Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (c. 1699 – 11 April 1755) was a British Tory politician and peer. In 1727 he established the political and social club which would become the Cocoa Tree Club. He was the nephew of Great Britain's Chief Minister between 1711 and 1714, Robert Harley.
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Early life
Harley was the son and heir of Sarah Foley (the third daughter of Thomas Foley of Witley Court) and Edward Harley of Eywood, the Auditor of the Imprest and the next younger brother of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer. Harley was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford.
Career
He was returned to Parliament as the member for Herefordshire in 1727, sitting until 1741. He was known as a Hanoverian Tory and in 1727 he established the Harley Board to further the interests of the Tory landed gentry and counteract the influence of the High Tory Loyal Brotherhood. He vigorously defended the past record of his uncle Robert's governments during Queen Anne's reign and was averse to the Jacobite flirtations of Tories such as Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn.
In March 1730, Harley proposed a bill to prevent the packing of juries and he supported efforts to repeal the Septennial Act 1715. Harley's Board, later called the Cocoa Tree Club, became the organisational nucleas of the mainstream of the Tory party during the mid-18th century, giving Harley significant influence among the opposition to the Whig supremacy.