Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby

Activities

Edward Stanley (alias "Teddy") was born to Hugh Stanley and his wife Rose Stanley (née Birch). He lives at Knowsley Hall near Liverpool, and also has a residence in London.

Stanley inherited the earldom of Derby and other family titles in 1994, on the death of his uncle. He also inherited the Knowsley Estate, the Knowsley Safari Park and Stanley House Stud on Hatchfield Farm. He is President of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, serves as a member of the University of Liverpool Council (receiving an Honorary Doctorate (Hon. LLD) from the Liverpool University in 2008) and is one of seven trustees of the Cameron House Foundation, which provides reduced-rate bursaries to Cameron House School, a £5625-per-term private pre-prep and prep school in the prestigious Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. Stanley married the Hon Caroline Neville, the daughter of the 10th Lord Braybrooke (of Audley End). The couple have three children:

Their elder son Lord Stanley is a godson of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and was Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II between 2008 and 2012, appearing in three Garter services and four State Openings of Parliament. He held the Garter around the leg of Prince William during his installation as 1000th Knight of the Garter. Lord Derby was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside in 1999, serving alongside Rt Hon. Frank Field MP and Mark Blundell among others.

Knowsley Estate

The Knowsley Estate has residential properties in the rural parishes of Knowsley, Eccleston, Rainford, Bickerstaffe and Ormskirk. It also offers commercial properties as part of the Stanley Grange Business Village, converted from a range of Victorian farm buildings on the estate and opened in June 2013.

The Grade 1 listed Knowsley Hall and surrounding 2,500 acres of parkland have also been used as locations for several television programmes and films including Apparitions (2008), The Liver Birds (2007) as well as television soap operas, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street. In 2008, the house received a five-star gold rating for accommodation from inspectors at VisitEngland, the only stately home to be so rated. In 2010, Lord Derby announced his ‘Green’ policies for the estate, which included conservation and generation of efficient energy usage.

Hatchfield Farm and thoroughbred horse racing

Lord Derby's maternal grandmother, Catherine, was a well known racehorse trainer in Wiltshire notably College House, Lambourn, from where she sent out The Schweppes Gold Trophy winner Ra Nova, among others. The Epsom Derby was named after the 12th Earl of Derby while The Oaks was named after the 12th Earl's house near Epsom. The Derby family can trace its horse racing heritage back to the 5th Earl of Derby in the sixteenth century.

Lord Derby usually has one or sometimes two horses in training each year from Hatchfield stud farm, managed by his brother Hon. Peter Stanley. Home to a small number of broodmares, the Earl's policy is to sell his colts and race the fillies. The Earl currently owns Ouija Board, winner of seven The Group/Grade 1 races, including the Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf in 2004, and the last-named race again in 2006. She also won the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot in June 2006. She was third in the Japan Cup following that last win, and was retired after going lame before her intended final start in the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin in December 2006. Ouija Board won over three million pounds in prize money. The Earl has published a book about her, Ouija Board: A Mare in a Million.

Derby's proposal to build 1,200 houses and a large industrial estate on historic studland at Hatchfield Farm in Newmarket, Suffolk, was met with opposition from local residents, businesses and the area's largest employers, including Tattersalls, the Jockey Club, Newmarket Racecourse, Newmarket's elected councillors, leading trainers and the local resident group Save Historic Newmarket.