Charlotte Stanley, Countess of Derby (1599–1664), born Charlotte de La Trémoille, was the daughter of the French nobleman Claude de La Trémoille, Duke of Thouars, and his wife Charlotte Brabantina of Nassau. Her maternal grandparents were William the Silent and Charlotte de Bourbon.
On 26 June 1626, Charlotte married the English nobleman James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, who was taken prisoner at Worcester in 1651, and was beheaded at Bolton. Lady Derby was famous for her defence of Lathom House in the Siege of Lathom House by Parliamentary forces during the First English Civil War in 1644. Her husband was also Lord of Mann, and her attempt to barter the Isle of Man for her husband's freedom provoked an anti-English revolt on the island led by Illiam Dhone.
Charlotte and Derby were parents of four daughters and five sons. Only four of their children appear to have survived to a marriageable age:
Charles's 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. From him the later Earls of Derby are descended.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.