Edward Stafford, 3rd Baron Stafford

The Lord Stafford
Spouse(s)	Maria Stanley
Issue Edward Stafford Ursula Stafford Dorothy Stafford
Noble family	Stafford
Father	Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford
Mother	Ursula Pole
Born	7 January 1535 Stafford Castle
Died	18 October 1603
Buried	21 Oct 1603 St Mary's Church, Stafford

Edward Stafford, 3rd Baron Stafford (7 January 1535 – 18 October 1603) was the second surviving son of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford and Ursula Pole, the younger brother of Henry Stafford, 2nd Baron Stafford. He served in Parliament for Stafford^[1] and succeeded his brother to the barony in 1566.

Family life

Edward Stafford was the second surviving son of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford and Ursula Pole. He became the 3rd Baron Stafford on his elder brother Henry's death in 1566.

He was descended from the Plantagenets through both his parents:

Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford was a  direct descendant of Thomas of Woodstock, youngest son of Edward III, through Thomas' daughter Anne of Gloucester and her husband Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford.
Ursula Pole was the daughter of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, the daughter of George Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV.

He married Mary Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby on 23 Nov 1566.^[2] They had three children:^[3]

1. Edward Stafford, 4th Baron Stafford, (1572 – 1625); married Isabel Forster, a chambermaid
2. Ursula Stafford; married to Walter Erdeswick
3. Dorothy Stafford, (b. bat 1572); married to ____ Gervais of Chadsden

He was succeeded by his son Edward.

Public life

Stafford was elected MP for Banbury in 1554. Following his brother Thomas's rebellion, Edward was questioned by the Privy Council on 3 May 1557, but no connection was found. Edward followed his uncle Henry Stafford as Member of Parliament for Stafford in 1558 and 1559^[1] and after his ennoblement was summoned to the House of Lords (1573–1593)^[4]

From about 1574, Stafford was patron of a "Lord Stafford's Company of Players", who were first recorded appearing in Barnstaple, appearing often in public records for the next twenty-six years. In 1577, whilst appearing in Southampton, it contained at least ten players. The group continued until at least 1617, under the patronage of the 4th Baron. Other groups of entertainers sponsored by Stafford included a group of bearwards (bear keepers), who appeared with the players in 1579 and a company of trumpeters.^[5]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Edward Stafford, 3rd Baron Stafford

16. Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford               8. Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham                       17. Margaret Beaufort               4. Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham                             18. Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers               9. Catherine Woodville                       19. Jacquetta of Luxembourg               2. Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford                                   20. Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland               10. Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland                       21. Eleanor de Poynings, Baroness de Poynings               5. Lady Alianore Percy                             22. William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke               11. Lady Maud Herbert                       23 .Anne Devereux               1. Edward Stafford                                         24.               12. Sir Geoffrey Pole                       25.               6. Sir Richard Pole                             26. Oliver St. John               13. Edith St. John                       27. Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso               3. Ursula Pole                                   28. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York               14. George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence                       29. Cecily Neville               7. Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury                             30. Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick               15. Isabella Neville                       31. Anne de Beauchamp

References

1. Biography of Edward Stafford tudorplace.com from History of Parliament accessed 18 Jan 2010
2. Rootsweb genealogy thread
3. A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant and in abeyance by John Burke Publisher, Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831
4. Sampson Erdeswicke, Thomas Harwood, A survey of Staffordshire: containing the antiquities of that county, Printed for and by J. B. Nichols and Son, 1820, Google books accessed 18 Jan 2010
5. English Dramatic Companies 1558-1642. Author - John Tucker Murray, Published by London Constable. In Archive.org checked 19 Jan 2010