[Illustration] Although Sir Rowland Stanley Errington, brother of
Sir William Massey Stanley, late of Hooton, in the county of
Chester, Baronet, is in fact the head of this illustrious house,
yet, as that estate has been sold, and his family have now no
connection with Cheshire, the Earl of Derby must be considered the
_chief_, as he is in truth the _principal_, branch of the house of
Stanley.
As few families have acted a more prominent part in History, so few
can trace a more satisfactory pedigree. Descended from a younger
branch of the Barons Audeley, of Audeley in Staffordshire, the name
of Stanley, from the manor of that name in this county, in the reign
of John, was assumed by William de Audleigh. Sir John Stanley, K.G.,
Lord Deputy of Ireland, in 1381 married the heiress of Lathom, and
thus became possessed of Knowesley; it was this Sir John also who
obtained a grant of the Isle of Man, which afterwards descended to
the Murrays Dukes of Athol till 1765. The principal branch of this
family became extinct on the death of James, tenth Earl, in 1736;
when the earldom descended on Sir Edward Stanley of Bickerstaff,
Baronet, descended from Sir James Stanley, brother of Thomas second
Earl of Derby.
For Stanley of Hooton, see Ormerod's Cheshire, ii. 230. The famous,
or rather infamous, Sir William Stanley was of this line.
Younger Branches. Stanley of Cross-Hall, descended from Peter second
son of Sir Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baronet, who died in 1653; and the
family of the late Rev. James Stanley of Ormskirk, descended
from Henry 2nd son of Sir Edward Stanley 1st. Bart. who died in
1640.
Stanley of Alderley, Cheshire, Baron Stanley of Alderley 1839,
descended from Sir John Stanley and the heiress of Wever of
Alderley. See Ormerod, iii. 306.
Stanley of Dalegarth, Cumberland, descended from John, second son of
John Stanley, Esq., younger brother of Sir William Stanley, and the
heiress of Bamville.
See Brydges's Collins, iii. 50; Seacome's House of Stanley, 4to.
1741; for Stanley Legend, &c. Coll. Topog. et Genealog. vii. 1.
ARMS.--_Argent, on a bend azure three buck's heads cabossed and
attired or_, assumed on the match with the heiress of Bamville,
instead of the coat of Audeley.*
Present Representative, Edward Geoffery Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of
Derby, K.G.
* The Dalegarth family bear the _bend cotised vert_.