Note 28b — Chapter II · THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF BLORE HEATH. [21]

William Stanley (afterwards Sir William Stanley, Knight) was the second son of Sir Thomas Stanley, Chamberlain to Henry VI. Sir Thomas Stanley was summoned to Parliament as Lord Stanley, on the 20th of January, 1455–6, in the 34th of Henry VI., and died in the 37th year of that King’s reign, 1459; he married Joan, the daughter of Sir Robert Goushill, of Hoveringham, in the county of Nottingham, by whom he had three sons and three daughters, and was succeeded by his oldest son Thomas (afterwards first Earl of Derby), who was summoned to Parliament amongst the barons of this realm, on the 24th of May, 1461, in the first year of Edward IV., by the title of Baron Stanley of Latham. (Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. iii. p. 248; Collins’s Peerage, vol. iii. p. 41, 42; and the Memoirs of the House of Stanley, published by J. Harrop in 1767, p. 31.) It is remarkable that Dugdale does not mention any one of the family having been summoned to Parliament amongst the barons of the realm, or having been ennobled, prior to Thomas Lord Stanley, afterwards first Earl of Derby. Edmundson, in his Peerage, states that the latter was summoned to Parliament as Lord Stanley, in 1456; but it should seem that he means the father of the latter. It is certain that the father had a title as Lord Stanley, some time during the reign of Henry VI., from the passage in the act of the Parliament of Coventry, 38th Henry VI. (1459): “William Stanley Squier sonne to Thomas late Lord Stanley;” and from “Lord Stanley” being also repeatedly mentioned, in the proceedings of that Parliament (38th Henry VI.), and William Stanley being there called the brother of Lord Stanley; which it is impossible to apply to any other Lord Stanley, except Thomas Lord Stanley, afterwards first Earl of Derby, who was his brother, and who was also the son of the late Lord Stanley.—Rot. Parl. 38 Henry VI. (1459), vol. v. pp. 348, 369, 370. See also Rot. Parl. 39 Henry VI. (1460), vol. v. p. 382; in which the Lord Stanley then living (who was afterwards first Earl of Derby), is called “Thomas Stanley, Lord Stanley;” and his deceased father is particularly designated as “Thomas Stanley, late Lord Stanley his Fader;” besides which, the deceased is more than once called “Thomas, late Lord Stanley.” Thomas Lord Stanley, by his defection and opportunely going over, with his forces, at the battle of Bosworth, to the Earl of Richmond, was of the utmost service to him, and was the principal cause of his gaining the victory and the crown, was for so doing, created first Earl of Derby of that name, by Henry VII., in 1485, and died in 1504. Sir William Stanley (brother of the last-mentioned Lord Stanley) also commanded a considerable body of troops, at that battle. The aid of Sir William Stanley against Richard III. on that occasion, contributed very greatly, to place Henry upon the throne of England; yet Henry, forgetful of benefits received, caused Sir William Stanley to be beheaded on Tower Hill, on the 16th of February, 1494—5, on a very questionable charge, not of any treasonable actions, but of some alleged disloyal words. He was of Holt Castle, in the county of Denbigh, where he had large landed possessions, besides great quantities of plate, money, jewels, and other personal property; and the forfeiture of his wealth, is generally supposed to have been no slight motive, in inducing that avaricious and tyrannical King, to put him to death. When he fought at the battle of Blore Heath, there was exhibited a melancholy and revolting but very common effect of civil war; relatives fighting against each other; for his brothers-in-law, Sir William Troutbeck, who had married Margaret, the oldest sister, and Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton, who had married Elizabeth, the second sister of Sir William Stanley, were both slain in that battle.