Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley (1894-1938)

Edward Montagu Cavendish Stanley, Lord Stanley PC MC (9 July, 1894 – 16 October, 1938) was the eldest son of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby and Alice Maude Olivia Montagu, daughter of William Drogo Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester, and a Conservative politician before his early death (predeceasing his father) in 1938. Stanley was first elected to Parliament in a by-election for Liverpool Abercromby in 1917 until 1918 and was the youngest member of the House of Commons. From 1922 he represented Fylde. He served as a Junior Lord of the Treasury 1924-27; Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party 1927-29; Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty 1931-1935; and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs from 1935. In May 1938 he was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs by Neville Chamberlain, serving in the same Cabinet as his brother Oliver, who was President of the Board of Trade. Five months later he died aged only 44. He was succeeded as heir to the Earldom of Derby by his son Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley. Another son, Richard Stanley, was Conservative MP for North Fylde from 1950 to 1966. Stanley had also been Chairman and President of the Junior Imperial League.