Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

The Right Honourable The Earl of Derby KG GCMG PC PC (Ire)
Lord Derby in 1865
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 28 June 1866 – 25 February 1868
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	The Earl Russell
Succeeded by	Benjamin Disraeli
In office 20 February 1858 – 11 June 1859
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	The Viscount Palmerston
Succeeded by	The Viscount Palmerston
In office 23 February 1852 – 17 December 1852
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Lord John Russell
Succeeded by	The Earl of Aberdeen
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
In office 3 September 1841 – 23 December 1845
Prime Minister	Sir Robert Peel
Preceded by	Lord John Russell
Succeeded by	William Ewart Gladstone
In office 3 April 1833 – 5 June 1834
Prime Minister	The Earl Grey
Preceded by	The Viscount Goderich
Succeeded by	Thomas Spring Rice
Chief Secretary for Ireland
In office 29 November 1830 – 29 March 1833
Prime Minister	The Earl Grey
Preceded by	Sir Henry Hardinge
Succeeded by	Sir John Hobhouse
Personal details
Born	(1799-03-29)29 March 1799 Knowsley Hall, Knowsley, Lancashire, England
Died	23 October 1869(1869-10-23) (aged 70) Knowsley Hall, Knowsley, Lancashire, England
Political party	Conservative
Other political affiliations	Whig (before 1841)
Spouse	Emma Bootle-Wilbraham ​ ​ (m. 1825)​
Children	3, including Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby and Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby
Parents	Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby Charlotte Margaret Hornby
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Signature

Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG GCMG PC PC (Ire) (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869), known as Lord Stanley from 1834 to 1851, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served three times as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. To date, he is the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party. He is one of only four British prime ministers to have three or more separate periods in office.^[1] However, his ministries each lasted less than two years and totalled three years and 280 days. Derby introduced the state education system in Ireland, and reformed Parliament.^[2]

Historian Frances Walsh has written that it was Derby:

who educated the party and acted as its strategist to pass the last great Whig measure, the 1867 Reform Act. It was his greatest achievement to create the modern Conservative Party in the framework of the Whig constitution, though it was Disraeli who laid claim to it.^[3]

Scholars long ignored his role but in the 21st century rank him highly among all British prime ministers.^[4]