Colonel Edward James Saunderson (1 October 1837 – 21 October 1906) was an Anglo-Irish landowner and prominent Irish unionist politician. He led the Irish Unionist Alliance between 1891 and 1906.
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Early life
Saunderson was born at the family seat of Castle Saunderson, near Belturbet in County Cavan. He was the younger son of Colonel Alexander Saunderson, who served as the Tory Member of Parliament (MP) for Cavan, and The Hon. Sarah Juliana Maxwell.
His maternal grandfather was Henry Maxwell, 6th Baron Farnham. The Irish Saundersons were a 17th-century branch of an old family, originally from Durham; a Lincolnshire branch, the Saundersons of Saxby, held the titles of Viscount Castleton (Irish: created 1628) and Baron Saunderson (British: created 1714) up to 1723. Saunderson was educated abroad, mostly in Nice by private tutors, and inherited his father's County Cavan estates following his death in 1857.
Career
Saunderson was first elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom as the Palmerstonian Liberal member for Cavan in 1865. In 1869, he became a Conservative. Other than opposing the disestablishment of the Irish church in 1869, he otherwise gave little sign of political interest or activity at this stage. Saunderson lost his seat to the Home Rule League candidates, Joseph Biggar and Charles Joseph Fay, at the 1874 general election.