Derby, James Stanley, 7th earl of

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Derby, James Stanley, 7th earl of (1607–51). Derby was lord-lieutenant of Lancashire, lord of the Isle of Man, an enormously wealthy landowner, and a leading royalist peer during the civil wars. In 1642 he raised over 6,000 men in the county for the king. Despite his energetic efforts, however, his army was broken, he quarrelled with his subordinates, and by June 1643 was driven out of his county. He spent most of the next seven years on the Isle of Man, a royalist stronghold, emerging in 1644 to fight at Marston Moor. His seat at Lathom House was defended against parliamentary siege by his French wife. In 1650 he declared for Charles II and brought a small contingent to the mainland, but was defeated at Wigan Lane (25 August 1651). Having failed to raise Lancashire and Cheshire, he fought at Worcester (September 1651), was captured, tried by court martial, and condemned to death. He was beheaded at Bolton, a town which he had stormed and sacked in 1644, killing 1,600 civilians. An indifferent military commander, Derby was heavy-handed and conceited. But he acquitted himself courageously on the scaffold, where he was compelled to wait several hours before being executed.

Ian Gentles

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James Stanley 7th earl of Derby

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