[2][3][4] In 1880 Stanley signed with M. B. Leavitt's Grand English Operatic Burlesque Company and that April sailed from Liverpool for New York aboard the steamship Helvetia.

At the same venue that October Leavitt's company performed for the first time in America an English adaptation of La fille du tambour-major, with Stanley in the role of Duchess Della Volta.

[2][3] Later that month she assumed the role of Lady Ella, previously played by Miss Burville, in the original American production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Patience.

[8] Stanley's first big success in America came in February 1882 at Wallack's Theatre playing the cigar-toting boy, Willie Spratley, in the English extravaganza Youth.

[2][13] A sampling of plays she performed in over her career include; Though Stanley was thought to have married several times, her only known husband is Charles de Garmo Porter, a one-time actor, manager and event promoter.

They married in November 1884 at St. Raphael's Catholic Church, Surbiton, shortly before Stanley's second North American tour, and had separated by the time she returned to England late in 1886.

Their files held allegations that Porter had once taken advantage of a well-to-do woman, procured prostitutes for American tourists in Paris, and had a history of involvement in questionable business schemes.

[27] Stanley retired in 1902 after playing Mrs. Veasey in The House Agent's Dilemma at Queen's Gate Hall, South Kensington, and largely disappeared from the public eye.