Cousins of the Earl?

As every Stanley researcher will tell you, “My grandmother always said that we were related to the Earls of Derby”. Well in my case this has not been a tradition and because the Earls were from Lancashire & Cheshire and my folks were from Gloucestershire I have always assumed that my line was quite separate. So it was quite surprising to me a few years ago to discover that one of the Earls cousins, Sir Thomas Stanley of Elford, Staffordshire, held land in other parts of the country too, including at one time Chipping Campden. The theory is therefore that he maybe passed on the manor at Campden to offspring who then chose to live there and initiated the Stanley name in the north Cotswolds.

Proving this theory maybe impossible but trying to do so has kept me amused for some years. My earliest ancestor in Campden was born around 1620 and the Stanleys held the manor at Campden at a time over 100 years before this, maybe as much as 150 years before which I guess  could be 4 or maybe 5 generations. Unfortunately this is a time prior to the Parish registers so research is well nigh impossible.

I’ll present you with with what we know about Elford and how the manor of Campden got inherited and you can make your own mind up.

Chipping Campden Manor

To see how the ownership of the Manor of Chipping Campden moved around here are some short histories of the main characters in this story.

Sir Thomas Stanley, 1392-1463
Sir John Stanley, 1423-1474
Sir John Stanley, 1447-1508
Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe, bef 1470-1504
Sir John Stanley, 1481-1514
Ann Stanley & Christopher Savage

As explained above this is an area of Stanley research I would particularly like to discover more about. If anyone can help piece together this missing period for me between the Elford and Campden Stanleys then this would be most appreciated.