Thomas STANLEY

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: 1st Earl of Derby
• Fact 1: 1st Lord Stanley

Notes:

Name:
He betrayed the cause of King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth on 22 Aug. 1485, and is said to have set that King's crown on the head of his step-son, the victorious Henry VII. He was created Earl of Derby on 27 Oct. 1485. On 24 June 1495, he received a visit lasting nearly a month from the King and Queen, at Knowsley and at Lathom "Thomas Stanley, erle of Derby and lord Stanley" died testate aged sixty-nine at Lathom on 29 July 1504, and was buried with his ancestors at Burscough Priory, co. Lancaster.

Thomas Stanley, first Earl of Derby. This eminent man was summoned to parliament in the first year of Edward IV., and married Eleanor, daughter of the Earl of Salisbury and sister to Earl of Warwick, the famous "kingmaker," by whom he had six sons. The fifth of these named Edward, commanded the left wing of the English army at the battle of Flodden in 1513, which proved so fatal to the Scottish army. it was to him that the dying Marmion appealed in the famous lines of Scott's poem,

"Charge, Chester, charge; on, Stanley, on,
Were the last word of Marmion."

For his service on that occasion the king bestowed upon him the title of Baron Monteagle, in allusion to the crest of the family.

The wife of Lord Thomas having died, he married for his second wife a very distinguished lady, no less a personage than Margaret of Lancaster, mother of Henry VII. She had already been twice married, first to the Earl of Richmond, who died in 1456, father to Henry; and secondly to Sir Henry Stafford, the great Duke of Buckingham. Her third marriage to Lord Stanley was anything but a match for love, and it is said that it was contracted with the express stipulation that he should never occupy her bed.

it was now near the close of the terrible wars of the Roses for the English crown, between the rival houses of York and Lancaster. Lord Stanley had been an adherent of the White Rose of the House of York, but his present wife's son, Henry, Earl of Richmond, was the head of the House of Lancaster, and claimant of the throne. The usurping King Richard III., who, to secure his crown, had murdered the young King Edward V., and his brother the Duke of York and buried them under the stairs of the Tower, sought by honors and blandishments to attach the Stanleys to his side. At his coronation, July 6, 1473, Stanley's wife, the Countess of Richmond, bore the train of the queen. But all was in vain. The cruelties of Richard alienated his people, and prepared them for a revolution which should place Henry on the throne, and bring the fatal rivalry between York and Lancaster to an end by Henry's marriage with Elizabeth, Princess of York. To this scheme Lord Stanley gave his assent, but privately. When Henry's forces approached from the South, Stanley's men, of whom he had some five thousand, first marched in advance of them, as if retreating, but when they reached the battlefield at Bosworth, they went over to Henry's side. Richard, perceiving the defection, made a desperate charge upon his foes, cut his way to Henry's standard, killed Sir William Brandon, the standard bearer, and was directing a deadly thrust at his rival, when Lord Stanley came to the rescue. Richard's troops fled at once, and he was thrown from his horse, and dispatched with many wounds. Stanley picked up hi blood stained and battered crown, and placed it on Henry's head, proclaiming him King of England. For these eminent services the new monarch advanced Lord Stanley, 27 Oct. 1485, to the dignity of the Earl of Derby, and constituted him one of the commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Steward of England on the day of his coronation. His lordship, the March following had a grant of the high office of Constable of England for life. He had no children by his second marriage, and dying in 1504, was succeeded by his grandson.

Thomas married Alianor NEVILLE after 10 May 1457. Alianor (daughter of Sir Richard DE NEVILLE, K.G. and Alice MONTAGU) was buried in St. James, Garlickhithe, London. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. George STANLEY was born about 1460; died in 4 or 5 Dec 1503.

Thomas married Margaret BEAUFORT before Nov 1482. Margaret (daughter of John BEAUFORT and Margaret BEAUCHAMP) was born between 31 May 1441 and 1443 in Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, England; died between 29 Jun and 05 Jul 1509 in Westminster Palace; was buried in Westminster Abbey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Lord Stanley of Lathom and Knowsley
• Fact 2: Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
• Fact: 1432, Member of Parliament
• Fact 1: 1456, Knight of Garter

Notes:

Name:
He was summoned to Parliament on 15 Jan. 1455/6 by write directed 'Thome Stanley militi domino de Stanley', whereby he is held to have become Lord Stanley.

Thomas married Joan GOUSHILL. Joan (daughter of Sir Robert GOUSHILL, Esq. and Elizabeth FITZ ALAN) was born about 1401; died after 1460. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]