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Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby

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Main page Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, KG, GCB, GCVO, TD, PC, JP (4 April 1865 – 4 February 1948), styled Mr Edward Stanley until 1886, then The Hon
The Right Honourable
Contents Edward Stanley and then Lord Stanley from 1893 to 1908, was a British soldier, Conservative politician, diplomat, and racehorse owner. He was twice Secretary of State for War The Earl of Derby
Current events and also served as British Ambassador to France. KG GCB GCVO TD PC JP
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1 Background and education
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Contribute 3 Political career

Help 4 Other public positions

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Background and education [ edit ]
Secretary of State for War
Page information Stanley was born at 23 St James's Square, London, the eldest son of Frederick Stanley (later the 16th Earl of Derby), by his wife Lady Constance Villiers. Frederick Stanley was the In office
Cite this page second son of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, who was three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Villiers was the daughter of the Liberal statesman George 24 October 1922 – 22 January 1924
Wikidata item
Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon. Edward Stanley was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, where he boarded as a pupil of Stanley House, named in honour of his paternal Monarch George V

Print/export grandfather the 14th Earl.[citation needed] Prime Minister Bonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Download as PDF
Printable version Military career [ edit ] Preceded by Sir Laming Worthington-
Evans, Bt
In other projects Stanley initially received a lieutenant's commission in a militia unit, the 3rd Battalion, King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) (commanded by his father), on 4 May 1882, and then Succeeded by Stephen Walsh
joined the Grenadier Guards as a lieutenant from 6 May 1885.[1] He was seconded as aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Canada, his father, between 8 August 1889[2] and In office
Wikimedia Commons
1891. He was again seconded from his regiment on 10 July 1892, to take his seat in the House of Commons.[3] He resigned his commission on 3 April 1895.[4] 10 December 1916 – 18 April 1918
Languages
On 11 January 1899, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the reserve of officers,[5] and on 17 May, was made honorary colonel of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Loyal North Monarch George V
Čeština Lancashire Regiment. Lord Stanley served on the staff in the Second Boer War, and was appointed Chief Press Censor at Cape Town, graded as assistant adjutant-general, on 18 Prime Minister David Lloyd George
Deutsch
January 1900. He accompanied Lord Roberts' headquarters as Press Censor when he left Cape Town,[6] and was mentioned in despatches of 31 March 1900 by Roberts for his Preceded by David Lloyd George
Français
Italiano
"tact and discretion" in that role.[7] He was subsequently appointed Roberts' private secretary on 25 July 1900.[8] and was again mentioned in despatches of 2 April 1901 for his Succeeded by The Viscount Milner

Magyar "thorough knowledge of men and affairs".[9] He was appointed honorary colonel of the 6th (Militia) Battalion, Manchester Regiment on 24 December 1902,[10] of the 4th and 5th Ambassador to France
‫ﻣﺻﺭﻯ‬ Territorial Force Battalions of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on 18 June 1909 and 17 May 1899 respectively, and of the Lancashire and Cheshire Heavy Brigade, Royal In office
日本語 Artillery on 26 February 1921.[11] 1918–1920
Norsk bokmål Monarch George V
Polski
Русский
Political career [ edit ] Preceded by The Viscount Bertie of Thame
Succeeded by The Lord Hardinge of
Svenska Derby entered Parliament for Westhoughton in 1892, and served under Lord Salisbury as a Lord of the Treasury between 1895 and 1900 and under Salisbury and later Arthur
Edit links Penshurst
Balfour as Financial Secretary to the War Office between 1901 and 1903. In October 1903 he entered the cabinet as Postmaster General, a post he held until the government fell in Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
December 1905. He lost his seat in the 1906 general election. In 1908 he succeeded his father in the earldom and took his seat in the House of Lords.[citation needed] War
In office
In August 1914 Lord Derby organised one of the most successful recruitment campaigns to Kitchener's Army in Liverpool. Over two days, 1500 Liverpudlians joined the new
6 July 1916 – 10 December 1916
battalion. Speaking to the men he said: "This should be a battalion of pals, a battalion in which friends from the same office will fight shoulder to shoulder for the honour of Britain
Monarch George V
and the credit of Liverpool." Within the next few days, three more pals battalions were raised in Liverpool. In October 1915, as Director-General of Recruiting, he instituted the
Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
Derby Scheme, a halfway house between voluntary enlistment and conscription (which the Government was reluctant to adopt). It was not sufficiently successful in spite of the fact
Preceded by Harold Tennant
that the execution of Nurse Edith Cavell by the Germans on 12 October 1915 was used in recruitment rallies and conscription followed in 1916.[citation needed]
Succeeded by Ian Macpherson
In July 1916 Derby returned to the government when he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for War by H. H. Asquith, and in December 1916 he was promoted to Secretary of
Postmaster General
State for War by David Lloyd George. In this position he was a strong supporter of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff Sir William Robertson and of the Commander-in-Chief of
In office
the BEF, Field Marshal Haig. Haig privately had little respect for him, writing to his wife (10 January 1918) that Derby was "like the feather pillow, bear[ing] the mark of the last person 6 October 1903 – 10 December 1905
who sat on him" and remarking that he was known in London as the "genial Judas".[12] Robertson's biographer writes that during the crisis over Robertson's removal Derby "made Monarch Edward VII
himself ridiculous" by asking everyone, including the King, whether or not he should resign, and then in the end not doing so, only to be removed from the War Office a few weeks Prime Minister Arthur Balfour
later.[13]
Preceded by Austen Chamberlain
Derby and John Joseph Woodward (who was also secretary) jointly founded the ex-servicemen's organisation, the Comrades of the Great War in 1917 as a right-wing alternative to Succeeded by Sydney Buxton
the National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers (NADSS) and the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers (NFDSS), the latter of whom Financial Secretary to the War Office
had put a candidate up against his son Lord Stanley in the 1917 Liverpool Abercromby by-election.[14] The rival groups later merged into the British Legion formed in 1921. In office
7 November 1900 – 12 October 1903
In April 1918 he was made Ambassador to France, which he remained until 1920. In April 1921 he was sent secretly to Ireland for talks with Éamon de Valera, and it is likely that
Monarchs Victoria
these talks paved the way for the truce which in turn led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He again served as Secretary of State for War under Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin from 1922 to
Edward VII
1924. Derby was made a CB in 1900,[15] sworn of the Privy Council in 1903, KCVO in 1905[16] and a GCVO in 1908, Knight of the Garter in 1915, GCB in 1920. He was awarded the
Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury
Freedom of the City of Manchester in 1934.[citation needed]
Arthur Balfour
Preceded by Joseph Powell Williams
Other public positions [ edit ] Succeeded by William Bromley-Davenport
Derby was Lord Mayor of Liverpool between 1911 and 1912. He served as honorary president of the Rugby Football League, and donated a cup for the French authorities to use Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
for a knock-out competition, much as his father had done for ice hockey with the Stanley Cup. This is now known as the Lord Derby Cup. Between 1937 and 1947 he was the In office
president of the National Playing Fields Association (now renamed Fields in Trust).[17] He was also, from 1929 to 1945, the chairman of the Pilgrims Society, becoming their 6 July 1895 – 7 November 1900

president, until his death in 1948. Derby served as East Lancashire Provincial Grand Master of Freemasonry from 1899 until his death.[18] He also held the post of Lord Lieutenant Monarch Victoria

of Lancashire between 1928 and 1948.[citation needed] Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by William Alexander McArthur

Horse racing [ edit ] Succeeded by Ailwyn Fellowes

Member of the House of Lords
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be Lord Temporal
challenged and removed. (December 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In office
15 June 1908 – 4 February 1948
The Epsom Derby was named after the 12th Earl while The Oaks was named after the 12th Earl's house near Epsom. Derby followed the family tradition and was one of the most Hereditary Peerage
prominent owner breeders during the first half of the 20th century. Among his stables' important wins were: Preceded by The 16th Earl of Derby

Epsom Derby (3): 1924, 1933, 1942 Succeeded by The 18th Earl of Derby

Epsom Oaks (2): 1928, 1945 Member of Parliament

for Westhoughton
St. Leger Stakes (6): 1910, 1919, 1923, 1928, 1933, 1943
In office
1,000 Guineas (7): 1916, 1918, 1923, 1930, 1936, 1943, 1945 26 July 1892 – 12 January 1906
2,000 Guineas (2): 1926, 1944 Preceded by Frank Hardcastle

Amidst great fanfare that included making the cover of Time, in 1930 the 17th Earl visited Louisville, Kentucky, with Joseph E. Widener where he was the honoured guest of Succeeded by William Wilson

Churchill Downs president Col. Matt Winn at the 56th running of the Kentucky Derby. Personal details
Born Edward George Villiers Stanley
His biggest achievement though was his breeding of the horse Phalaris. Phalaris was a champion sprinter and a stallion par excellence responsible for establishing the most
8 April 1865
dominant sire line in Europe and later, the United States through his four sons – Sickle, Pharamond, Pharos and Fairway. St James's Square,
Westminster, London

Family [ edit ] Died 4 February 1948 (aged 82)

Knowsley Hall, Lancashire
Lord Derby married Lady Alice Maude Olivia Montagu, daughter of William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester and Louisa von Alten, and step-daughter of the leading Liberal
Nationality British
politician Lord Hartington, at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London, on 5 January 1889. She was also a lady-in-waiting to her friend, Queen Alexandra. They had three
Political party Conservative
children together. Two of them, Edward, Lord Stanley and Oliver, achieved the rare distinction of sitting in the same Cabinet between May and October 1938 until Edward's death.
Spouse(s) Lady Alice Montagu
Their daughter, Lady Victoria, married the Liberal politician Neil James Archibald Primrose[19] and, after his death in World War I, married the Conservative politician Malcolm
(d. 1957)
Bullock.[citation needed]
Children Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley
Lord Derby died in February 1948 at the family seat of Knowsley Hall, Lancashire, aged 82. His other country seat was Coworth Park at Sunningdale in Berkshire. He was Hon. Oliver Stanley
succeeded in the earldom by his grandson, Edward. He is buried at St Mary's Church, Knowsley.[20] The Countess of Derby died in July 1957.[citation needed] Lady Victoria Bullock
Parent(s) Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of
Many good stories are told of Lord Derby, including the following, which is surely apocryphal not least because he was a man of utter probity. He was spotted by a steward feeding Derby
one of his horses shortly before the start of a race. When challenged, His Lordship explained the substance was sugar, and promptly ate a lump himself to show that it was Lady Constance Villiers
innocuous. "Keep the creature on a tight rein until a furlong out, then let him have his head, He'll do the rest". His Lordship added, almost as an afterthought: "If you hear anything
coming up behind you, don't worry and don't turn round, it will only be me".[citation needed]

A county directory of 1903 describes Coworth House as "an ancient building standing in a thickly wooded park". As Derby also owned Knowsley Hall in Lancashire, his principal country seat, and a London townhouse in
Stratford Place, St James's, Coworth tended to be occupied only during Ascot race meetings. The Derby landholdings in 1833 consisted of some seventy thousand acres in Lancashire, Cheshire, Surrey and Kent in England
and Flintshire in Wales, but not a single acre in Derbyshire. The Landholding produced a rent-roll of £163,273 p.a.[citation needed]

On 9 January 1923, the Earl sold 143 acres of land known as the Keston Lodge Estate in Kent for £6000 to the property developer Frederick Rogers who renamed it ‘Keston Park’.[21]

Coworth House continued with Lord Derby until his death in 1948. It then became the home of Lady Derby, who died there on 24 July 1957, aged ninety-four. A month later her former home was advertised for sale in The
Times; and at this or a subsequent date was converted to use as a Roman Catholic convent school. The next owner is thought to have been Vivian 'White' Lloyd who died in 1972.[citation needed]

Screen portrayals [ edit ]

Lord Derby was portrayed by Frank Middlemass in an episode of the 1981 TV miniseries Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years.

References [ edit ]

1. ^ "No. 25467" . The London Gazette. 5 May 1885. p. 2041.
2. ^ "No. 25959" . The London Gazette. 30 July 1889. p. 4095.
3. ^ "No. 26310" . The London Gazette. 26 July 1892. p. 4250.
4. ^ "No. 26612" . The London Gazette. 2 April 1895. p. 1997.
5. ^ "No. 27041" . The London Gazette. 10 January 1899. p. 151.
6. ^ "No. 27207" . The London Gazette. 3 July 1900. p. 4126.
7. ^ "No. 27282" . The London Gazette. 8 February 1901. p. 845.
8. ^ "No. 27226" . The London Gazette. 4 September 1900. p. 5464.
9. ^ "No. 27305" . The London Gazette. 16 April 1901. p. 2601.
10. ^ "No. 27508" . The London Gazette. 23 December 1902. p. 8845.
11. ^ Army List.
12. ^ Sheffield & Bourne 2005 p372
13. ^ Bonham-Carter 1963, p351
14. ^ Ian Frederick William Beckett, The Great War, 1914-1918, p.572
15. ^ "No. 27306" . The London Gazette. 19 April 1901. p. 2696.
16. ^ "No. 27818" . The London Gazette. 18 July 1905. p. 4981.
17. ^ The History of Fields in Trust
18. ^ History of East Lancashire Provincial Grand Lodge Archived 21
November 2008 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 14 November 2008
19. ^ "Primrose-Stanley wedding" . British Pathe News.
20. ^ "Liverpool Daily Post". 5 February 1948.
21. ^ "History" . Keston Park. Retrieved 23 July 2021.

Sources [ edit ]

Victor Bonham-Carter (1963). Soldier True:the Life and Times of Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson. London: Frederick Muller Limited.
Sheffield, Gary & Bourne, Douglas Haig War Diaries and Letters 1914-18, (Phoenix, London, 2005) ISBN 0-7538-2075-7

External links [ edit ]

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Derby Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Edward
Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby.

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Preceded by Member of Parliament for Westhoughton Succeeded by
Frank Hardcastle 1892–1906 William Wilson

Political offices
Preceded by Financial Secretary to the War Office Succeeded by
Joseph Powell Williams 1901–1903 William Bromley-Davenport
Preceded by Postmaster General Succeeded by
Austen Chamberlain 1903–1905 Sydney Buxton
Succeeded by
Chairman of the Joint War Air Committee
New office The Earl Curzon of Kedleston
1916
as President of the Air Board

Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for War Succeeded by

Harold Tennant 1916 Ian Macpherson
Preceded by Secretary of State for War Succeeded by
David Lloyd George 1916–1918 The Viscount Milner
Preceded by Secretary of State for War Succeeded by
Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Bt 1922–1924 Stephen Walsh

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by British Ambassador to France Succeeded by
The Viscount Bertie of Thame 1918–1920 The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst

Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire Succeeded by
The Lord Shuttleworth 1928–1948 The Earl Peel

Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Derby Succeeded by
Frederick Stanley 1908–1948 Edward Stanley

Professional and academic associations

Preceded by President of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Succeeded by
Frederick, 16th Earl of Derby 1908–36 William Fergusson Irvine

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Categories: 1865 births 1948 deaths British racehorse owners and breeders Owners of Epsom Derby winners British Militia officers British Secretaries of State Diplomatic peers Grenadier Guards officers
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