The daughter of Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby she never married but, in her old age, maintained a large household at Brook House, Knutsford.

A notable philanthropist, she installed and maintained footpaths in the town though, in line with her belief that couples should not walk with arms linked, she made them intentionally narrow.

[5][6] The mail coach used the road in front of Brook House and Stanley paid the guard five shillings a time to fire his pistol when passing to alert her servants of important news.

Stanley donated money throughout her life to construct and maintain footpaths in the town but specified that they be no more than a single flagstone in width to prevent couples from walking together.

[4][10] Stanley died in Knutsford, her will stipulated that she be buried in the vault belonging to her nephew Sir Peter Warburton in Great Budworth church.

[14] Stanley was the inspiration for the Honourable Mrs Jamieson in Elizabeth Gaskell's 1849 novel Cranford and the title character in her 1858 My Lady Ludlow, both based on her time in Knutsford.