Sir John Stanley, Jr., of Melling, Knight

notes

From http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2004-07/...

John Stanley of Melling was not the son of John Stanley (who died childless) the son of James Stanley, Bishop of Ely. John of Melling d.v.p. in 1477 (not 1503, that was John Stanley, son of Sir George Stanley). His wife was Elizabeth Harington, daughter of Sir john Harington of Hornby (killed with his father Sir Thomas at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460). His father was John Stanley of Hooton (1436-1485) and his mother was Elizabeth Weever d. 1513 (who married secondly Sir John Done of Utkinton).
John of Melling left three daughters as coheirs at his death:

• 1 - Jane m. 1) Sir Thomas Halsall 2) Sir John Osbaldeston
• 2 - Ann m. John Swift
• 3 - Margaret m. Thomas Grimshaw of Clayton-le-Moors

As John Stanley and his wife Elizabeth were deforciants of a fine in 1492, the above death date for the younger John is likely incorrect. That both Johns were married to Elizabeths leaves it somewhat confusing. Elizabeth Harington is recorded as wife of Richard Beaumont in 1507.
Please see VCH Lancs VIII:194 [Melling]

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from page 143 of The Derby Household Books: Comprising an Account of the Household ... By William Ffarington

"Sir Thomas Halsall of Halsall Knt., whose wife was Jane, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Stanley of Honford Knt. (base son  and heir of John Stanley, brother of Thomas first Earl of Derby) and of Elizabeth his wife, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Harrington of Hornby Castle Knt. and of his wife, the daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Nevile of Hornby"

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From 'Townships: Melling', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 208-215. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp208-215 [accessed 27 August 2016].

Robert de Byron was succeeded by two daughters —Isabel, who married Robert de Nevill of Hornby, and Maud, who married William Gerard of Kingsley, father of the William Gerard above mentioned. (fn. 28) The latter thus had a double right in Melling, by his mother as well as by his wife. The Nevill share descended with Hornby to the Harringtons, and in the division of Sir John Harrington's (fn. 29) estate between his two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, Melling went to the former. She married John Stanley, son and heir of John Stanley of Weaver, in Cheshire (a younger brother of the first earl of Derby), (fn. 30) and Jane, one of their three daughters and co-heiresses, brought it to Sir Thomas Halsall, who died in 1539. His widow afterwards married John Osbaldeston of Osbaldeston, and died at this place 19 August, 1567. (fn. 31) Inquisitions taken after the death of her son Henry state that she held the manor of Melling and ten messuages, 200 acres of land, &c., in Melling and Liverpool. The manor was held of the queen by knight's service, and was worth £4 clear. By indenture and fine in 1566 the succession was arranged to Henry Halsall and his heirs, or in default to Jane's other children, or to her right heirs. Henry Halsall accordingly succeeded to the manor, and on his death in 1575 without issue—his grandson Cuthbert being illegitimate—it passed to Maud, wife of Edward Osbaldeston, one of the daughters of Dame Jane Halsall, and to Bartholomew Hesketh as son and heir of her other daughter Joan, who had married Gabriel Hesketh, the former being thirty-six years and the latter twenty-two. (fn. 32) In 1587 Bartholomew Hesketh purchased the Osbaldeston share, (fn. 33) but no further mention is made of it after 1598 (fn. 34) in the known inquisitions or settlements of this family, nor does any claim seem to have been made to it.

• 28. De Banc. R. 251, m. 160. See also De Banc. R. 220, m. 92 d.; Nevill v. Richard son of Adam Tatlock. In August, 1313, Robert de Nevill and Isabel his wife took action against William son of Roger de Melling in a plea of the assize of mort d'ancestor. Hervey de Melling and Henry his son, as also Henry son of Roger de Melling, were concerned in the case; Assize R. 424, m. 4. In 1374 Henry de Chathirton, in right of Robert de Nevill, prosecuted Gilbert son of Otes de Halsall and others for taking cattle at Melling; De Banco R. 456, m. 408. For a claim against this Henry see Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 354.
• 29. Killed at Wakefield in 1460.
• 30. Visit. of 1533 (Chet. Soc.), 166. He is elsewhere described as illegitimate (Visit. of 1567); but John Stanley of Weaver certainly had a son and heir John living in 1476, though his brother Thomas succeeded to Weaver; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii. 574.
• 31. See Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 28, m. 15.
• 32. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xiii, n. 34; xiv, n. 81. Dame Jane's sisters were Anne, who married John Swift, and Margaret, who married Thomas Grimshaw. For the latter's claim see Add. MS. 32105, n. 813. Margaret Grimshaw, widow, died in 1549, holding the third part of 34 messuages, 1,000 acres of land, &c., 8 'oppells' of a horse-mill and a watermill in Melling, Aintree, and Liverpool. All was held of the king by the third part of a knight's fee, and 4s. 5¼d. rent. The heir was her son Richard, forty-six years of age; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p. m. ix, n. 25.
• 33. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 49, m. 168.
• 34. Ibid. bdle. 60, m. 139. Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 245, m. 6, recites the settlement; John Pooley demanding certain messuages, &c. in 1579. It may be noticed that though the Halsalls had retained no right in it Sir Cuthbert professed to sell the manor of Melling in 1623; ibid. bdle. 102, m. 63.

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