# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stanley, Edward (1508-1572)

​STANLEY, EDWARD, third Earl of Derby (1508–1572), second but eldest surviving son of Thomas Stanley, second earl of Derby, by his wife Anne, daughter of Thomas, lord Hungerford, was born in 1508 (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, iii. 2820). His father, eldest son of George, lord Strange (d. 1497), and grandson of Thomas, first earl of Derby [q. v.], born before 1485, was made K.B. on 31 Oct. 1494, succeeded his grandfather as second Earl of Derby on 29 July 1504, and his mother in the barony of Strange on 20 March 1513–14. He attended Henry VIII on the French expedition in 1513, and was present at the battle of Spurs (18 Aug.) In 1520 he was in attendance on Charles V at Dover, and in the same year he was sworn of the privy council. He died on 23 May 1521, and was buried at Sion monastery, Middlesex. An anonymous portrait belongs to the present Earl of Derby (Cat. First Loan Exhib. No. 70). ​The third earl was a minor at his father's death, and became a ward of Cardinal Wolsey. He took his seat in the House of Lords in the parliament that met on 3 Nov. 1529, and on 13 July 1530 he was one of the peers who signed the letter to the pope petitioning him to grant Henry VIII's divorce. In 1532 he was present with Henry at his interview with Francis I at Boulogne. He was made a knight of the Bath on 30 May 1533, and on 1 June following he officiated as cupbearer at the coronation of Anne Boleyn. He took a prominent part in suppressing the northern rebellions in 1536 and 1537 (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, ed. Gairdner, vols. xi. and xii. passim). In 1542 he accompanied Thomas Howard, third duke of Norfolk, on his raid into Scotland. He was elected K.G. on 17 Feb. 1546–7, and three days later bore the sword ‘curtana’ at the coronation of Edward VI. He was, however, strongly opposed to religious change, and protested in the House of Lords against the bills confirming the new liturgy (10 Dec. 1548), for the destruction of the old service books (December 1549), compelling attendance at divine service (January 1552–3), and legalising the marriage of priests (March 1552–3). In June 1551 it was reported that he had been commanded to ‘renounce his title of the Isle of Man,’ but refused, and was preparing to resist by force (Cal. State Papers, For. i. 119–20). Nevertheless, he was on 9 Aug. 1551 sworn a privy councillor on condition of attending only when specially summoned, and in the same year he was one of the parties to the peace with Scotland. He took little part in the proceedings of the council, but in December 1551 he was one of the peers who tried Somerset, while his eldest son was one of the principal witnesses against the duke. On 16 May 1552 he was appointed lord lieutenant of Lancashire.
Derby naturally welcomed the accession of Queen Mary, and was one of her earliest adherents. On 17 Aug. 1553 he was made a regular member of the privy council, which he frequently attended, and in the same month was placed on a commission to investigate Bonner's deprivation of the bishopric of London. He was created lord high steward for the coronation of Mary on 1 Oct. and bore the sword ‘curtana’ at that ceremony. On 11 Nov. following he was made a special commissioner for the trial of Lady Jane Grey and others, and during Mary's reign he frequently took part in the proceedings against heretics, John Bradford (1510?–1555) [q. v.] being one of the victims of his activity (Foxe, Actes and Mon. vol. vii. passim; Maitland, Essays on the Reformation). He attended Philip of Spain at his landing on 19 July 1554, and on 30 May 1557 he was appointed captain of the vanguard to serve against the Scots. He was one of those summoned to attend Queen Elizabeth on her entry into London in November 1558, and before the end of the year became a member of Gray's Inn. He was retained as a member of the privy council, was appointed chamberlain of Chester on 16 April 1559, visitor of the churches in the province of York on 24 June 1559, commissioner for ecclesiastical causes in the diocese of Chester on 20 July 1562, and lord lieutenant of Cheshire and Lancashire on 18 Nov. 1569. But though he often took part in proceedings against recusants and gave the government timely warning of the insurrection of 1569, his sympathies and connections rendered him an object of suspicion to Elizabeth. The queen's enemies counted on his support (cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. Addenda, 1566–79, pp. 371–2), and his sons, Edward and Thomas, were in 1571 implicated in an attempt to release Mary Queen of Scots from Tutbury (Hatfield MSS. i. 505–76). Derby died at Lathom House on 24 Oct. 1572; he had been noted for his splendid hospitality, and his funeral at Ormskirk on 4 Dec. 1572 was one of the most magnificent on record (cf. The Derby Household Books, Chetham Soc.; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–81, p. 455; Collins, Peerage, iii. 55–62). His will, dated 24 Aug., was proved on 21 Nov. 1572. An engraving of an anonymous portrait of Derby belonging to the present Earl Derby is given by Doyle.
[Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, ed. Brewer and Gairdner, vols. iv–xv. passim; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–81, and Addenda, 1547–65, 1565–79; Derby's Corr. (Chetham Soc. new ser.); Stanley Papers, (5 pts.) and Lancashire Lieutenancy under the Tudors (Chetham Soc.); Cal. Hatfield MSS. pt. i.; Acts of the Privy Council, 1542–75; Lit. Remains of Edward VI (Roxburghe Club); Machyn's Diary, Chron. of Queen Jane, and Narr. of the Reformation (Camden Soc.); Corr. Pol. de Odet de Selve; Foxe's Actes and Mon.; Burnet's Hist. Reformation, ed. Pocock; Strype's Works; Lords' Journals; Baines's Lancashire; Hibbert Ware's Manchester; Collins's, Doyle's, and G. E. C[okayne]'s Peerages.]
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