Derby, Earls of,

An English title which has been borne by the family of Stanley since 1485. Earlier it had been held by the family of Ferrers. The family of Stanley is of considerable antiquity. Thomas, 2nd Baron Stanley (c. 1435-1504), was created earl of Derby in 1485, for his services at Bosworth, where he crowned the victor. Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl (1508-72), took a prominent part in the political and military affairs. He was a commissioner at the trial of Lady Jane Grey, and a privy councillor under three sovereigns. Henry Stanley, 4th Earl (1531-93), married in 1555, Margaret Clifford, grand-daughter of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. He was a commissioner at the trial of Mary Queen of Scots (1586); two years later he was sent on a mission to Spain, and on his return was appointed lord high steward.

Of the successors to the earldom, Edward George Geoffrey Stanley, 14th Earl (1799-1869) was the most notable. He was born at Knowsley and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Entering Parliament as a Whig in his 23rd year, he was appointed by Canning in 1827 under-secretary for the colonies, an office he retained under Goderich. In the Grey administration (1830) he became chief secretary for Ireland. He left the Whigs in 1834 and in 1841 accepted the colonial secretaryship under Peel, but resigned in 1844 over the free trade issue. In 1844 he went to the House of Lords as Lord Stanley. It was not until 1851 that he succeeded to the earldom. In the following year he formed a protectionist administration, in which Disraeli was chancellor of the Exchequer. This administration held office only a few months; and Derby became prime minister again in February 1858, but his second ministry only lasted 16 months. Derby became prime minister for the third and last time in 1866, but two years later ill-health forced him to resign, and he was succeeded by Disraeli.

As a statesman Derby was not outstanding; he was however, a first class speaker and a very fine classical scholar. A good deal of the credit given to him by his contemporaries, especially in the reconstruction and reorganisation of the Conservative party after the fall of Peel, really belonged to Disraeli His eldest son, Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl (1826-93), educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, was also a statesman. He was under secretary for foreign affairs in 1852, and colonial secretary in 1858. In Derby's third ministry he became foreign secretary, and retained that position under Disraeli He succeeded to the earldom in 1869, and was again foreign secretary under Disraeli (1874-78). He became a Liberal in 1880, and two years later became colonial secretary under Gladstone; but he was opposed to Home Rule, and became leader of the Liberal Unionists in the House of Lords. By leaving the Conservatives in 1880 he sacrificed his succession to the premiership.

He was succeeded by his brother, Frederick Arthur Stanley (1841-1908), Baron Stanley of Preston (created 1886). He was educated at Eton and was MP for Preston, for North Lancashire and for Blackpool successively from 1865 to 1886; a lord of the Admiralty in 1868, financial secretary to the War Office, 1874-77, to the Treasury, 1877-78, secretary of state for war, 1878-80, vice president of the committee of the council on education, 1885, secretary of state for the colonies, 1885-86, president of the Board of Trade, 1886-88, and governor-general of Canada, 1888-93. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward George Villiers Stanley (1865-1948). The 18th Earl of Derby, Edward John Stanley (b.1918), succeeded his grandfather in 1948.

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