Robert Stanley (mayor)

He served on the Joint Waterworks Committee in the construction of the Yeoman Hey Reservoir which was intended to bring fresh water to the towns of Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge.

he was one of the original Trustees of Stamford Park which was built in 1873, when money was raised by the people of Dukinfield, Stalybridge and Ashton during the municipal socialist reforms of the era.

In 1876, Robert attracted controversy in Parliament when he refused to call a public meeting to discuss the 'Bulgarian Atrocities' which the Ottoman Empire had been accused of.

After his conversion, he was appointed by his friend, William Abdullah Quilliam, Shaykh al-Islām of the British Isles, to serve as the vice-president of the Liverpool Muslim Institute, arguably the first mosque in the United Kingdom.

Stanley became a supporter of the Ottoman Empire and corresponded with the Caliph, Abdul Hamid II, advising him on agricultural, industrial and military matters.