Derby Road, SW14

Place Name

Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley (March 29, 1799 – October 23, 1869) or plain Edward Stanley was the 14th Earl of Derby, and Prime Minister no less than three times between 1852 and 1866 (although his total time at the helm amounted to just three years and 280 days). He is credited with inventing the modern Conservative Party in the wake of the 1867 Reform Act that opened voting to a wider electorate.  As a young politician he oversaw the abolishment of slavery within most of the British Empire, reformed education in Ireland, and reformed Parliament. 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.

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1 thought on “Derby Road, SW14”

  1. ‘Derby Lodge’ used to front onto Stanley Road in SW14. [I believe that the curve in Stanley Rd with its 4 magnificent cedar trees was the frontage to the main house.]
    #72 Stanley Rd and its acre of garden is the old Coach House (with its hayloft vent and weather-vane) and the gardens to #58 – 71 Stanley Road still have 14ft high garden walls topped with ‘battlements’!
    You write that “Edward Stanley was 14th Earl of Derby and Prime Minister ……”
    My question is WHO was the owner and builder of Derby Lodge — and to which estate was it the ‘Lodge?’

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