The Rise of the Stanley family.

In the late 14th Century, the Stanleys were a gentry family, their power base lying chiefly in Cheshire, notably in the Wirral. Their ancestry might fairly be described as ‘provincial’. There were certainly no kings in their quarterings. This is not to say they were unimportant, but their influence was of a local rather than…

The Harringtons of Hornby Castle and the Stanleys

Most people are aware of the story of the original Hornby Castle. Sir Thomas Harrington and John, his elder son, were killed fighting at Wakefield in the Yorkist cause. John Harrington left two daughters – Anne was five and Elizabeth four at the time – and the Stanleys, assuming them to be their grandfather’s heirs,…

My, my, some families really do not change their spots….!

While researching fourteenth-century Northamptonshire, I happened upon Sir John Stanley (1350-1414). “Stanley’s father was Master-Forester of the Forest of Wirral, notorious for his repressive activities. Both Stanley and his older brother, William (who succeeded their father as Master-Forester), were involved in criminal cases which charged them with a forced entry in 1369 and in the…