Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (21 April 1775 – 30 June 1851), KG, of

Knowsley Hall Knowsley Hall is a stately home near Liverpool in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. It is the ancestral home of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby. The hall is surrounded by of parkland, which contains the Knowsley ...

in Lancashire (styled

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

Stanley from 1776 to 1832, known as Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe from 1832-4), was a politician, peer, landowner, builder, farmer, art collector and naturalist. He was the patron of the writer Edward Lear.

Origins

He was the eldest child and only son and heir of Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (1752-1834) by his wife Elizabeth Hamilton, a daughter of

James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton James George Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton and 3rd Duke of Brandon, KT (10 July 1724 – 17 January 1758) was a Scottish peer. Early years and education Hamilton was the son of the 5th Duke of Hamilton, by his first wife, the former Lady Ann ...

Career

He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. On 10 November 1796 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire and in the same year he was elected as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Preston. He held this seat until 1812 and then represented

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

until 1832, when he was ennobled as Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe, of

Bickerstaffe Bickerstaffe is a village and civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 Census the population of the civil parish was 1,196, reducing to 1,180 at the 2011 census, although the population of the ...

in the

County Palatine In England, Wales and Ireland a county palatine or palatinate was an area ruled by a hereditary nobleman enjoying special authority and autonomy from the rest of a kingdom. The name derives from the Latin adjective ''palātīnus'', "relating to ...

of Lancaster.

Military career

He was commissioned Colonel of the

1st Royal Lancashire Supplementary Militia First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

on 1 March 1797; this regiment subsequently became the 2nd Royal Lancashire Militia. He was breveted as a colonel in the regular Army with seniority from that date, retaining the rank until his regiment was disembodied, which occurred at the end of 1799. He resigned his commission as colonel on 13 April 1847.

Naturalist

In 1834 he succeeded his father as 13th

Earl of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...

and withdrew from politics, instead concentrating on his natural history collection at

, near Liverpool. He had a large collection of living animals: at his death, there were 1,272 birds and 345 mammals at Knowsley, shipped to England by explorers such as Joseph Burke. From 1828 to 1833 he was President of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

. Many of Derby's collections are now housed in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

'
World Museum
Several species were named after him, for example the

Derbyan parakeet Lord Derby's parakeet (''Psittacula derbiana''), also known as Derbyan parakeet, is a parrot species, which is confined to a small pocket of moist evergreen forest in the hills and mountains of the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, a ...

, ''Psittacula derbiana'' and an Australian species of parrot named firstly by

Nicholas Vigors Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow on 1785 as fi ...

as ''Platycercus stanleyii'', in 1830 when he was Lord Stanley, and referred to in the vernacular as "The Earl of Derby’s Parrakeet" by the author John Gould in the sixth volume of his

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

Birds of Australia Australia and its offshore islands and territories have 898 recorded bird species as of 2014. Of the recorded birds, 165 are considered vagrant or accidental visitors, of the remainder over 45% are classified as Australian endemics: found now ...

''. However the latter species was found to have been named previously as ''

Platycercus icterotis The western rosella (''Platycercus icterotis''), or moyadong, is a species of parrot endemic to southwestern Australia. The head and underparts are bright red, and the back is mottled black; a yellow patch at the cheek distinguishes it from oth ...

'', and thus ''Platycercus stanleyii'' was found to have been an invalid name due to the pre-existence of a published description for the species, according to "the inviolable laws of precedence in deliberations on biological nomenclature". From the Earl of Derby's Collection, the State Library of NSW purchased six volumes of exquisite Australian natural history drawings dating from the early days of British settlement in NSW and this Library publishes talks and exhibitions of its research on this collection.

Marriage and issue

On 30 June 1798 he married his first cousin Charlotte Margaret Hornby (d.1817), second daughter of Rev. Geoffrey Hornby (1750-1812), of Scale Hall, near Lancaster in Lancashire,

High Sheriff of Lancashire The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High Sheriff of Lanc ...

in 1774 and a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire, Colonel of a regiment of Lancashire militia, by his wife Lucy Smith-Stanley (d.1833) a daughter of

James Smith-Stanley, Lord Strange James Smith-Stanley, Lord Strange (1716–1771) was commonly known by that title, though neither he nor his father had any claim to it. He was the eldest son of Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby, whose predecessor's heirs had used that courtesy ...

(1716–1771), (son and heir apparent of

Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby (27 September 1689 – 22 February 1776), known as Sir Edward Stanley, 5th Baronet, from 1714 to 1736, was a British nobleman, peer, and politician. Derby was the son of Sir Thomas Stanley, 4th Baronet, and ...

(1689-1776)) and a sister of Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (1752-1834). Charlotte's brother was Edmund Hornby (1773-1857) of Dalton Hall, near Burton, Westmorland, a

for Preston, Lancashire, from 1812–1826,Escott, Margaret, biography of "Hornby, Edmund (1773-1857), of Dalton Hall, Westmld." published in:

History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in ...

: House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 200

/ref> who married his first cousin Lady Charlotte Stanley (d.1805), a daughter of Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (1752-1834). By Charlotte Hornby, he had issue: * Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869), thrice Prime Minister (1852, 1858–9, 1866–8) * Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Smith-Stanley (1801–1853), married Edward Penrhyn * Hon. Henry Thomas Smith-Stanley (1803–1875), MP for Preston (1832–7) * Lady Emily Lucy Smith-Stanley (1804), died in infancy * Lady Louisa Emily Stanley (1805–1825), married Lt.-Col. Samuel Long * Lady Eleanor Mary Smith-Stanley (b. 1807) * Colonel Hon. Charles James Fox Stanley (1808–1884)

Death

He died on 30 June 1851.

References

External links