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Edward Smith-Stanley redirects here; for other persons with that name, see Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley
Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby,
KG, PC (
29 March 1799 –
23 October 1869) was an
English statesman, three times
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the
Conservative Party. He was known before
1834 as
Edward Stanley, and from
1834 to
1851 as
Lord Stanley.
His record was unusual, since he is one of only four British Prime Ministers to have three or more separate periods in office. However his ministries all lasted less than two years, and he held the post for a total of just over four years, less than many other Prime Ministers.
Stanley was born to
Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby and Charlotte Margaret Hornby, daughter of Reverend Geoffrey Hornby. The Stanleys were a long established and very wealthy landowning family whose principal seat was
Knowsley Hall in
Lancashire. Stanley was educated at
Eton and
Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected to Parliament as a
Whig in
1820. When the Whigs returned to power in
1830, Stanley became
Chief Secretary for Ireland in
Lord Grey's Government, and entered the Cabinet in
1831. In
1833, Stanley moved up to the more important position of
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. Stanley, a conservative Whig, broke with the ministry over the disestablishment of the
Church of Ireland in
1834 and resigned from the government. He then formed a group called the
Derby Dilly and attempted to chart a middle course between what they saw as the increasingly radical Whiggery of Lord John Russell and the conservatism of the Tories, but Tory leader Sir Robert Peel's turn to the centre with the 1834
Tamworth Manifesto robbed them of much of the uniqueness of their programme.
The term
Derby Dilly was coined by Irish Nationalist leader
Daniel O'Connell. Besides Stanley, the other principal members of the Dilly were
Sir James Graham, who had resigned as
First Lord of the Admiralty; Lord Ripon, who had resigned as
Lord Privy Seal; and the
Duke of Richmond, who had resigned as
Postmaster General. These four ministers had all come from notably different political backgrounds - Stanley and Graham were old Whigs, Ripon was a former Canningite Tory, while Richmond was an arch-conservative Tory who had incongruously found himself in the Grey cabinet.
Although they did not participate in Peel's shortlived 1835 ministry, over the next several years they gradually merged into Peel's Conservative Party, with several members of the
Derby Dilly taking prominent positions in Peel's 1841 government.
Joining the Conservatives, Stanley again served as Colonial Secretary in Sir
Robert Peel's second government in
1841. In
1844 he was summoned to the
House of Lords in his father's
Baron of Stanley by Writ of Acceleration. In
1845, he again broke with his Prime Minister, this time over the repeal of the
Corn Laws, and managed to bring the majority of the Conservative party with him, (including, among others, the young
Benjamin Disraeli). He thereafter led the protectionist faction of the Conservative Party. In
1851 he succeeded his father as
Earl of Derby.
Derby formed a minority Government in February
1852 following the collapse of
Lord John Russell's Whig Government. In this new ministry, a little known Benjamin Disraeli would be appointed
Chancellor of the Exchequer. With many senior Conservative ministers having followed Peel, Derby was forced to appoint many new men to office — of the Cabinet only three were pre-existing
Privy Counsellors. When the aged
Duke of Wellington heard the list of ministers being read aloud in the House of Lords he is said to have kept asking "Who? Who?". From then this government would be known as the "
Who? Who? Ministry".
Traditionally Derby's ministries were thought in hindsight to have been dominated by Disraeli. However recent research suggests that this was not always the case, especially in the government's conduct of foreign policy. There, Derby and his
Foreign Secretaries Lord Malmesbury and later his son
Lord Stanley pursued a course of action that was aimed at building up power through financial strength, seeking to avoid wars at all costs, cooperating with other powers, and working through the
Concert of Europe to resolve diplomatic problems. This contrasted sharply with the policy of military strength and prestige that Disraeli would later pursue, and Derby's very different take on foreign policy could be seen as the precursor of "
splendid isolation", as well as the diplomatic settlement of Europe pursued by later Conservatives in the late
19th century and the
1930s.
Derby and Disraeli were unable to achieve a parliamentary majority, however, and their government collapsed in December of the same year, making way for a
Peelite-Whig coalition under
Lord Aberdeen.
In
1858, Derby formed another minority government upon the demise of
Lord Palmerston's first ministry, with Disraeli again at the Exchequer and Leader of the Commons. Among the notable achievements of this administration were the end of the
British East India Company following the
Sepoy Mutiny, which brought India under direct British control for the first time. Once again, the government was short-lived, collapsing after only a year.
Derby returned to power for the third and last time in
1866, following the collapse of
Lord Russell's second government. Once again, Disraeli was a leading figure. This administration was particularly notable for the passage of the
Reform Act of 1867, which greatly expanded the
suffrage. In early 1868, Derby retired from political life, leaving Disraeli to succeed him.
Although a great orator Derby was frequently criticized for his languid leadership. Nevertheless he had many significant achievements, both as minister and Prime Minister, and has been described as the father of the modern Conservative Party. His tenure of 22 years as party leader still stands as the longest in Conservative Party history.
His first son was
Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby.
