3-057-114 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby, politician and statesman, 1881. Stanley (1826-1893) first entered parliament in 1848 as a Conservative member for King's Lynn. In 1852 his father, the 14th Earl of Derby became Prime Minister, and appointed Stanley Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In subsequent administrations presided over by the Earl of Derby Stanley served as Colonial Secretary and Foreign Secretary. In 1869 his father died and Stanley became the 15th Earl. He served as Foreign Secretary again under Disraeli, but by 1880, increasingly at odds with the foreign policy position of the Conservative party, he opted to join the Liberals. Gladstone made Stanley leader of the Liberals in the House of Lords, and Colonial Secretary in 1882-1885. In 1886 however, disagreeing with Gladstone's position on Irish Home Rule, the Earl of Derby left the Liberal party to join the Liberal Unionists, leading the party in the Lords until he retired from politics in 1889.