| Honorific Suffix: | PC, QC |
| Birth Date: | 1805 7, df=y |
| Alma Mater: | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Father: | James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie |
| Mother: | Elizabeth Crichton |
| Children: | 9 |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Relatives: | Mary Caroline Stuart-Wortley (daughter) Archibald John Stuart-Wortley (son) Charles Beilby Stuart-Wortley (son) |
| Office: | Member of Parliament (MP) for Halifax |
| Term Start: | 1835 |
| Term End: | 1837 |
| Predecessor: | Rawdon Briggs Sir Charles Wood |
| Successor: | Sir Charles Wood Edward Davis Protheroe |
| Office2: | Member of Parliament (MP) for Bute |
| Term Start2: | 1842 |
| Term End2: | 1859 |
| Predecessor2: | Sir William Rae, Bt |
| Successor2: | David Mure |
| Office3: | Solicitor-General for England |
| Term Start3: | 1856 |
| Term End3: | 1857 |
| Predecessor3: | Sir Richard Bethell |
| Successor3: | Sir Henry Singer Keating |
James Archibald Stuart-Wortley, PC, QC (3 July 1805 – 22 August 1881)[1] was a British Conservative Party politician and the husband of the philanthropist Jane Stuart-Wortley.
He was born in 1805, the youngest son of James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and he became a barrister at the Inner Temple in 1831, rising to be a Queen's Counsel in 1841. He was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford.
He was elected at the 1835 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Halifax, but was defeated at the 1837 general election.[2] He returned to the House of Commons in 1842, when he was elected at an unopposed by-election as MP for Bute, and held that seat until 1859.[3] At the 1859 general election he stood in the West Riding of Yorkshire, but did not win a seat.[2]
In 1846, he was sworn a Privy Counsellor. He held office as Recorder of London from 1850 to 1856 and then as Solicitor-General for England under Lord Palmerston from November 1856 until May 1857. He had to resign in 1858 due to spinal injuries sustained in a riding accident. He and his wife left their London home in Carlton House Terrace to live at East Sheen Lodge (which was renamed Wortley Lodge) near Mortlake until he became worse, forcing them to move back to London in 1869. Back in London his wife was able to delegate the care of her husband at least in part to their daughters.
On 6 May 1846 he married Jane Lawley (1820–1900), daughter of Lord Wenlock.[4] She died at Ripley, Surrey, on 4 February 1900, aged 79.[5] They had four sons and five daughters:
The photographs on this page are in The National Portrait Gallery and are listed as being JOHN Stuart-Wortley – 2nd Baron Wharncliffe (1801–1855)and his wife Georgina (née Ryder)