styled milite* or knight, and is recorded to have had issue two sons, John and Adam, but by whom history as well as record are silent; neither do I find that John the elder son ever possessed the estate of Stanley, but died without issue; but that Adam the younger son succeeded his father Sir William, in honour and estate, is fully manifested hereafter.

Adam, the son of Sir William, and fourth Lord of Stanley, is styled Sir Adam de Stanley, filius William de Stanley, milite, et Petar William de Stanley, and is recorded to have had a son named William, but by whom history. and record are silent on that head.

William, the son of Adam, and fifth Lord of Stanley, is styled William de Stanley, in the county of Stafford, Dom. de Stanley et Dom. de Stourton, in the county of Chester, et foresturæ foresta, or chief ranger of the forest of Wirral, by the grant of the tenth of King Edward II. 1316, who also gave him three bucks' heads for his arms or bearing. [See arms, fig. 1, plate 1.]

He married Joanna or Jane, the eldest daughter of one of the coheirs of Sir Thomas Bamvill, by Agnes his wife, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir Alexander Sylvester, Lord of Stourton, from whom, Mr. Cambden says, the Stanleys derive themselves, viz. page 560, "that Hooton is a manor which, in King Richard the Second's time, fell to the Stanleys, who derive them from Allen Sylvester." But this is a gross mistake, as well from the account above given, as his own former writing, wherein he fixes the original of the Stanleys at Stonely, in the county of Stafford.

Sir Alexander Sylvester was the son of Ranulph Sylvester,§ and Ranulph was the son of Allen Sylvester, steward to Ranulph the third Earl of Chester, who gave him for his seat the manor of Stourton, with the bailiwick of Wirral, and the government of the forest there; and

Heralds' Office, Chester.

+ Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

invested him therein by the delivery of a hunting horn, with certain fees and perquisites thereto annexed, to wit, among others, that he should blow or cause to be blown that horn, at Gloverstone, near Chester, on every Chester fair-day, in token that the tolls or duties payable for allgoods bought or sold in that place, during the time of the fair, belonged to him, as a place of privilege to him and alt his tenants there, exempt from the jurisdiction of the city. This horn is now preserved at Hooton, by the family of Stanley, the descendants of the said Jane Bamvill and Sir William Stanley, who by the said Jane had issue two sons,' John and Adam, and one daughter named Sarah de StanFey, who married Roger the son of Sir Roger de Hausket. Adam, the younger brother, appears to have died young, and without issue; for I meet with no farther notice of him: but John, the elder, succeeded his father Sir William.

John, the son of the aforesaid Sir William, was the sixth Lord of Stanley, and the second of Stourton, and is styled Lord of Stanley and of Stourton. He married to his wife Mabill, daughter of Sir James Hausket, of Stourton parva, and by her had issue one son, named William. [See arms, fig. 2, plate 1.]

Sir William, the son of John, and seventh heir male of this spreading house, is styled William de Stanley, senior, Lord of Stanley and Stourton. The twenty-sixth of King Edward III. 1375, he married Mary the daughter of Hugh Massey, of Timperley, in the county of Chester, and sister to Sir Hamon Massey, of Dunham Massey, by whom he had issue two sons, William and John. [See arms, fig. 3, plate 1.]

Of John, the second son, afterwards Sir John Stanley, we have herein much to observe, but shall respite for the present, and proceed with the direct line, and then return to every collateral branch.

Sir William, the elder brother of John, by Mary Massey, was the eighth heir of this house, and succeeded his father

Sir William in honour and estate. The tenth of Richard II. he married Margery the only daughter of William de Hooton, of Hooton, in the hundred of Wirral, and county of Chester; and by her had issue a son, named William, who is styled Lord of Stanley, Stourton, and Hooton, and grand ranger in chief of Wirral, in the county of Chester. [See arms, fig. 4, plate 1.].

Sir William, the son of the aforesaid Sir William, was the ninth heir male of this honourable house, and succeeded his father in honour and estate. The fourth of Henry VI. he married Margery the daughter of Sir John Ardern, of Hardin, by whom he had issue two sous, William and John. [See arms, fig. 5, plate 1.]

John the younger son married to the heiress of Greswithen, in the county of Cumberland, from whom are descended the Stanleys of Delegarth and Arnaby in that county, whom we shall further describe in due place.

Sir William, the father of the said William and John, by Mrs. Ardern, was the first that removed from the old seat of Stanley, in the county of Stafford, to Hooton, in the hundred of Wirral, and county of Chester; who, for the enlargement and conveniency of his house, and better accommodation of his family, obtained license from King Henry VI. to build a turret or tower at his seat of Hooton, with embattled walls.

Viz. Huic Gulielmo de Stanley, milite, Rex Henricus sextus dedit licentiam construendi et edificandi turrum, apud menerium suum de Hooton, in Wirral, per literas suas patenus. Datus anno Regni suo secundo.

Which house and tower are now standing, to which Sir William, the elder brother of John, succeeded, and was the tenth heir male of his family. The seventeenth of Henry VI. he married to Alice the daughter of Richard Houghton, (as I conceive, of Lancashire,) and by her had issue a son, named William. [See arms, fig. 6, plate 1.]

Sir William, the son of the above William, by Mrs. Houghton, succeeded his father, and was the eleventh malè heir in a direct line. He married to one of the daughters of John Savage, of Clifton, Esq. [see arms, fig. 7, plate 1.] and by her had issue two sons, John and William. I cannot discover that John the elder was ever married, but rather that he died young and without issue. But

Sir William, the second son of the above Sir William, by Mrs. Savage, succeeded his father as twelfth heir male of his family. He was styled senior, and married to his first wife Margaret, the daughter of John Bromley, Esq. by whom he had a daughter, who married to Gerrard of Brinn, in the county of Lancaster. Margaret his wife dying, he married to his second wife Agnes, the daughter of Robert Grosvenor, of Hulme, Esq. by whom he had a son, named William. [See arms, fig. 8, plate 1.]

Sir William, his son, by Mrs. Grosvenor, succeeded his father as thirteenth heir male of his family. He married Ann, the daughter of Sir James Harrington, of the county of Lancaster, knight; and by her had issue Catherine, William, Peter, John, and Agnes. [See arms, fig. 9, plate 1.]

Peter, the second son, married Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of James Scaesbrick, of Moor-hall in Bickerstaff, by Margaret his wife, the only daughter and heiress of Thomas Atherton, of Bickerstaff, which shall be further spoken of hereafter.

How Catherine, John, and Agnes were disposed of, history does not inform us, farther than that Sir William, the son of the above Sir William, by Ann Harrington, succeeded his father, and was the fourteenth heir male of his family, and is styled Sir William Stanley de Hooton. He married Grace, the fourth daughter of Sir William Griffith, chamberlain of North Wales, [see arms, fig. 10, plate 1.] and by her had issue two sons, William and Rowland. William died in his father's life-time without issue, and in

his government of the Isle of Man, 1545; and Sir Rowland, his brother, succeeded his father Sir William in honour and estate, being the fifteenth heir male of this noble house, by the style of Sir Rowland Stanley, of Hooton. He married to his wife Margaret, the daughter and heiress of Hugh Aldersey, of Chester, Esq. and by her had issue a son, named William; but she dying in 1607, he married to his second wife Ursula, the second daughter and one of the coheiresses of Thomas Smith, of the city of Chester, Esq. [see arms, fig. 11, plate 1.] but by her had no issue. This Sir Rowland was created a baronet in the year 1661.

And Sir William, the son of Sir Rowland, by Mrs. Aldersey, was the sixteenth heir male in succession, and married to his wife one of the daughters of John Egerton, of Egerton, Esq. [see arms, fig. 12, plate 1.] and by her had issue a son, named William.

Sir William, the son of the above Sir William, by Mrs. Egerton, was the seventeenth heir male that succeeded his father in honour and estate. He married to his first wife Alice, the daughter of Richard Hugh, or Hughes, Esq. [see arms, fig. 13, plate 1.] and sister and heiress to Henry Hughes, and by her had issue a son, named Rowland, with several other children; but how they were disposed of I cannot discover, further than that Sir Rowland, the son of the aforesaid Sir William, by Mrs. Hughes, was the eighteenth heir male that succeeded his father, by the title of Sir Rowland Stanley, of Hooton. He married to his wife Anne, the daughter of Clement Paston, of Barningham, in the county of Norfolk, Esq. [see arms, fig. 14, plate 1.] by whom he had issue Mary, who married to Charles Harrington, of Huyton-Hey, in the county of Lancaster, Esq. Also Anne, Charlotte, William, Rowland, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Winefrid, Catherine, and Agnes. Catherine married to Robert Blundell, of Ince-Blundell, in the county of Lancaster, Esq. How the rest were dis