Sex

Male

Parish

Bury

Marital Status

Unknown

Occupation Status

Clerk; rector of Bury

Remarks

Qualifications: Bachelor of Law; Bachelor of Canon Law (no university attendance has been traced).

CCEd person ID 37371

Career: rector of Holy Trinity, Chester 1505 -1507; rector of Bury 1507- 1554/5; probably rector of Wigan 1551 -1554; probably vicar of Sandbach 1548-1554.

He resigned the living of Holy Trinity, valued at £8 15s 6d, and on the same day in October 1507 was admitted to Bury, valued at £29 11s 4d (Cooper). He was presented to both these livings by Thomas Stanley, earl of Derby.

Further notes: He was unpopular with his parishioners at Bury and in 1526 he appointed a parish clerk who was unacceptable to certain parishioners who attacked him and the clerk during a service in the church. He claimed that this violence had caused the church to be put under an interdict. Smyth claimed that such violence had been inflicted upon him that he was afraid to go out or to enter the church.

He built a chapel attached to Bury church which he may have intended as a chantry for himself.

(Also listed in the Directory under ‘Officials’.)

Sources:

George T. O. Bridgeman, The History of the Church and Manor of Wigan in the County of Lancaster, part I (Chetham Society, new series, 15, 1888), pp. 121-128

Tim Cooper, The Last Generation of English Catholic Clergy: Parish Priests in the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield in the Early Sixteenth Century (Woodbridge, 1999), p. 61

J. P. Earwaker, The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach (No place of publication, 1890), p. 46

Henry Fishwick (ed.), Pleadings and Depositions in the Duchy Court of Lancaster time of Henry VIII, (The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 32, 1896), pp. 151-152

Christopher Haigh, Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire (Cambridge, 1975), pp. 3-4, 57

Douglas Jones, The Church in Chester 1300-1540 (Chetham Society 3rd series, 7, 1957), p. 172

‘The parish of Bury’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 122-128. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp122-128  [accessed 31 December 2024]

Causes

EDC 5/8/1 – plaintiff

Sex

Female

Parish

Formerly of Warmingham

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/1/6 – defendant

Sex

Male

Parish

Manchester

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/1580/12 – plaintiff

Sex

Female

Approx Year of Birth

1530

Parish

Middleton

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Alexander

Remarks

In the exceptions to the witnesses she is described as ‘a woman of ill fame, blemished reputation and dishonest conversation, in addition she is a pauper and destitute, having nothing in goods, after deduction of debts, living on alms almost as if she were begging ‘And suche as is Acompted for a Common lier & so reputed and taken amongest her neighbours And that litle that she hath, she hath it vnder the said Robert Ireland and Richard Ireland’ ‘.

Causes

EDC 5/1580/10 – witness on the libel

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Occupation Status

Alderman

Remarks

William Styles was mayor of Chester in 1582-3. He acted as intermediary between Thomas Darcie and Francis Ederman, who was accused of ‘despoiling’ goods to the value of 20 marks.

Causes

EDC 5/1580/3 – acted as intermediary

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Literacy

Yes - described as literatus

Causes

EDC 5/1566/14 – witness to the sentence

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1509

Marital Status

Married

Occupation Status

Magnate

Remarks

Edward Stanley, third earl of Derby, was born in 1509, probably at Lathom House in Lancashire. He had a long career as a courtier, soldier and local administrator during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. He is often thought to have been a religious conservative and as such was periodically regarded with suspicion by the central authorities. He died at Lathom House in 1572 and was buried in Ormskirk church. According to his biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) ‘He was noted for hospitality … his house was a centre of social and cultural life’.  This biography also states that at the time of his death ‘Derby had retained extensive property, patronage, and influence in north-west England’.

He had extensive lands and influence in both Lancashire and Cheshire and took a keen interest in the management of his estates. However, in view of his position and status much of the administration was carried out by his steward, Sir Richard Shirburne (or Sherbourne).

Sources:

B. Coward, The Stanleys, lords Stanley and earls of Derby, 1385–1672: the origins, wealth and power of a landowning family, Chetham Society, 3rd ser., 30 (1983)

Louis A. Knafla, ‘Stanley, Edward, third earl of Derby’, ODNB online https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/26262

Causes

EDC 5/1566/8 – plaintiff

Sex

Female

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Roger Downes

Remarks

Elizabeth Stanley was the daughter of Thomas Stanley of Alderley. Married to Roger Downes of Shrigley while underage, their marriage was ratified once they reached maturity. She had three or four daughters, one of whom died in infancy. Elizabeth died before March 1593 when Roger married again.

Sources:

J. P. Earwaker, East Cheshire Past and Present, vol. 2, p. 603.
George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, vol. iii, p. 578.

Causes

EDC 5/1566/7– party

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1528

Parish

Prestbury

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

William Sutton lived at Wincle in the parish of Prestbury. His approximate birth year comes from depositions held at Borthwick Institute, York; reference CP.G.1448A

Causes

EDC 5/1566/6– defendant

Sex

Female

Parish

Prescot

Marital Status

Unmarried

Remarks

Ellen Smith was the daughter of Henry Smith. She was described as ‘pretie’ (CALS EDAC 2/8 f. 1v.)

Causes

EDC 5/1566/9 – plaintiff