William Nathaniel Massey

'Rt Hon William Nathaniel Massey' (3 June 1809 – 25 October 1881) was a British barrister, author and Liberal MP. His first wife was Frances Carleton Orde(3 November 1806 – 11 July 1872) daughter of John Orde and Frances Carleton, and their son was Charles Carleton Massey (23 December 1838 –29 March 1905), the famous writer on spiritualism, psychic phenomena, mysticism and theosophy.

W. N. Massey studied law, being admitted as a student at the Inner Temple in November 1826, and was called to the bar in January 1844. He married firstly in 1833, Frances Carleton, daughter of Rev John Orde. Massey practised on the Western Circuit and in 1852 was appointed recorder of Portsmouth and in 1855 of Plymouth.

He first entered the House of Commons in July 1852 as a Liberal member for Newport, Isle of Wight. In April 1857 he became MP for Salford. In August 1855 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department during the first ministry of Lord Palmerston, and became a member of Brooks's. He held the office until March 1858 when the Conservatives came to power, and Lord Derby formed his second government. He continued to represent Salford in the Commons until 1865, and was appointed Chairman of Committees of the Whole House. He purchased the old ruined estate at Old Basing House, Hampshire.

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