Of the Reign of George III. His Life (1861) has been written by his son, Sir Edward Baines (1800-1890), who was editor and afterwards proprietor of the Leeds Mercury, M.P. for Leeds (1859-1874), and was knighted in 1880; his History of the Cotton Manufacture (1835) was long a standard authority. An elder son, Matthew Talbot Baines (1799-1860), went to the bar, and became recorder of Hull (1837). He became M.P. for Hull in 1847, and in 1849 president of the Poor Law Board. In 1852 he was returned for Leeds, and again became president of the Poor Law Board (till 1855). In 1856 he entered the cabinet as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.