Colonel Edward Corbett (30 December 1817 – 6 January 1895)[1] was a British land-owner[2] and Conservative Party politician from an old Norman family in Shropshire.
[4] When he resigned his seat on 7 August 1877, by taking the post of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds,[10] the announcement was described by The Times newspaper as "sudden".
[3] His eldest son, also named Edward Corbett (1843–1917), in April 1881 unsuccessfully contested a by-election in Northampton as a Conservative after the Liberal MP Charles Bradlaugh was unseated when he voted in the Commons before taking the Oath of Allegiance[9] (he insisted on the right to affirm instead).
[9][13] Addressing a public meeting from the balcony of the Angel Hotel in Northampton on 23 February, he told the crowd that this was not an ordinary electoral contest, but a battle of principles.
[14] He hoped that the result would be to spare the House of Commons from the "disgreceful scenes" which had taken place over Bradlaugh's refusal to take the oath.