Past Prime Ministers

Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

Tory and Whig 1852 to 1852, 1858 to 1859, 1866 to 1868

“My Lords, I am now an old man, and like many of your lordships, I have already passed the 3 score years and 10. My official life is entirely closed; my political life is nearly so; and, in the course of nature, my natural life cannot now be long.”


Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

Born

29 March 1799, Knowsley Hall, Prescot, Lancashire

Died

23 October 1869, Knowsley Hall, Prescot, Lancashire

Dates in office

1852 to 1852, 1858 to 1859, 1866 to 1868

Political party

Tory and Whig

Major acts

India Bill 1858: transferring control of the East India Company to the Crown. Jews Relief Act 1858: ending the disablement for Jews to sit in Parliament.

Biography

The 14th Earl of Derby, Lord Derby, started his career as a Whig. He resigned from Lord Melbourne’s government in 1834 in opposition to plans to reform the Irish Church and later joined the Tory party. Lord Derby presided over the introduction of the Second Reform Act in 1867, which significantly increased the size of the urban electorate.

Read more about Lord Derby on the History of government blog.