1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pease, Edward

PEASE, EDWARD (1767–1858), the founder of a famous industrial Quaker family in the north of England, was born at Darlington on the 31st of May 1767, his father, Joseph Pease (1737–1808), being a woollen manufacturer in that town. Having retired from this business Edward Pease made the acquaintance of George Stephenson, and with him took a prominent part in constructing the railway between Stockton and Darlington. He died at Darlington on the 31st of July 1858. His second son, Joseph Pease (1799–1872), who assisted his father in his railway enterprises, was M.P. for South Durham from 1832 to 1841, being the first Quaker to sit in parliament. He was interested in collieries, quarries and ironstone mines in Durham and North Yorkshire, as well as in cotton and woollen manufactures, and he was active in educational and philanthropic work. Another son, Henry Pease (1807–1881). was M.P. for South Durham from 1857 to 1865. Like all the members of his family he was a supporter of the Peace Society, and in its interests he visited the emperor Nicholas of Russia just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, and later the emperor of the French, Napoleon III.

Joseph Pease’s eldest son, Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease (1828–1903), was made a baronet in 1882. He was M.P. for South Durham from 1865 to 1885 and for the Barnard Castle division of Durham from 1885 to 1903. His elder son, Sir Alfred Edward Pease (b. 1857), who succeeded to the baronetcy, became famous as a hunter of big game, and was M.P. for York from 1885 to 1892 and for the Cleveland division of Yorkshire from 1897 to 1902. A younger son, Joseph Albert Pease (b. 1860), entered parliament in 1892, and in 1908 became chief Liberal whip, being advanced to the cabinet as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in 1910.

Another son of Joseph Pease was Arthur Pease (1837–1898), member of parliament from 1880 to 1885 and again from 1895 to 1898. His son, Herbert Pike Pease (b. 1867), M.P. for Darlington 1898–1910, was one of the Unionist Whips.

The Diaries of Edward Pease were edited by Sir Allred Pease in 1907.