Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
Edward Geoffrey Smith - Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby ( born March 29, 1799 in Knowsley Hall near Prescot, Lancashire, † October 23, 1869 ) was a British politician and three-time Prime Minister.
Stanley was born as the eldest son of seven children of Edward Smith Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby and Charlotte Margaret Hornby.
1811 to 1817 he attended Eton, he went to Christ Church College in Oxford. In 1822 he was elected as a Whig in the House of Commons. In 1825 he married Emma Caroline Bootle - Wilbraham, with whom he had three children, two sons and a daughter.
When the Whigs in 1830 again put the government was Stanley Ireland minister Earl Grey. In 1833 he took over the more important items of war and colonial minister. After his resignation the following year Stanley had some differences with the Conservatives. In the second cabinet Peel he took over but then again the Colonial Office.
In 1844 it was by a special Royal Decree ( writ of acceleration ) the title of Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe, a subordinate his father's title transferred, so that he became a member of the House of Lords.
Stanley's father died on 30 June 1851, he became the 14th Earl of Derby. The following year he formed his first cabinet, a minority government, which was replaced after ten months. Benjamin Disraeli was in this government as Chancellor of the Exchequer his first major office.
1858 Stanley was the second time Prime Minister. Although the government was again replaced after one year, fell into this time the decisions on the acquisition of British India from the British East India Company under direct state control as a crown colony.
During the third term of Stanley from 1866 to 1868 was an electoral reform, through which the new industrial cities for the first time received a significant representation in the lower house, while the number of seats of the Rotten boroughs was reduced. When Stanley in 1868 resigned due to age and health reasons, Disraeli took over the premiership.
Until his death on October 23, 1869 Stanley was a member of the House of Lords. He was buried in St. Mary's Church. Today he is considered one of the founders of the Conservative Party.
One of his two sons, Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, founded in 1892, the most coveted ice hockey trophy, the Stanley Cup. His other son Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby was also a prominent politician.