Edward Montagu Cavendish Stanley, Lord Stanley, MC (9 July 1894 – 16 October 1938) was a British Conservative politician. The eldest son of the 17th Earl of Derby, he held minor political office before being appointed Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs in 1938, sitting in the cabinet alongside his brother Oliver Stanley. However, Stanley died only five months after this appointment, aged 44; his eldest son, Edward John Stanley, later succeeded to the earldom in his stead.
His maternal grandfather was William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester, also a Conservative peer and MP. His maternal grandmother Louisa von Alten married after the death of the Duke of Manchester, Spencer, Duke of Devonshire, also known as Lord Hartington, who for a time (before inheriting his peerage) was Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons.
Lord Stanley was commissioned a second lieutenant on 2 July 1914.[1] He was promoted to temporary lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 15 November 1914,[2] later with seniority from 3 November 1914,[3] and became a substantive lieutenant on 11 November 1914.[4]
On 29 January 1916, he was made a supernumerary temporary captain with the Guards,[5] relinquishing the rank on 12 May 1916.[6] Lord Stanley was appointed adjutant of the newly formed Household Battalion on 9 September 1916, again as a temporary captain.[7] He received a substantive captaincy on 26 September 1916[8] and served as adjutant until 12 January 1917.[9]
He was appointed a staff captain and seconded on 13 August 1917,[10] and made a brigade major on 22 January 1918,[11] a post he held until 11 March 1918.[12] He served as a general staff officer, 3rd grade, from 6 May 1918[13] to 8 October 1918. On 9 October 1918, he was again appointed a brigade major,[14] serving in that capacity until 2 November 1919. Lord Stanley was awarded the Military Cross on 3 June 1919, for his service in Italy during the First World War.[15] On 27 November 1920, he retired from the Army and entered the reserve of officers as a captain.[16]
So great, indeed, was his keenness and his interest in Imperial relations that he insisted on carrying out his intention to visit Canada, although even then he was suffering from the disease which has now ended fatally. Perhaps in that office he would have, for the first time, found an opportunity of showing the full extent of his powers, for those who knew him best had long recognised that he possessed to an exceptional degree the high qualities of steady judgment and sterling good sense, combined with a complete and utter selflessness and integrity of purpose.[21]
Family
Lord Stanley married the Honourable Sibyl Louise Beatrix Cadogan, daughter of Henry Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea, in 1917; they had three sons. He died in Marylebone, London, in October 1938, aged 44, predeceasing his father by ten years. His eldest son John succeeded his grandfather in the earldom in 1948. The second son, Richard, later became MP for Fylde North, and third son Hugh Henry Stanley (1926–1971) was the father of Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby.[22] Lady Stanley died in June 1969, aged 76.
