Albert Parker, 3rd Earl of Morley


Albert Edmund Parker, 3rd Earl of Morley PC, DL, JP, styled Viscount Boringdon until 1864, was a British peer and Liberal, later Liberal Unionist politician.

Background and education

Morley was the son of Edmund Parker, 2nd Earl of Morley, and Harriet Sophia. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.

Political career

Morley succeeded his father as third Earl of Morley in 1864 and took his seat on the Liberal benches in the House of Lords. He served under William Ewart Gladstone as a Lord-in-waiting from 1868 to 1874 and as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1880 to 1885. In February 1886 he was admitted to the Privy Council and appointed First Commissioner of Works, a position he only held until April of the same year. He broke with Gladstone over Irish Home Rule and joined the Liberal Unionists. From 1889 to 1905 Morley was Chairman of committees and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.
Apart from his career in national politics Morley was Chairman of Devon County Council and a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Devon. He also served as President of the first day of the 1886 Co-operative Congress.

Marriage and children

Lord Morley married Margaret Holford, eldest daughter of Robert Stayner Holford, in 1876. They had three sons and a daughter:
Lord Morley died in February 1905, aged 61, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, Edmund. Lady Morley died in 1908.