Derby Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley

Derby, Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, Fourteenth Earl of, was born at Knowsley Park, Lancashire, in 1799. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1819 gained the Chancellor's prize for his Latin poem on Syracuse. In 1820 he was returned to Parliament for Stockbridge in the Whig interest, but he did not deliver his maiden speech until 1824. He then quickly made his mark, however, and was regarded as a distinct accession to the Liberal ranks. In 1826 he changed his seat from Stockbridge to Preston, where his family wielded great influence. In the following year, in conjunction with other prominent Whigs, Mr. Stanley effected a coalition with Canning, and became Under-Secretary for the Colonies. The coalition was dissolved on the death of Canning. On the formation of Lord Grey's Ministry in 1830 Mr. Stanley was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland. Going before his constituents for re-election, he was defeated by "Orator" Hunt, but a seat was found for him at Windsor. In 1832 he became member for North Lancashire, which constituency he continued to represent until his elevation to the peerage. In consequence of the Repeal agitation in Ireland and the alarming and fatal riots throughout the country, the Chief Secretary was called upon to introduce a stringent Coercion Bill, which he successfully carried through the House of Commons against the fierce opposition of O'Connell and his friends. Mr. Stanley's tenure of the Chief Secretaryship was marked by the passage of many, valuable Irish measures. In 1833 he became Secretary for the Colonies. Mr. Stanley seceded from the Whigs in 1834, when it was proposed to appropriate the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to educational purposes. He was appointed Colonial Secretary in the Conservative Administration of 1841, and held that appointment for four years. In 1844 he was called to the Upper House in his father's barony of Stanley of Bickerstaffe, having for ten years preceding borne the courtesy title of Lord Stanley. When Sir Robert Peel proposed the repeal of the Corn Laws, he retired from the Cabinet, and in 1846 took the lead of the Protectionists. Succeeding to the earldom in 1851 on the death of his father, in February, 1852, he became the head of a Conservative Government, but the Ministry was defeated in the ensuing December, and resigned office. Lord Derby again became Premier in February, 1858, but, being defeated on the question of Parliamentary Reform, he appealed to the country. When the new House of Commons met in June, 1859, a vote of want of confidence was carried, and the Government resigned. In 1866 Lord Derby became Prime Minister for the third and last time. In conjunction with Mr. Disraeli he passed the Reform Act of 1867, which he himself described as "a leap in the dark." He resigned the Premiership in 1868, and his last speech in Parliament was made, in 1869, in opposition to the Irish Church Disestablishment Bill. He died at Knowsley in 1869. Lord Derby was one of the first of parliamentary speakers, and was styled "the Rupert of debate," in consequence of the fiery nature of his eloquence and his powers of invective. He was also an excellent scholar, and published a blank-verse translation of Homer's Iliad.