James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby

The Right Honourable James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (1607-1651), sometimes styled the Great Earl of Derby, eldest son of William, 6th Earl, and Elizabeth de Vere, daughter of Edward, 17th Earl of Oxford, was born at Knowsley on the 31 January 1607.

Related Topics:
The Right Honourable - William, 6th Earl - Edward, 17th Earl of Oxford - Knowsley - 31 January - 1607

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During his father's life he was known as Lord Strange. After travelling abroad he was chosen Member of Parliament for Liverpool in 1625, was created knight of the Bath on the occasion of Charles I's coronation in 1626, and was joined with his father the same year as lieutenant of Lancashire and Cheshire and chamberlain of Chester, and in the administration of the Isle of Man, being appointed subsequently lord-lieutenant of North Wales. On the 7 March 1628 he was called up to the House of Lords as Baron Strange.

Related Topics:
Member of Parliament - Liverpool - 1625 - Knight of the Bath - Charles I's - 1626 - Lancashire - Cheshire - Chester - Isle of Man - North Wales - 7 March - 1628 - House of Lords

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He took no part in the political disputes between king and parliament and preferred country pursuits and the care of his estates to court or public life. Nevertheless when the English Civil War broke out in 1642, Lord Strange devoted himself to the king's cause. His plan of securing Lancashire at the beginning and raising troops there, which promised success, was however discouraged by Charles, who was said to be jealous of his power and royal lineage and who commanded his presence at Nottingham. His subsequent attempts to recover the county were unsuccessful. He was unable to get possession of Manchester, was defeated at Chowbent and Lowton Moor, and in 1643 after gaining Preston failed to take Bolton and Lancaster castles. Finally, after successfully beating off Sir William Brereton's attack on Warrington, he was defeated at Whalley and withdrew to York, Warrington in consequence surrendering to the enemy's forces.

Related Topics:
English Civil War - 1642 - Chowbent - Lowton Moor - 1643 - Preston - Bolton - Lancaster - William Brereton's - Warrington - Whalley - York

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In June 1643 he left for the Isle of Man to attend to affairs there, and in the summer of 1644 he took part in Prince Rupert's successful campaign in the north, when Lathom House, where his wife Charlotte de la Tremoille (Lady Derby) had heroically resisted the attacks of the besiegers, was relieved, and Bolton Castle taken.

Related Topics:
1643 - Isle of Man - 1644 - Prince Rupert's - Lathom House - Charlotte de la Tremoille

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He followed Rupert to Battle of Marston Moor, and after the complete defeat of Charles's cause in the north withdrew to the Isle of Man, where he held out for the king and offered an asylum to royalist fugitives. His administration of the island imitated that of Strafford in Ireland. It was strong rather than just. He maintained order, encouraged trade, remedied some abuses, and defended the people from the exactions of the church; but he crushed opposition by imprisoning his antagonists, and aroused a prolonged agitation by abolishing the tenant-right and introducing leaseholds. In July 1649 he refused scornfully terms offered to him by Henry Ireton. By the death of his father on the 29 September 1642 he had succeeded to the earldom, and on the 12 January 1650 he obtained the Garter. He was chosen by Charles II to command the troops of Lancashire and Cheshire, and on the 15 August 1651 he landed at Wyre Water in Lancashire in support of Charles's invasion, and met the king on the 17 August. Proceeding to Warrington he failed to obtain the support of the Presbyterians through his refusal to take the Covenant, and on the 25 August was totally defeated at the Battle of Wigan Lane, being severely wounded and escaping with difficulty.

Related Topics:
Battle of Marston Moor - Strafford - Ireland - 1649 - Henry Ireton - 29 September - 1642 - 12 January - 1650 - Garter - Charles II - 15 August - 1651 - Wyre Water - 17 August - Covenant - 25 August - Battle of Wigan Lane

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He joined Charles at Worcester; after the battle on the 3 September he accompanied him to Boscobel House, and while on his way north alone was captured near Nantwich and given quarter. He was tried by court-martial at Chester on the 29 September, and on the ground that he was a traitor and not a prisoner of war under the act of parliament passed in the preceding month, which declared those who corresponded with Charles guilty of treason, his quarter was disallowed and he was condemned to death. When his appeal for pardon to parliament was rejected, though supported by Oliver Cromwell, he endeavoured to escape; but was recaptured and executed at Bolton on the 15 October 1651. He was buried in Ormskirk church.

Related Topics:
Worcester - The battle - 3 September - Boscobel House - Nantwich - Chester - 29 September - Oliver Cromwell - Bolton - 15 October - 1651 - Ormskirk

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Lord Derby was a man of deep religious feeling and of great nobility of character, who though unsuccessful in the field served the king's cause with single-minded purpose and without expectation of reward. His political usefulness was handicapped in the later stages of the struggle by his dislike of the Scots, whom he regarded as guilty of the king's death and as unfit instruments of the restoration. According to Clarendon he was "a man of great honour and clear courage," and his defects the result of too little knowledge of the world.

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Lord Derby left in MS. "A Discourse concerning the Government of the Isle of Man" (printed in the Stanley Papers and in F. Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. ii.) and several volumes of historical collections, observations, devotions (Stanley Papers) and a commonplace book.

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He married on the 26 June 1626 Charlotte de la Tremoille (1599-1664), daughter of Claude, duc de Thouars, and granddaughter of William the Silent, prince of Orange, by whom besides four daughters he had five sons, of whom the eldest, Charles (1628-1672), succeeded him as 8th earl.

Related Topics:
26 June - 1626 - Claude, duc de Thouars - William the Silent, prince of Orange - Charles

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Charles's two sons, William, the 9th Earl (c. 1655-1702), and James, the 10th Earl (1664-1736), both died without sons, and consequently, when James died in February 1736, his titles and estates passed to Sir Edward Stanley (1689-1776), a descendant of the 1st earl. From him the later Earls of Derby are descended.

Related Topics:
William, the 9th Earl - James, the 10th Earl - Edward Stanley - Earls of Derby

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