Sir Thomas Stanley

  General Notes:

Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley KG (c. 1405-20 February 1459), was an English politician.

Stanley was the son of Sir John Stanley and Isabell Harington, daughter of Robert de Harington and Isabel Loring. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1431 to 1436 and also represented Lancashire in the House of Commons between 1447 and 1451 and 1453 and 1454. In 1456 he was summoned to the House of Lords as Lord Stanley. A year later he was further honoured when he was made a Knight of the Garter.

Lord Stanley married Joan Goushill, the daughter and coheiress of Sir Robert Goushill and Elizabeth FitzAlan, daughter of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel. They had six children, three sons, Thomas, William, and John and three daughters. He died in February 1459 and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son Thomas, who was created Earl of Derby in 1485; his senior line died out in 1736. His second son William Stanley (Battle of Bosworth) was executed for treason by King Henry VII in 1495. His third son the Hon. Sir John Stanley was the ancestor of the Barons Stanley of Alderley.

Thomas married Joan Goushill, daughter of Sir Robert Goushill and Elizabeth Fitzalan. (Joan Goushill was born about 1403 in Hoveringham, Nottinghamshire.)