Derby Road, SW14

Place Name

Edward Smith-Stanley (March 29, 1799 – October 23, 1869) was the 14th Earl of Derby is credited with inventing the modern Conservative Party in the wake of the 1867 Reform Act that opened voting to a wider electorate. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley. He served as Prime Minister three times, leading the country during key periods of the 19thCentury. A member of the Conservative Party, he was known for his long parliamentary career and, at 22 years, for holding the record as the longest-serving leader of a major political party in British history. Born into a prominent aristocratic family, Derby was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, and initially entered politics as a Whig. He became MP for Stockbridge in 1820 and later for Preston. He held several government positions, including Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1830 and 1833, where he dealt with issues surrounding Irish reform and unrest. However, in 1834, Derby split from the Whigs over the issue of Irish Church reform, aligning himself with the Conservatives. However, he remained a reforming MP, overseeing the introduction of much enlightened legislation, including the Factory Act, “dealing with uncleanliness, inadequate ventilation, and overcrowding in factories”. Derby first became Prime Minister in 1852, heading a minority government. His second term came in 1858 – 1859, when he managed to pass significant legislation such as the Abolition of Property Qualifications for MPs, and the Government of India Act 1858, which transferred control of India from the East India Company to the British Crown. His final term as Prime Minister, from 1866 – 1868, saw the passage of the Reform Act of 1867, which significantly expanded the British electorate by enfranchising urban working-class men. Derby was also known for his contributions to horse racing, founding the famous Epsom Derby and The Oaks races. He retired from politics in 1868, and died the following year. Historian Frances Walsh has written: “Although he was the first politician to become prime minister three times and remains the longest-serving party leader in British history he has not received the recognition one would expect. As a landed aristocrat with Whig antecedents, literary tastes, and a passionate interest in shooting and the turf he seemed to represent an obsolete, amateur tradition in politics, while the mythologizing of Disraeli as the architect of conservative survival and success tended to cast him into the shadows. This neglect was compounded by the absence of an official biography and problems of access to the Derby archives for a century after his death. Recent Studies have done something to redress the balance… 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.” It is not for his political achievements, however, that he remembered here – but familial ones. His sister was Lady Charlotte Penrhyn, wife of Edward Penrhyn, who lived at The Cedars in East Sheen. She died in 1853 at around the same time that the road was being built. This and Stanley Road were among the first post-railway developments of East Sheen.