Henry STAFFORD

(2nd B. Stafford)

Born: BEF 1527, Isleworth, Middlesex, England

Acceded: 1563

Died: 1 Jan 1565, Stafford Castle

Buried: 4 Jan 1565, St Mary's Church, Stafford

Father: Henry STAFFORD (1° B. Stafford)

Mother: Ursula POLE

Married: Elizabeth DAVY BEF Sep 1557

The details in this biography come from the History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons.

Born by 1527, second but first surviving son of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford by Ursula, daughter of Sir Richard Pole of Ellesborough, Bucks.; brother of Edward, Dorothy and Walter. Married by Sep 1557, Elizabeth, daughter of John Davy of Holbeach, Lincs., d.s.p. Knighted 2 Oct 1553; succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Stafford 30 Apr 1563. Justice of the Peace for Salop 1554, q. Mont., Salop and Staffs. 1564; keeper of records, Tower temp. Eliz.

Henry Stafford is chiefly memorable for having failed to secure election as knight for Staffordshire to both parliaments of 1553. Nothing is known of what went wrong on the first occasion, when William Devereux and Walter Aston were returned although according to Baron Stafford his son was 'chosen by the whole shire, no man saying the contrary'. Despite this setback Baron Stafford, who stood well with the Marian government, put his son forward confidently in the autumn, leaving it to his friends Sir George Griffith and Humphrey Welles to manage the election, but whereas Sir Thomas Giffard was returned unopposed Henry Stafford was again beaten, this time by Edward Littleton.

Stafford's knighting at Mary's coronation, which serves to distinguish him from the illegitimate son of his grandfather Edward, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, who sat four times for Stafford, may have helped towards his election for Shropshire in 1555. His family owned Cause Castle and his appointment to the county bench in the previous year suggests that he was himself resident in the shire, as does his quarrel at Shrewsbury during 1556-7 with Edward Herbert. He could also count on the support of his kinsman the 18th Earl of Arundel, a leading Shropshire landowner. Nothing is known of his role in the Commons save that he is not to be found on the list of those who opposed one of the governments bills, nor is he known to have been involved two years later in the rebellion of his brother Thomas. His father was a Catholic and on friendly terms with Cardinal Pole, who in 1551 had pressed his nephew, then travelling in Italy, 'to return to Christ's laws', but in 1564 the son was to be accounted favorable to the Elizabethan settlement. If he did not share his father's religion, his appointment as keeper of the records in the Tower early in Elizabeth's reign suggests that he shared his antiquarian interests.

Even in this he was not left undisturbed for in Jan 1564 he complained to William Cecil that he had been forcibly deprived of his office by William Bowyer. Stafford died intestate on 1 Jan 1566 and on 11 Apr 1567 letters of administration were issued to Richard Tise of Southwark, a merchant taylor. He was succeeded in the Barony by his brother Edward Stafford.

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