23 - 29 June 2025 - Broad Chalke, Salisbury

Henge

Included

16:45 - 17:30
Mon, 23 June
3. Edward Geoffrey Stanley’s North American Tour, 1824-25: The Making Of A Prime Minister
Henge

In 1824, a young Edward Geoffrey Stanley – future Prime Minister and 14th Earl of Derby – set out on a journey that would shape his political career. Sent on what he called a “banishment,” Stanley spent months exploring the eastern half of North America, witnessing stark social contrasts: the struggles of Irish immigrants, the realities of slavery, and the tensions between French Catholics and British Protestants. Historian Caroline Derby uncovers how this eye-opening journey influenced Stanley’s later role as a political reformer and distinguished statesman.