In or before 1859, Stanley converted to Islam and may have adopted the name Abdul Rahman. He likely converted to Islam while traveling in the Islamosphere in the 1850s, having visited cities such as Kandy & Colombo in what was then known as British Ceylon, as well as having conducting his Hajj to Mecca. Lord Stanley was the first Muslim member of the House of Lords, inheriting his titles in 1869 upon the death of his father, Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley. His mother, Henrietta Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley, was an English educationist, while his sister Katharine was the mother of Bertrand Russell. His younger brother Edward Lyulph Stanley succeeded him.