Eldest son of of Edward, 12th Earl of Derby, by his first wife Lady Elizabeth Hamilton. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. Became MP for Preston and retained that position until 17 April 1839 when he inherited the Earldom on the death of his father and retired from public life. Stanley had already displayed an early interest in Zoology and now devoted himself to setting up a private menagerie and building up collections at his home at Knowsley, Lancashire. At the same time he contributed many papers to J.LSL of which he had been President from 1828-33. Stanley’s biography in DNB does not mention that he had any interest in insects and suggests that his collections (his museum contained more than 20,000 specimens) were of animals, birds, reptiles and fishes alone. However, the Entomology Registers of the NHM state that he presented to the Museum a large collection of Coleoptera in 1843 (1843.19) and eight further collections up to 1851 amounting to more than 500 specimens from Australia and South Africa. Some were collected by Mr J. Macgilliway (or M. Gillivray) who appears to have made a journey to those countries on HMS Fly. The contents of his house were sold by Stevens on 6-11 October 1851. (MD 11/04)
Dates
21 April 1775 – 30 June 1851