| Constituency | Dates |
|---|---|
| Lancashire | 1774 – 22 Feb. 1776 |
Ld. lt. Lancs. 1776 – d.; P.C. 29 Aug. 1783; chancellor of duchy of Lancaster Aug. – Dec. 1783, 1806–7.
Stanley was returned unopposed for Lancashire in 1774. On 24 Jan. 1775 Horace Walpole wrote to Lady Upper Ossory about a debate on America the previous evening: ‘Lord Stanley spoke for the first time and pleased by his manner: his matter, they say, would have pleased as well on any other day.’ He was a strong supporter of British rights over America, and on 20 Feb. 1775 voted against North’s conciliation proposals.1Pol. Mem. Francis, 5th Duke of Leeds, ed. Browning 4. Three other speeches by him in the Commons are reported: 2 Feb. 1775 on America, and 26 Oct. and 1 Dec. on Lancashire affairs.
In 1778, under the influence of his uncle John Burgoyne, he went into opposition, and said in the Lords on 26 Nov. that he now saw the impracticability of carrying on the American war.2Walpole, Last Jnls. ii. 207. He had long been connected socially with Charles James Fox, and henceforth adhered to him in politics.
Derby died 21 Oct. 1834. ‘It was ... in the character of a sportsman that the late Earl made himself most conspicuous’, wrote the Gentleman’s Magazine (1834, ii. 644) ‘and a passion for horse racing and cock fighting was the absorbing one of his life.’ It is as the co-founder (with Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury) of the Derby and the Oaks that he is best remembered.