Sir William Stanford (1509 – 1558), also written Stamford or Staunford, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

politician, judge and jurist.

Origins

Born on or by 22 August 1509 at

Monken Hadley Monken Hadley is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. An ancient country village north of Barnet, it is now a suburban development on the very edge of Greater London north north-west of Charing Cross, while retaining much of its rural c ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, he was the second son of William Stanford, a mercer in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, and his wife Margaret Gedney. His father was a younger son of Robert Stanford, of

Rowley Regis Rowley Regis ( ) is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands, England. It encompasses the three Sandwell council wards of Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, and Rowley. At the 2011 census, the com ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

Career

After some time at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, he then studied law, entering

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1528 and being

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1536. At Gray's Inn, he was chosen

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in 1544 and 1551. By 1542, with a powerful friend at court in Sir

Thomas Wriothesley Sir Thomas Wriothesley ( ; died 24 November 1534) was a long serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Garter King of Arms, John Writhe, and he succeeded his father in this office. Personal life Wriothesley was ...

and being owed money by Henry Stafford, he was elected MP for

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in th ...

in the 1542 and 1545 Parliaments, and for

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...

in the 1547 Parliament. Though based in Middlesex, he developed Staffordshire links by buying the manors of

Perry Barr Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khalid Ma ...

and Handsworth. From 1542 to 1555, he was appointed to many royal commissions, some ranging over all England and Wales and some limited to Middlesex. In 1543 he was made a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...

for Middlesex, later sitting on the bench for Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Made a

serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are wri ...

in 1552, Queen

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

promoted him to

Queen's Serjeant A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are wri ...

in 1553. Next year, though his prosecution of Sir

Nicholas Throckmorton Sir Nicholas Throckmorton (or Throgmorton) (c. 1515/151612 February 1571) was an English diplomat and politician, who was an ambassador to France and later Scotland, and played a key role in the relationship between Elizabeth I of Englan ...

for treason was unsuccessful (with Throckmorton praising him for his erudition and honesty), he was appointed a justice of the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

the following year. Though a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, he is reported to have treated

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s fairly. He made his will on 4 April 1558 and died at Monken Hadley on 28 August, leaving his wife as executrix and his eldest son as heir.

Writings

He is said to have prepared the first printed edition of Glanvill's ''

Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie The (''Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England''), often called ''Glanvill treatise'', is the earliest treatise on English law. Attributed to Ranulf de Glanvill (died 1190) and dated 1187–1189, it was revolutionary in its sy ...

'' and in 1557 published the first textbook of English criminal law; ''Les Plees del Coron''. In 1567 his ''An Exposicion of the Kinges Prerogative'' (which he wrote in 1548) was published. William Fulbecke wrote in ''A Direction or Preparative to the Study of the Law'' (1600):

In Master Staunford there is force and weight, and no common kind of stile; in matter none hath gone beyonde him, in method, none hath overtaken him; in the order of his writing hee is smoothe, yet sharpe, pleasant, but yet grave; famous both for Judgement in matters of his profession, and for his great skill in forraigne learning, And surely his method may be a Law to the writers of the Law which succeed him.

In historic legal citations, Stanford's name is abbreviated "Stamf.", "Stanf.", or "Staunf.". ''Les Plees del Coron'' received the abbreviation "P.C." or "Plc", so the work is cited as "Stamf. P.C.", or similar.

Family

He married Alice, daughter of John Palmer (died 1542), of

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...

and his wife

Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was intro ...

(died 1558), daughter of Edward Cheeseman and sister of Robert Cheeseman. They are recorded as having six sons and five daughters, including: :Sir Robert (1540-1607), the eldest son, who remained a Catholic and moved to Perry Hall in Staffordshire, becoming

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of that county in 1589 and MP in 1604. :Ralph, a Catholic priest. His widow Alice later married Roger Carew, MP for

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...

in 1563, and died in 1573.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanford, William 1509 births 1558 deaths English legal writers Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Stafford 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers English knights Knights Bachelor English MPs 1542–1544 English MPs 1545–1547 English MPs 1547–1552 Justices of the Common Pleas Members of Gray's Inn Alumni of the University of Oxford English legal professionals Serjeants-at-law (England)