She was born in May 1583, the second daughter of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, and his wife, the former Alice Spencer.

Many of the works were Christian devotional literature by popular authors like William Perkins, Joseph Hall, and Francis Rous.

She, her mother, and her sisters were the subject of the verse dedication of John Davies of Hereford's The Holy Roode.

Thomas Newton dedicated his Atropoïon delion to her mother and followed it with acrostic verses to Stanley and her sisters.

Milton's masque Comus, written to honor her husband's ascension to Lord President of Wales, was performed at Ludlow Castle in 1634 with her three youngest children, John, Thomas, and Alice, in the leading roles.