Edward Smith-Stanley (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 23 February to 19 December 1852 (succeeding Lord John Russell and preceding George Hamilton-Gordon), from 20 February 1858 to 11 June 1859 (in between Henry Temple's two terms), and from 28 June 1866 to 27 February 1868 (succeeding Russell and preceding Benjamin Disraeli). He was a Conservative Party politician.
Biography[]
A statue of Derby in Parliament Square, 2020
Edward Smith-Stanley was born in Knowsley, Lancashire, England on 29 March 1799, and he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1822, he was elected to Parliament for the rotten borough of Stockbridge as a Whig, but he identified with the conservative wing of the party. He served as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1827 to 1828, Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1830 to 1833, and as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1833 to 1834 and from 1841 to 1845. He broke with the Whigs over the reform of the Church of Ireland, and he defected to the Conservative Party in 1841. In 1852, he formed a minority government, nicknamed the "Who? Who? ministry" after the near-deaf Duke of Wellington twice demanded to hear the list of inexperienced cabinet members that were appointed by Smith-Stanley. After a budget bill was voted down in a vote of no-confidence, Smith-Stanley resigned, but he returned from 1858 to 1859. However, he narrowly lost another vote of no-confidence, and he would not return to power until 1866. In 1867, Smith-Stanley passed a reform bill that expanded universal suffrage, but he retired the next year due to health reasons. He died in Knowsley in 1869 at the age of 70.