Audley-Stanley family

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The Audley-Stanley family is a family with many notable members including the Earls of Derby who are descended from Adam de Aldithley (or Audley) a prominent Norman who was said to have accompanied William the Conqueror to England.

The first mention of Audley, however, is in the Domesday book of 1086, when it was called Aldidelege, when the lands were held by a Saxon thegn called Gamel - who may have been known as Gamel de Tettesworth born c1043 in Heleigh, possible son of Wolfric de Hatton of Mercia, a great grandson of Leofwine, Earl of Mercia[1].

The extended Audley family, originally of Audley Castle but who later built (or re-built) Heighley Castle, Madeley, Staffordshire in 1226, had several additional households including Red Castle at Hawkstone in Shropshire, Buglawton Manor in Congleton, Newhall Tower at Combermere and a home in Nantwich[2]. One of Adam's descendants married an heiress whose marriage portion included Stoneleigh, Derbyshire - which resulted in the eventual family name of Stanley.

The Audley & Stanley families and their descendants remained prominent throughout the history of England and Ireland into modern times. John Tuchet inherited the title of 4th Baron Audley and afterwards his son James Touchet, 5th Baron Audley. Later generations of the Tuchet's becoming Earl of Castlehaven. The Stanley's were, at one time, one of the richest landowning families in England.

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[edit] John I Stanley

John I Stanley of the Isle of Man 1350-1414, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and titular King of Mann. He held numerous offices in Ireland, Chester and Macclesfield and was also Steward of the Household to the Prince of Wales circa 1403, later King Henry V. He was granted the Isle, Castle, peel and Lordship of Mann, by King Henry IV of England and became Sovereign Lord of the Isle of Man in 1406, Constable of Windsor Castle in 1409 and Lieutenant of Ireland between 1413 and 1419

[edit] Latham family and "Eagle and child" Coat of Arms

In 1526, Isabella de Lathom, the eldest daughter of parents who had no male heir, married Thomas Stanley and the Latham family (originally Lathom or Lothe Hom - "Brick house" from Lathom, Lancashire) and Stanley families became linked[3]. In 1526, the Stanley family adopted the Eagle and child coat of arms that had been the Lathom's[4].

[edit] Conservative Party

Several successive generations of the Stanley Earls, along with other members of the family, have been prominent members of the Conservative Party, and at least one historian has suggested that this family rivals the Cecils (Marquesses of Salisbury) as the single most important family in the party's history. The early 13c marriage of James Aldithley with Ela, daughter of the William de Longespee, 3rd Earl of Salisbury suggests a likely close family link.

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