History: Lord Strange, the Earl of Derby
Lord Strange, the Earl of Derby's Regiment takes it's name from a staunch supporter of the Royalist cause during the English Civil War, namely James Stanley, the 7th Earl of Derby (sometimes known as the Great Earl of Derby). Born on January 31st, 1607 in Knowsley, Merseyside he was the eldest son of William Stanley, the 6th Earl of Derby and Lady Elizabeth de Vere. During his father's life he was known as Lord Strange.

Stanley's lineage is impressive. His paternal grandparents were Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby and Lady Margaret Clifford. Margaret was a daughter of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland and Lady Eleanor Brandon. Eleanor was the third child of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York.

His Early Career
In 1625 Stanley was chosen as Member of Parliament for Liverpool. On February 2nd, 1626, he was created a Knight of the Bath on the occasion of the coronation of Charles I of England. He was joined by his father the same year as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire and chamberlain of Chester. He assisted in the administration of the Isle of Man and was appointed in 1627 as Lord of Man. Subsequently he was appointed lord-lieutenant of North Wales, and on 7th March 1628 he was called up to the House of Lords as Baron Strange.

The Civil War
He took no part in the political disputes between Charles I and parliament and preferred country pursuits and the care of his estates to court or public life. However, when the English Civil War broke out in 1642, he devoted himself to the king's cause. By the death of his father on the 29 September 1642 he had succeeded to the earldom. His plan of securing Lancashire at the beginning of the war and raising troops there was discouraged by the king, who was said to be jealous of Stanley's power and royal lineage. He commanded Stanley to join him at Nottingham.

Stanley's later attempts to recover Lancashire were unsuccessful*. He failed to win Manchester and was defeated at Chowbent and Lowton Moor. However, in 1643 he gained Preston although failed to take Bolton and Lancaster castles. Finally, after successfully beating off Sir William Brereton's attack on Warrington, he was defeated at Whalley. He then withdrew to York and Warrington surrendered to the Parliamentarians.

In June 1643 he left for the Isle of Man, and in the summer of 1644 he took part in Prince Rupert of the Rhine's successful campaign in the north. At the same time, his wife (Charlotte de la Tremoille (Lady Derby)) was left to defend what had become the last Royalist stronghold in Lancashire: Lathom House.

The Siege of Lathom House
The Siege of Lathom House shows one woman's courage to fight for her family's beliefs, and the power and strength of an intelligent woman against brute force and ignorance. Her heroic stance against the Parliamentarian forces to withstand the siege of Lathom House has earnt her a degree of immortality in the words of a song (see below), which you can also hear when you enter our website. Here is a brief account of the most famous act of the woman the enemy called "Babylon"+.

In the latter part of February, 1644, Charlotte de la Tremoüille was left in charge of Lathom House. Thomas Fairfax of the Parlimentarian forces saw Stanley's absence as an opportunity to strengthen Parliament's position in Lancashire and set out to conquer Lathom House. Lady Derby was asked to acknowledge parliament and surrender her house, but she refused on the grounds that doing so would dishonour her husband. However, she did offer to limit herself to defending her home, and this postponed further attacks. She also made full use of the fact that Fairfax would almost certainly underestimate a woman.

When Fairfax arrived at Lathom House in February, Lady Derby had made every effort to conceal the strength of the castle's fortifications. Fairfax demanded that she surrender Lathom House to him, but she asked for a week to consider his offer. After the week had elapsed, she then insisted that it was only appropriate that he visit her at Lathom House for further negotiations. He was received with all due honour, but the entire household categorically rejected his terms for surrendering. He gave Lady Derby two more days to consider her situation. When the two days had elapsed, the emissary sent by Fairfax was dismissed.

Fairfax had no option but to hold the house under siege. He had at his disposal 2,000 Parliamentarian soldiers of which 500 were cavalry and the remaining 1500 were on foot. Lady Derby had a garrison of only 300 men.

However, Lathom House was well fortified. The outer walls and embankments were six feet thick and there was an 8 yard moat. The house also had 9 towers and each tower had six cannons. The 'Eagle' Tower also had a commanding view of the battlefield. As well as this, the house was at the lowest point in the middle of an open area which allowed clear view of the enemy's movements and the Eagle Tower providing an excellent overview of the battlefield. Lady Derby had many excellent marksmen who managed to help the enemy sustain significant losses by sniping.

Eighteenth century historian of the House of Stanley, John Seacome, wrote:
" ...upon a flat, upon a moorish, springy, and spumous ground ; was at the time of the siege encompassed by a strong wall of two yards thick. Upon the wall were nine towers flanking each other, and in every tower were six pieces of ordnance, that played three the one way and three the other. Within the wall was a moat, eight yards wide and two yards deep; upon the brink of the moat, between the wall and the graff, was a strong row of palisadoes surrounding the whole, and, to add to these securities, there was a high tower, called the Eagle Tower, in the midst of the house, surrounding (surmounting?) all the rest ; and the gatehouse was also a strong and high building, with a strong tower on each side of it; and in the entrance to the first court, upon the top of these towers, were placed the best and choicest marksmen, who had been accustomed to attend the Earl in his field sports, with their fowling-pieces, which they levelled at the enemy, marking particularly the officers wherever they appeared in their trenches. Nature seemed to have formed the house for a stronghold. The situation of the house might be compared to the palm of a man's hand-flat in the middle and covered with rising ground around it, so that during the siege the enemy was never able to raise a battery against it, or to make a single practicable breach in the wall. The works of the besiegers formed a line of circumvallation drawn round about the house at the distance of 60 or 100 or 200 yards from the wall, as best suited the ground, consisting of an open trench, a yard of ditch, and a yard of turf, with eight sconces raised in such places as might annoy the besieged in the sally, directis lateribus, and in some places staked and palisadoed."

[Memoirs; containing a genealogical and historical account of the ancient and honourable house of Stanley, from the Conquest to the death of James, Earl of Derby in the year 1735; as also a full description of the Isle of Man, &c.
SEACOME. John 2 pt. Liverpool: Printed by A[dam] Saddler, [1741.] 4o. {139.c.23. } ]

The fortifications sustained continuous cannon and mortar fire with minimal damage; in addition, the Royalists were able to launch several successful sorties to disrupt Parliamentarian efforts to set up shooting positions. As a result, Parliamentarian forces were unable to establish any major artillery positions against the castle, and the army refused to replenish those that were lost or spiked during the sorties. Morale among the Parliamentarians was low, as Lady Derby's troops shot soldiers and engineers on the battlefield.

Nevertheless, Fairfax continued to demand that Lady Derby surrender to his forces, going so far as to obtain a letter from Lord Stanley asking for safe passage for her. She refused to surrender under any terms, rebuking messengers and dismissing them forthwith.

After one particularly audacious sortie in late April that destroyed several Parliamentarian positions, Fairfax declared a day of fasting and prayer in his camp. One of the chaplains invoked the following verse from Jeremiah 50:14:

"Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD."
When a messenger from Colonel Rigby of the Parliamentarian army arrived to offer Lady Derby an honourable surrender, she threatened to hang him up at the tower gates. She then asked him to convey the following back to Rigby:

"Carry this answer back to Rigby, and tell that insolent rebel, he shall have neither persons, goods, nor house. When our strength and provisions are spent, we shall find a fire more merciful than Rigby; and then, if the providence of God prevent it not, my goods and house shall burn in his sight; and myself, children, and soldiers, rather than fall into his hands will seal our religion and loyalty in the same flames."

The siege was finally over on the night of May 27th as Prince Rupert approached Lathom with thousands of cavalry and infantry. Lady Derby and her household departed for the Isle of Man, and in December of 1645 Lathom House was taken and destroyed by parliamentary forces under the command of Colonel Egerton.

Lady Derby had succeeded in holding the house for three months with a few hundred troops against 2,000.

They Called Her Babylon
SteeleyeSpan/Ken Nicol

To the halls of Latham House the king he did proclaim
That the seventh Earl of Derby, James Stanley was his name,
Should resist the Scottish force bound for the Isle of Man,
So he gathered up his fighters and obeyed the king's command.
The Countess was of noble blood, though not of royalty,
Yet brave and as intrepid as any man was she.
So the house became a fortress, with her good Lord now gone.
Her name was Lady Charlotte but they called her Babylon.

Chorus: So put yourselves in line against Babylon.
All ye that bend the bow against the crown.
And train the gunner's sights against Babylon
Till the eagle tower does fall and the walls they are thrown down.

Both the puritans and Fairfax, together they did call
For this one last royal stronghold in Lancashire to fall.
So the garrison she strengthened and the eagle tower was manned
And refusing all conditions, it was then the siege began.

Chorus: So put yourselves in line against Babylon.
All ye that bend the bow against the crown.
And train the gunner's sights against Babylon
Till the eagle tower does fall and the walls they are thrown down.

'Twas in two good months when those rebels did retreat
They were cast out from the earthworks and driven to defeat.
With dishonour and in shame their siege came to an end,
They were routed by a lady and two hundred loyal men.

Chorus: So put yourselves in line against Babylon.
All ye that bend the bow against the crown.
And train the gunner's sights against Babylon
Till the eagle tower does fall and the walls they are thrown down

The Later Years
After his time in the Isle of Man, when Lady Derby was at home defending Lathom House, Stanley returned to the mainland and accompanied Prince Rupert to the notorious Battle of Marston Moor, near York. After the complete defeat of Charles's cause in the north, he withdrew again to the Isle of Man, where he held out for the king and offered asylum to royalist fugitives. His administration of the island 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.

On the 12th January 1650 Stanley was made a Knight of the Garter. He was chosen by Charles II to command the troops of Lancashire and Cheshire, and on the 15th August 1651 he landed at Wyre Water in Lancashire in support of Charles's invasion, and met the king on the 17th August. Proceeding to Warrington he failed to obtain the support of the Presbyterians through his refusal to take the Covenant, and on the 25th August was totally defeated at the Battle of Wigan Lane, being severely wounded and escaping with difficulty.

He joined Charles at Worcester; after the battle on the 3rd 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 29th September, and on the grounds 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 15th October 1651 because of his part in the Bolton Massacre. He was buried in Ormskirk church.

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 war by his dislike of the Scots, whom he regarded as guilty of the king's death and as unfit instruments of the restoration. He was "a man of great honour and clear courage," and his defects were the result of too little knowledge of the world.

Lord and Lady Derby had six children, but only four of their children seem to have survived long enough to marry.

Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby (19th January 1628 - 21st December 1672).

Lady Henriette Mary Stanley (17th November 1630 - 27th December 1685): married William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford.

Lady Amelia Ann Sophia Stanley: married John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl.

Lady Catherine Stanley: married Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester.

Charles' 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. The Earls of Derby are his descendants.

*Lancashire has now been recaptured for the King by Lord Strange the Earl of Derby's regiment. You can help the cause by joining us now. Let history not repeat itself!

+ The Whore of Babylon is a city-state mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. She makes her appearance in Revelation chapter 17, in which she is described as:
"the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." (Rev. 17:1-2 KJV). She bears the title, "Mystery Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth", and is described as being "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Rev. 17:5-6)