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Stafford, Viscount (E, 1640 - 1680)

Creation: let. pat. 11 Nov 1640

Attainted: 7 Dec 1680

Family name: Howard

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Arms:

Quarterly:  1st, Gules on a Bend between six Cross Crosslets fitchée Argent an Escutcheon Or charged with a Demi Lion rampant pierced through the mouth by an Arrow within a Double Tressure flory counterflory of the first (Howard);  2nd, Gules three Lions passant guardant in pale Or in chief a Label of three points Argent (Plantagenet, Earl of Norfolk);  3rd, Chequy Or and Azure (Warren);  4th, Gules a Lion rampant Or (FitzAlan), with a Crescent for difference

Crests:

1st:  On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Lion statant tail extended Or gorged with a Ducal Coronet Argent, charged with a Crescent for difference (Howard);  2nd:  Out of a Ducal Coronet per pale Sable and Gules a Demi Swan rising Argent beaked of the first (Stafford)

Supporters:

Dexter:  A Lion Argent, with a Crescent for difference (Howard);  Sinister:  A Swan wings expanded Argent beaked and membered Sable gorged with a Ducal Coronet  per pale Gules and of the second (Stafford)

Motto:

Abstulit Qui Dedit

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William [Howard], 1st Baron Stafford later 1st Viscount Stafford

2nd surv. son of Thomas [Howard], 21st or 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey, and 1st Earl of Norfolk, by his wife Lady Alethea Talbot, suo jure Baroness Furnivall, Talbot and Strange of Blackmere, 3rd dau. and eventual sole hrss. of Gilbert [Talbot], 7th Earl of Shrewsbury

born

30 Nov 1612

mar.

12 Oct 1637 Hon Mary Stafford (b. c.1620; cr. 5 Oct 1688 Countess of Stafford for life; d. 13 Jan 1634/5), sister and sole hrss. of Henry [Stafford], 5th Baron Stafford, and only dau. of Hon Edward Stafford (by his wife Anne Wilford, 1st dau. of James Wilford, of Newman Hall, Quendon, co. Essex), only child and heir ap. of Edward [Stafford], 4th Baron Stafford

children

1. Hon Henry Howard later Stafford-Howard, later 1st Earl of Stafford

2. Hon John Howard later Stafford-Howard, of Stafford Castle, co. Stafford, Comptroller to King James II's Household in Exile 1696, Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Mary of Modena 1701 (d. 11 Nov 1714), mar. (1) 1 Dec 1682 Mary Southcott, dau. of Sir John Southcott, of Merstham, co. Surrey, and had issue:

1a. William Stafford-Howard, later 2nd Earl of Stafford

2a. John Paul Stafford-Howard, later 4th Earl of Stafford

1a. Mary Stafford-Howard (d. 26 Apr 1765), mar. 1 Oct 1699 Francis Plowden, Comptroller of the Household (bur. 30 Apr 1712), 2nd son of Edmund Plowden, of Plowden, co. Shropshire, by his wife Elizabeth Cotton, dau. of Richard Cotton, of Bedhampton, co. Sussex, and and had issue

2a. Xaveria Beatrice Stafford-Howard, a nun (bapt. 12 Feb 1696)

3a. Louise Francoise Stafford-Howard, a nun (bapt. 7 Dec 1698)

4a. Marie Honorée Stafford-Howard, a nun (bapt. 6 Feb 1701)

Hon John Stafford-Howard mar. (2) 15 Feb 1707/8 Theresa Strickland (mar. (2) ..... O'Donnell), dau. of Robert Strickland, of Sizergh Castle, co. Westmorland, Treasurer to Queen Mary of Modena, and had further issue:

3a. Edward Stafford-Howard (bapt. 7 Nov 1708; d. 18 Oct 1746)

4a. Charles Stafford-Howard (bapt. 12 Apr 1713)

5a. Marie Henriette Stafford-Howard (b. 8 Dec 1711; d. 5 Nov 1755)

3. Hon Francis Howard, Groom of the Bedchamber to James II (d. 1708), mar. Eleanor Stanford (d. 1707), dau. of Henry Stanford, of New Inn, co. Stafford, and had issue

1. Lady Isabella Howard (dsp. 5 Sep 1691), mar. bef. Apr 1669 as his third wife John [Paulet], 5th Marquess of Winchester

2. Lady Anastasia Howard, mar. George Holman, of Warkworth, co. Northampton, and had issue

died

beheaded 29 Dec 1680

created

12 Sep 1640 with his wife Baron and Baroness Stafford, with remainder to the heirs male of their bodies, failing which to the heirs of their bodies "with a proviso to possess such place and precedency of the Barony of Stafford as well in Parliament, etc., as Henry, late brother of the said Mary, in his lifetime Baron of Stafford ever held or enjoyed". i.e. given the precedency of the Barony of Stafford created by writ in 1299 even though that Barony had been under attainder since 1521

11 Nov 1640 Viscount Stafford, with remainder to the heirs male of his body

note

Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of Charles I 1625/6; Commissioner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions in England and Wales 1633; on the testimony of Titus Oates he was accused of being involved in an alleged Popish plot and was arrested and confined in the Tower of London 1678; tried in 1680 and found guilty of high treason when, having being attainted, all his honours were forfeited; his widow, in her own right Baroness Stafford, continued to be known as Viscountess Stafford despite her husband's attainder; on her own death the Earldom of Stafford conferred on her for life became extinct and the Barony of Stafford became forfeited

Following the trial and execution of the 1st Viscount Stafford the title remained under attainder until 17 Jun 1824, when his great-great-great-grandson, Sir George William Jerningham, 7th Bt., obtained a reversal of the attainder of the Viscountcy of Stafford, thereby becoming de jure the 8th Baron Stafford, and on 6 Jul 1825 the House of Lords resolved that he "had made out his claim to the title, dignity and honour of Baron Stafford" as created by letters patent dated 12 Sep 1640.

 Last updated 21 Apr 2008

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