Stanley enlisted in the army on 23rd November 1915 at the age of eighteen years and four months. His occupation is listed as a railway porter for the Great Eastern Railway. Immediately, he was placed in the army reserve where he remained until his mobilisation just over a year later, on 16th December 1916. Stanley was sent to join the 3rd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, based in Felixstowe and Harwich, as a home defence and training battalion. On 15th March 1917, he was posted to France and initially assigned to the regiment’s base depot, before being sent to join the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment on 1st April 1917.
On 7th April, Stanley travelled to the front line for the first time as the 2nd Bedford’s relieved the 16th Manchesters near Henin-Sur-Cojeul, to the south of Arras. Two days later, the First Battle of the Scarpe (part of the Battle of Arras) started, with the 2nd Bedfords in the thick of it. Their orders were to capture St. Martin-Sur-Cojeul from the Germans, which they did successfully. Subsequent orders were received on the 11th April: to attack the enemy lines on either side of the river Scarpe. However, the attack was delayed and the battalion dug-in to consolidate their position. Stanley and his battalion spent the night in heavy snow. The following day the attack continued and the enemy line was taken after a German retreat. The battalion was relieved and they returned to billets in Bailleulmont.
For the remainder of April, the battalion was either in billets or trenches in a newly-captured section of the Hindenburg Line. The month of May was spent in billets undergoing training before moving north from Arras to Ypres, arriving there on 28th May. The next day, Stanley and the 2nd Bedfords were in trenches on Observatory Ridge in the Zillebeke Sector. Stanley’s own time there, however, was coming to an end. At the beginning of June, he became seriously ill and was sent back to England for treatment. He was admitted to hospital on 14th June 1917 suffering from diphtheria remaining there until 22nd December that year.
On his discharge from hospital, Stanley returned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment until 24th May 1918 when he returned to France rejoining the 2nd Battalion. Shortly afterwards, on 4th July, he was transferred to the 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. Stanley remained with them until after the armistice on 11th November, having been involved in the Second Battle of Arras, the Battles for the Hindenburg Line and the Battle of Cambrai.
Stanley was to remain in France, for almost another year, working with the 103rd Prisoner of War Company of the Labour Corps. Demobilisation for Stanley wasn’t until 6th November 1919. For his war service, Stanley received the British War and Victory Medals.
In 1923, Stanley married Hannah Whyard in Woodbridge. He continued to work for the Great Eastern Railway, and in 1939, Stanley and Hannah were living in Chelmsford, Essex, with their two sons. Stanley continued to live in Chelmsford until he died in 1960. His wife, Hannah, died the following year.