Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley

“ Their paternal uncle, Sir James Harrington, took forcible possession of the estates and claimed them as his own, but on an appeal to the Court of Chancery, he was dispossessed and committed to the Fleet, when the wardship of the two young heiresses and the custody of their inheritance were granted to Thomas Lord Stanley, who considerately married the eldest, Anne, to his third son, Sir Edward Stanley, the hero of Flodden Field, and the youngest to his nephew, John Stanley, of Melling, the son of his brother, the first Sir John Stanley [18] of Alderley, in Cheshire. ”

“ Alban’s Court, Nonington, near Canterbury. Following the almost unbroken law of the heredity of genius, Stanley derived his chief mental qualities from his mother; and through her he was nearly related to the poets George Sandys, William Hammond, Sir John Marsham the chronologer, Richard Lovelace and his less famous brother; as, through his father, to a fellow-poet perhaps dearer to him than any of these, Sir Edward Sherburne.
His tutor, at home, not at College, was William Fairfax, son of the translator of Tasso. ”

“ In 1602, as appears by an indenture dated June 20 in that year, he sold the manor of Nether Alderley, which had been acquired by his father, to Thomas Stanley, ancestor of the present Lord Stanley of Alderley. Sir Edward filled the office of President of Munster, in Ireland, and died in 1606, leaving, by his wife Alice, daughter and sole heir of John Holcroft, of Holcroft, in Lancashire, with other issue, a son, Sir Edward Fitton, born 29th November, 1572, who was created a Baronet in 1617. ”

“ He was always ready to bring Indian grievances before the party leaders, the press, or parliament. He was a warm supporter of the National Congress movement, and would often quote the Arabic proverb that 'a child that does not cry gets no milk.' To Indians resident in England he was a friend and frequent host. He was a keen sportsman and a strict total abstainer, closing three inns on his Alderley estate. Stanley died at Alderley from pneumonia on 10 Dec. 1903. He was buried, by his own desire, in Alderley Park with Moslem rites, the Imam of the Turkish embassy officiating. ”

“ Edward Stanley courageously came forward as its advocate, and was enrolled as one of its early vice-presidents. A one-sided development of the mind was then the characteristic of the older universities, and men often-times left college without a single idea concerning the common things of every-day life or the slightest knowledge of any of God's works. The rector of Alderley was in many respects self-educated ”

“ To name his familiar associates is to call up a bright and thoughtful pageant, for they include, besides Lovelace and Suckling and Sherburne, the Bromes; James Shirley; John Davies of Kidwelly; John Hall of Durham, better remembered now as the friend of Hobbes than as the prodigy his generation thought him; and the genial Edward Phillips, the nephew of Milton. Though Stanley knew how to protest manfully when the profits of his mental labours were in danger of being withdrawn from him, yet he sought none of the usual awards of life, and never increased his patrimony. ”

“ One source from whence we have derived some information, though well known to the comparative few who have explored these by-paths of history, may not be thought uninteresting to the general reader, especially as it is connected with the most eventful portion of our narrative.
An ancient metrical account of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, is contained in some uncouth rhymes, written about the year 1562, by Thomas Stanley, Bishop of Sodor and Man, [12] and son of that Sir Edward Stanley, who, for his valour at Flodden, was created Lord Monteagle. ”

“ Sir Peter Stanley, who succeeded as second baronet on the death of his father, Sir Thomas, in 1672, served the office of sheriff in 1678. He died in 1683, having had by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Leigh of Northcourt, in the Isle of Wight, two sons and seven daughters. Thomas Stanley, the eldest son, who succeeded to the barony and estates, was born at Alderley on the 25th March, 1652, and baptized there on the 15th April following. He added to the family estates by his marriage with Christiana, daughter and heiress of Sir Stephen Leonard, of West Wickham, Kent, Bart. ”

“ He was secretary of state for war and for the colonies and president of the board of trade; and was governor-general of Canada from 1888 to 1893. He died on the 14th of June 1908, when his eldest son, Edward George Villiers Stanley, became earl of Derby. As Lord Stanley the latter had been member of parliament for the West Houghton division of Lancashire from 1892 to 1906; he was financial secretary to the War Office from 1900 to 1903, and postmaster-general from 1903 to 1905. ”

“ He remained in London three years, deriving great benefit, as he always fully acknowledged, from the personal supervision of Kneller, and returned to Warrington in 1721 upon an express commission to paint the portrait of Sir Edward Stanley. The success of this portrait led to his introduction to James Stanley, tenth earl of Derby, and the earl was so pleased with Winstanley's work that he ordered him to come and paint for him at his seat at Knowsley. ”

“ We have bought a few books. A thick octavo is here worth about four or five shillings, and the duty is, we understand, about one shilling more. One is a life of the Duke of Marlborough. Buonaparte said it was a reflection upon England not to have a life of her greatest Hero, and therefore he would be his biographer; accordingly he set his men to work and collected the materials. Report speaks favourably of it, but I have been so busied in looking and walking about that I shall not be surprised if I find that I have almost forgotten to read upon my return!
Edward Stanley to Louisa Stanley. ”

“ STANLEY, EDWARD, first Baron Monteagle (1460?–1523) , born probably about 1460, was fifth son of Thomas Stanley, first earl of Derby [q. v.] , by his first wife Eleanor, daughter of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury (1400–1460) [q. v.] , and sister of the ‘king-maker.’ He was knighted during Edward IV's reign, and on 17 April 1483 officiated as one of the pall-bearers at that king's funeral. His father's marriage with Henry of Richmond's mother and services at Bosworth secured Henry's favour for the family when he became king. ”

“ The third son, Charles Edward, a young officer in the Royal Engineers, who had done good work in the Ordnance Survey of Wales, and was already high in his profession, was suddenly cut off by fever at his official post in Tasmania in 1849.
The eldest daughter, Mary, had great powers of organisation, was a keen philanthropist and her father's right hand at Norwich. In 1854 she took charge of a detachment of nurses who followed Miss Nightingale's pioneer band to the East, and worked devotedly for the Crimean sick and wounded at the hospital at Koulalee. ”

“ Stanley speedily found his whole battery of persuasion exhausted; he withdrew in some wonder as to what the real state of things might be, and full of the deepest compassion. She had indeed scarcely veiled the truth to him; for, calling to mind the fate of the wretched Margaret of Anjou, she asked him, whether, like her, she should expose the young orphan York to the fate of the Lancastrian Prince Edward. But Stanley shrunk from being privy to such disclosures, and hastily withdrew. ”

“ Sir Edward Stanley, of the noble house of Derby, lived at Tong Castle, County Salop. He married the daughter and co-heir of the Earl of Northumberland, who brought him two daughters, ‘the divine Venetia’ being the youngest. Her mother died when she was a few months old. The widower gave himself up to grief, shunned the world, and could not even derive comfort from the society of his children. ”

“ What need a man to wish for more.
Sir James Stanley died March 17th, 1746-7, when the baronetcy as well as the patrimonial lands devolved upon his younger brother, Edward, who succeeded as fifth baronet. He did not, however, long enjoy possession of the estates, for in 1755, while returning from Adlington, where he had been on a visit to Charles Legh, he was suddenly seized with a fit of apoplexy, and died in his carriage before he could be conveyed home. ”

“ For two days the struggle with nature continued, and on the evening of the 6th, in the presence of his wife and daughters and his son, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, calmly and unconsciously, as if in a dream, he passed into his rest.
In life he had expressed a desire to be buried in the churchyard of Alderley, among those with whom he had so long lived, [Pg 97] unless that "circumstances and the wishes and judgment" of those on whom he most confided "might decide upon the spot which had been the last scene of his ministerial labours." ”

“ He succeeded Lord Granville as chancellor of the University of London in 1891, and remained in that position till his death. He lived much in Lancashire, managed his enormous estates with great skill, and did a great amount of work as a local magnate. He married in 1870 Maria Catharine, daughter of the 5th earl de la Warr, and widow of the 2nd marquess of Salisbury.
The earl left no children and he was succeeded as 16th earl by his brother Frederick Arthur Stanley (1841–1908) , who had been made a peer as Baron Stanley of Preston in 1886. ”

“ His private tastes and distastes in art were very decided, but he knew on occasion how to suppress them and support reasonable views which were not his own. He was a man of remarkable social charm, though not free from moods of cynicism and irony. A portrait of him in early life by Watts is in the gallery at Limnerslease. A sketch of him was executed for Grillion's Club by Henry Tanworth Wells in 1894. In 1864 he married Rosalind, youngest daughter of the second Lord Stanley of Alderley, by whom he had six sons, three of whom predeceased him, and five daughters, of whom one died in infancy. ”

“ During the interval she spent some time in London with Sir John and Lady Maria Stanley, and in the literary society of the opening years of the nineteenth century she was much sought after for her charm and appreciativeness, and for what Sydney Smith called her "porcelain understanding." The wits and lions of the Miss Berrys' parties vied with each other in making much of her; Rogers and Scott delighted in her conversation—in short, every one agreed, as her sister-in-law Maria wrote, that "in Kitty Leycester Edward will indeed have a treasure." ”

“ Edward Henry Stanley, 15th earl of Derby (1826–1893) , eldest son of the 14th earl, was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a high degree and became a member of the society known as the Apostles. In March 1848 he unsuccessfully contested the borough of Lancaster, and then made a long tour in the West Indies, Canada and the United States. ”

“ By her Derby had issue Henry Stanley, fourth earl [q. v.] , Sir Thomas Stanley (d. 1576) , and Sir Edward (d. 1609) ; and four daughters. His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Ellis Barlow of Barlow, Essex, by whom he had one son and two daughters. She died on 23 Feb. 1558–9, and an epilogue on her death, by Richard Sheale, is printed in the ‘British Bibliographer,’ vol. iv. (cf. Stanley Papers, i. 14) . His third wife was Mary, daughter of Sir George Cotton of Combermere Abbey, Cheshire, who afterwards married Henry Grey, earl of Kent, and died without issue on 16 Nov. ”

“ The Stanley Brothers' dry plates in photography and the Stanley automobiles have a world-wide reputation, and the men behind these are not only powers because of their wealth, but by reason of their long years of business integrity. After seventeen years' residence in Auburn, Me., Mr. and Mrs. Stanley removed to Newton, Mass., where they still live. They have two daughters, Blanche May and Emily Frances, and one son, R4j,ymond Walker, a promising lad yet in school.
Blanche May Stanley was married October 15, 1903, to Edward Merihew Hallett. They reside in Newton. ”

“ The whole details of the plot were unravelled, and the chief members of it, including Stanley, were brought to the block. Stanley's complicity in the "Perkin Warbeck" conspiracy has been doubted by modern historians, who have not hesitated to aver that his wealth was his principal crime in the King's eyes; indeed, the only charge that was made against him was, that if he were sure the claimant was King Edward's son, he would not bear arms against him. ”

“ Ser. iii. 246; Seacombe’s House of Stanley; Clarendon’s Hist. of the Rebellion; Gardiner’s Hist. of the Civil War and Protectorate; The Land of Home Rule, by Spencer Walpole (1893) ; Hist. of the Isle of Man, by A. W. Moore (1900) ; Manx Soc. publications, vols. 3, 25, 27. (P. C. Y.)
Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th earl of Derby (1799–1869) , the “Rupert of Debate,” born at Knowsley in Lancashire on the 29th of March 1799, grandson of the 12th earl and eldest son of Lord Stanley, subsequently (1834) 13th earl of Derby (1775–1851) . ”

“ I wrote so much to your brother of all the Duke of Bedford said of the old statesman being of use to the young one, and the young statesman taking to the old one (words on which he rings the changes till he makes me sick) , that I can’t write it all over again; but by dint of positively declining to understand, and by being so intensely stupid as to ask which Lord Stanley he meant (perhaps he of Alderley) , and by writing him short, savage notes in the intervals of the weekly luncheons he takes here, I hope I have rather enlightened that slightly damaged article—his mind. ”