The eldest son of the 17th Earl of Derby, he held minor political office before being appointed Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs in 1938, sitting in the cabinet alongside his brother Oliver Stanley.

Stanley was born at 36 Great Cumberland Place, Marylebone, London,[1] the eldest son and heir apparent of Hon.

His father was at the time of Stanley's birth Conservative MP for Westhoughton, Lancashire, and went on to serve as Secretary of State for War from 1916 to 1918 and from 1922 to 1924.

His paternal grandmother, Lady Constance Villiers, was daughter of Lord Clarendon, who himself served on three occasions as Foreign Secretary.

His sister, Lady Victoria, married firstly Neil Primrose, the son of Liberal Prime Minister Lord Rosebery.

[8] Lord Stanley was appointed adjutant of the newly formed Household Battalion on 9 September 1916, again as a temporary captain.

[11] He was appointed a staff captain and seconded on 13 August 1917,[12] and made a brigade major on 22 January 1918,[13] a post he held until 11 March 1918.

Lord Stanley was awarded the Military Cross on 3 June 1919, for his service in Italy during the First World War.

Neville Chamberlain paid tribute to him in the House of Commons: So great, indeed, was his keenness and his interest in Imperial relations that he insisted on carrying out his intention to visit Canada, although even then he was suffering from the disease which has now ended fatally.

Perhaps in that office he would have, for the first time, found an opportunity of showing the full extent of his powers, for those who knew him best had long recognised that he possessed to an exceptional degree the high qualities of steady judgment and sterling good sense, combined with a complete and utter selflessness and integrity of purpose.