William Stafford (courtier) explained

Sir William Stafford
Birth Date:c. 1508[1]
Death Date:5 May 1556 (aged 47-48)
Death Place:Geneva, Switzerland
Noble Family:Stafford
Spouse:
    Issue:Sir Edward Stafford
    William Stafford
    Sir John Stafford
    Elizabeth Stafford
    Ursula Stafford
    Dorothy Stafford
    Father:Sir Humphrey Stafford
    Mother:Margaret Fogge
    Place Of Burial:Unknown

    Sir William Stafford, of Chebsey, in Staffordshire (c. 1508 – 5 May 1556) was an Essex landowner and the second husband of Mary Boleyn, who was the sister of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England. Mary was one-time mistress of King Henry VIII of England.

    Biography

    Stafford was the second son of Sir Humphrey Stafford (died 22 September 1545) of Cottered and Rushden, Hertfordshire,[2] by his first wife, Margaret Fogge, daughter of Sir John Fogge of Ashford, Kent.[3] His family was distantly related to the mighty Stafford family, the Dukes of Buckingham and the Earls of Wiltshire until the fall of grace of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.[4] Though born to a prominent family of landed gentry, William Stafford was a mere gentleman and only a second son, and thus served Henry VIII as a soldier.[5]

    In 1532, Stafford was listed as one of the two hundred people who accompanied Henry VIII to France. The purpose of the journey was for Henry and his fiancée, Anne Boleyn, to meet with Francis I so that he might show his public support and approval for the annulment of Henry's first marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Among the other travellers was Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary Boleyn, the eldest daughter of Thomas Boleyn, who was by then the Earl of both Wiltshire and Ormonde. With her connections, Mary had excellent marriage prospects.[6] Nonetheless, Mary and Stafford married in secret in 1534. When the marriage was discovered after Mary became pregnant, the couple were banished from court.

    The couple initially lived at Chebsey in Staffordshire, but later moved to the Boleyn family home, Rochford Hall at Rochford, in Essex. They lived in relative obscurity until Mary died in 1543, after which Stafford served in Scotland. He was knighted there in 1545 - during the reign of Henry VIII - and, two years later, became an MP for Hastings.[7] Also in 1545, Stafford remarried, this time to his second cousin, Dorothy Stafford, the youngest daughter of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford and Ursula Pole (d. 1570).

    During the reign of Mary I, Stafford and his family fled to Geneva. He died there on 5 May 1556, not living to see the reign of his first wife's niece, Elizabeth I, or to see his wife, children, and stepchildren become influential courtiers in Elizabeth's court.[8]

    Marriages and issue

    In 1534, William Stafford secretly wed, as her second husband, Mary Boleyn (c. 1499 – 1543), sister of King Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Mary Boleyn is said to have been pregnant at the time of her marriage to Sir William Stafford[9] and they may have had two children:[10] [11]

    However if these children did exist, nothing further is known of them.[12]

    Stafford married secondly, in 1545, Dorothy Stafford (d. 22 September 1604), daughter of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford, and Ursula Pole, by whom he had three sons and three daughters:[13] [14]

    In popular culture

    Films and television

    Books

    References

    . George Lipscomb . 1847 . The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham . London . J. & W. Robins . III . 153–4 . 18 March 2013 .

    . Nichols . John Gough . John Gough Nichols . 1846 . The Topographer and Genealogist . London . John Bowyer Nichols and Son . 14 March 2013 . I . 142–4 .

    Bibliography

    Notes and References

    1. The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family: Episode 3. "Mary has found love. She has found a man who is nine years younger than she is, the handsome young William Stafford, who was a soldier and from a mere gentry Family."
    2. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43609 'Parishes: Cottered', A History of the County of Hertford: volume 3 (1912), pp. 226–232
    3. .
    4. Humphrey Stafford was first cousin five times removed of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham.
    5. Book: Hart, Kelly . 1 June 2009 . The mistresses of Henry VIII . First . 114–118 . The History Press . 978-0-7524-4835-0 .
    6. Not only was Mary the daughter of an earl, but also the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk through her mother, Elizabeth Howard. Coupled with the fact that she was the future sister-in-law to a king, Mary could expect to marry very well.
    7. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/stafford-sir-william-1512-56 Sir William Stafford (1512-1556)
    8. Mary Boleyn had two children during her first marriage to Sir William Carey, Henry and Catherine Carey. The children were both rumored to have been fathered by Henry VIII, but the claim is dismissed by most historians.
    9. .
    10. Hart p. 118
    11. Emerson states that they 'may have had two children, Edward (1535–1545) and Anne'; see Emerson, Kate, 'Mary Boleyn (c.1498 – July 1543)' in 'A Who's Who of Tudor Women' Retrieved 14 March 2013.
    12. .
    13. Richardson states that they had four sons, including Sir Edward, William, and Sir John, and two daughters, Ursula, who married Richard Drake, esquire, and Elizabeth, who married Sir William Drury and Sir John Scot; .
    14. .
    15. .
    16. .
    17. Adams states that two daughters likely died in infancy; however Richardson and other sources state that Ursula married Richard Drake.
    18. .
    19. .
    20. The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States, by Gary Boyd Roberts, 1993 Page: 231
    21. Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists, by David Faris, 2nd Edition 1999, NEHGS Page: 50-51
    22. .
    23. .

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