Lewis Randle Starkey (13 March 1836 – 16 September 1910) was a British Conservative politician.
He was the eldest son of John Starkey of Spring Lodge, Huddersfield and his wife, Sarah Anne, daughter of Joseph Armitage, a millowner of Milnsbridge, Yorkshire.[1] Following education at Rugby School and the University of Berlin he entered "commercial pursuits" in Yorkshire.[2] In October 1857, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment of Yeomanry. In 1858 he married his namesake, Constance Margaret, daughter of Thomas Starkey.[1] He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire on 6 December 1867, and was promoted to captain in the Yeomanry on 22 February 1868.
In 1868 he was chosen by the Conservative Party to be a parliamentary candidate for the Southern Division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but failed to be elected.[3] He was the party's candidate again at the next general election in 1874, and was elected in the place of the sitting Liberal Member of Parliament, Henry F Beaumont.[1] By this time, he was living at Heath Hall, near Wakefield.[1] Starkey only served one term in the Commons, losing his seat at the 1880 general election.[4]
Having left parliament, Starkey and his family moved to Norwood Park, near Southwell, Nottinghamshire in 1881.[5] He held the office of High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1891, was an alderman on Nottinghamshire County Council,[2] and was appointed a deputy lieutenant of the county in January 1891. He was a director of the Midland Railway.[2] Starkey's eldest son was John R Starkey, who became MP for Newark, and a baronet.[2]
Lewis Randle Starkey died in September 1910, aged 74.[2]