He succeeded to the estate (but not the title) upon the death of his father, William de Ferrers, 3rd Earl of Derby, at the Siege of Acre in 1190.
On Richard's return from the Third Crusade, in the company of David Ceannmhor and the Earl of Chester he played a leading role in besieging Nottingham Castle, on 28 March 1194, which was being held by supporters of Prince John.
[1] He restored to the de Ferrars' family the title of Earl of Derby, along with the right to the "third penny", and soon afterwards bestowed upon him the manors of Ashbourne and Wirksworth, with the whole of that wapentake, subject to a fee farm rent of £70 per annum.
Because of continuing discontent about John's violations of the Magna Carta, some of the barons approached Prince Louis of France who invaded in that year.
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke acting on behalf of the young King sought to repel the invaders and pacify the barons.
His influence had by this time been further increased by the death, in 1232, of the earl of Chester, whose sister, his wife, inherited a vast estate between the Ribble and the Mersey.