamentary purposes in 1885...

, a seat he held until 1885, and then represented Ross

Ross (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, or the Southern division of Herefordshire was a county constituency centred on the town of Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.The constituency was...

 between 1886 to 1900. At first a Liberal, he disagreed with William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

 on the issue of Irish Home Rule and sat as a Liberal Unionist after 1886. Biddulph was also a Justice of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

 and Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

 and served as Deputy Lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 of Herefordshire. In 1903 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Biddulph

Baron Biddulph

Baron Biddulph, of Ledbury in the County of Hereford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1903 for the banker and politician Michael Biddulph. He was a partner in the London banking firm of Cocks, Biddulph and Co and also sat in the House of Commons for Herefordshire...

, of Ledbury in the County of Hereford.

Lord Biddulph married, firstly, Adelaide Georgiana, daughter of General Jonathan Peel

Jonathan Peel

Jonathan Peel was a British soldier, Conservative politician and racehorse owner.-Background and education:...

, in 1864. They had two sons and three daughters. After her death in 1872 he married, secondly, Lady Elizabeth Philippa, daughter of Charles Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke

Charles Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke

Admiral Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke PC , was a British naval commander and Conservative politician.-Background:...

, in 1877. They had no children. Lord Biddulph died in April 1923, aged 89, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son from his first marriage, John. Lady Biddulph died in 1916, aged 81.

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