Jane Stanley

Lady Jane Stanley (1720 – 1803) was a member of the Earl of Derby branch of the Stanley family. The daughter of Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby she never married but, in her old age, maintained a large household at Brook House, Knutsford. A notable philanthropist, she installed and maintained footpaths in the town though, in line with her belief that couples should not walk with arms linked, she made them intentionally narrow. Stanley left significant donations in her will to friends, family, servants and to numerous charitable causes connected with the poor and sick. One bequest helped to maintain the footways in the town for many years. Stanley was the inspiration for the Honourable Mrs Jamieson in Elizabeth Gaskell's 1849 novel Cranford and the title character in her 1858 My Lady Ludlow.

Life

Lady Jane Stanley was the daughter of Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby and was born 1736. Stanley never married and from 1780 until her death lived at Brook House in Knutsford, Cheshire. She maintained a large household and one duty of her footmen was to bring her the latest news as soon as it arrived by mail coach. The mail coach used the road in front of Brook House and Stanley paid the guard five shillings a time to fire his pistol when passing to alert her servants of important news. A footman would then run to the inn in town to retrieve the news.

Considered an important and influential figure in Knutsford, Stanley was also well liked by her servants and neighbours. She also donated a woollen flag to the town that was flown from the church at times of military victories or other national rejoicings.

Stanley died in Knutsford, her will stipulated that she be buried in the vault belonging to her nephew Sir Peter Warburton in Great Budworth church. Shortly before she died Stanley composed her own epitaph: "A maid I lived and a maid I died; I never was asked and never denied".

A sum of £400 was left to be used to repair and improve the footpaths she had laid out around Knutsford and to maintain the woollen church flag. This was invested in Consolidated Bank annuities, that generated a return of around 3% per year (£12) by the 1820s., These funds were used to fund the planting of trees around Knutsford Heath and c.1900 "Love Lane" was renamed "Stanley Road" in her memory.

Stanley's sedan chair has been used by the annual Knutsford Royal May Day procession since 1884. Stanley was the inspiration for the Honourable Mrs Jamieson in Elizabeth Gaskell's 1849 novel Cranford and the title character in her 1858 My Lady Ludlow, both based on her time in Knutsford.