Family politics

AMONG the mononymous household figures immortalised in bronze on Parliament Square —Disraeli, Churchill, Gandhi—is one Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby and three-time Prime Minister.

In a country house 200 miles away resides another Edward Stanley, the present Lord Derby, landowner and scuba-diver. Of the 19 Earls of Derby since 1485, nine of them have been called Edward. The 1st was King of Mann and Henry VII’s stepfather and the 7th was with Charles II at the Battle of Worcester. The 12th founded the Derby and the 13th patronised Edward Lear, who wrote The Owl and the Pussycat for his children.

Then, the politicians: the 14th Earl’s triple premiership, the 15th’s turn as Foreign Secretary. The 16th was governor-general of Canada, the