Eden, William
Eden, William
EDEN, WILLIAM. (1744–1814). British diplomat, penal reformer, and politician. Educated at Durham School, Eton College, and Christ Church, Oxford, he was called to the bar in 1768. His Principles of Penal Law (1771) argued for fewer capital offenses and for the reform of offenders as against punishment. He became undersecretary in the Northern Department in 1772, and in 1774 he was elected to Parliament. The interruption of transportation to America in 1775 allowed him to introduce bills for the reform of the prison hulks and the creation of penitentiaries. He was appointed to the Board of Trade in 1776, and in 1778 North chose him for the peace commission led by Eden's Oxford friend, lord Carlisle. Although for Eden it was a professional blind alley, his Four Letters to the Earl of Carlisle (1779) strongly defended the principle of negotiation. He was chief secretary of Ireland when Carlisle was lord lieutenant (1780–1782) and went on to be a distinguished diplomat. Created baron Aukland on his retirement in 1793, he continued to be a force in British politics until 1807. He died on 28 May 1814.
SEE ALSO Carlisle Peace Commission.
revised by John Oliphant