Edward Pease /

Edward Pease (31 May 1767 - 31 July 1858) was a British railway owner. Pease was born in Darlington, a member of the locally prominent Pease family, and was educated locally and at a Quaker boarding school in Leeds. He was active in his family's wool business, but turned his attention to something new at the age of 50. He wanted to see a railway line that would link the collieries in County Durham with the port at Stockton-on-Tees and persuaded businessmen to back the plan, which was approved by Parliament in 1821. Initially Pease planned a horse-drawn railway until George Stephenson and Nicholas Wood, the engineer and manager of Killingworth Colliery, persuaded him to use steam locomotives instead and put Stephenson in charge of the project. The Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened on 27 September 1825 although due to the death of his son, Isaac, the day before, Edward Pease did not attend the ceremony. In 1829 Pease retired from the railway and his second son Joseph took over. He supported the Anti-Slavery movement and also supported Elizabeth Fry in her prison reform campaign. He married Rachel Whitwell. Their children included John Pease (1797-1868), Joseph Pease