A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



He did not sign the letters patent of 1 6 June, 1553, 

 whereby the succession of Mary was put aside in favour 

 of Lady Jane Grey, though his eldest son Lord Strange 

 signed ; and on Edward's death three weeks later, he 

 assisted in securing the crown for Mary, who showed 

 her gratitude by several favours. In the religious con- 

 troversies of the time it is obvious that he was hostile 

 to Protestantism.' On the accession of Elizabeth 

 when Edward's church discipline was re-enacted, the 

 earl of Derby was continued upon the Privy Council, 

 made chamberlain of Chester in 1559 and lord-lieu- 

 tenant of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1569,* but his 

 known opposition to the change of religion cost him 

 the queen's favour.^ In 1562 he with the bishop of 

 Chester and others was appointed on a commission to 

 enforce the royal supremacy and the use of the Common 

 Prayer Book in Lancashire and Cheshire, but nothing 

 much appears to have been done. Five years later, 

 the earl and bishop were again urged to exert them- 

 selves to secure some degree of conformity to the new 

 order, and the earl, ' upon small motion made to him, 

 caused all such persons as have been required to be 

 apprehended,' and showed himself * very faithful and 

 careful.' * 



He was celebrated for the great retinue he main- 

 tained, and the splendour of his living.* He took 

 care to entail Lathom, Knowsley, and others of the 

 ancient possessions of the house upon the heirs male.^ 

 He died on 24 October, 1572, at Lathom, and was 

 buried with great pomp six weeks later at Ormskirk.' 



The earl was thrice married ; his successor was 

 the eldest son Henry, by his first wife, born m 

 I 53 I. The new earl appears to have spent a large 

 part of his life at court, and had from time to time 

 various public appointments. 



The view of the county written in 1590 states 

 that * Henry earl of Derby hath in that hundred 

 (West Derby) three of his chief houses, Lathom 

 and New Park in Ormskirk parish, Knowsley in 

 Huyton parish. He hath preaching in his house 

 sabbathly by the best preachers in the county, 

 and he giveth honourable countenance to all the pro- 

 fessors of religion, and is very forward in the 

 public actions to religion,' and his son ' Ferdinando, 

 Lord Strange, giveth good countenance to religion, 

 when he is with us.' ^ The household record bears 

 this out. He added Burscough to the family inheri- 

 tance by a grant from Queen Elizabeth. His wife 

 was Margaret Clifford, granddaughter of Mary, the 

 younger sister of Henry VIII. He had by her 

 Ferdinand© and William, successively earls of Derby, 

 and three other children who died young.'" He died 

 on 25 September, i 593, and was buried at Ormskirk.'* 



His son Ferdinando, who had already (1589) been 

 summoned to Parliament as Lord Strange, succeeded 

 his father in his titles and property, and in the 

 lord-lieutenancy of Lancashire and Cheshire. He 

 had been mayor of Liverpool in 1588. He was a 

 friend and patron of literature, being praised by 

 Spenser among others.'^ He married Alice, daughter 



1 At the time of Wyatt's rebellion (early 

 in 155+), George Marsh was preaching 

 'most heretically and blasphemously' in 

 the Manchester district, and Lord Derby 

 being told of this at the council meeting 

 in London, on his return to Lancashire, 

 ordered Marsh's arrest. The latter at his 

 subsequent trial taunted the earl in the 

 customary manner with having himself 

 * acknowledged ' the system for which he 

 was trying another ; but the earl replied 

 that * he with the Lord Windsor and the 

 Lord Dacres and another did not consent 

 to the acts (of Edward's council touching 

 religion) and that the Nay of these four 

 would be able to be seen so long as Par- 

 liament House stood ' ; Foxc, Acts and 

 Monuments (ed. Cattley), vii, 45. The 

 dissentient lords on the third reading of 

 the Act establishing the Prayer Book of 

 1552 were — the earl of Derby, the bishops 

 of Carlisle and Norwich, and lords Stourton 

 and Windsor ; Journ. House of Lords, i, 42 1. 



^ This was probably on account of the 

 northern rebellion, to which he was 

 opposed. 



^ While the earl attended the meetings 

 of Parliament and the Privy Council in 

 Mary's reign, it was otherwise afterwards. 

 He was present at the earlier sittings of 

 Elizabeth's first Parliament, but after 

 9 March, 1558— 9» he was absent. Thus 

 he did not vote on the second and third 

 readings of the Supremacy Bill, and had 

 nothing to do with the Act of L'niformity. 

 He wns present during most of the sittings 

 of Parliament in 156;, but this was his 

 last appearance at Westminster ; Journ. 

 House of Lords, i, 541, &c. 



* Gibson, Lydiate Hall, p- 193-212. 

 At Lathom in July, 1568, the commission 

 sat with the earl of Derby presiding, to try 

 John Westby and others who had refused 

 conformity. Thus, whatever he thought 

 himself he took part in the coercion of 

 other?, and by this means seems to have 

 regained the queen's favour. 



* He was also considered a good sur- 

 geon. His household expenses for the 

 year 1560-1 have been printed. They 

 amounted to ^3,295, other expenses (in- 

 cluding alms of j^4 15J. 7^^.) came to 

 jf 1,621, of which over ^1,000 was for 

 jewels and apparel. The rules of his 

 household sanctioned in 1568-9 have also 

 been printed. There is no mention of a 

 chaplai n or a chapel. See Stanley P. 

 (Chet. Soc), pt. ii, I-io. 



^ The deed is recited In full in the in- 

 quest taken after the death of his grandson 

 Ferdinando. But for it, it appears that 

 the following manors would have been 

 divided among the latter's daughters in- 

 stead of descending to his brother William, 

 the sixth earl : Lathom, Knowsley, Roby, 

 Child wall, Bispham, Rainford, Chorley, 

 CoppuU, Anglezark, Thornley, Alston, 

 Weeton, Trealcs, Little Marten, Rosacre, 

 Wharlea, Ulneswalton, Kellamergh, Whlt- 

 tingham, Broughton in Amounderness, 

 Freckleton, Torrisholme, Oxcliffe, Augh- 

 ton, Northolmley, Bolton le Moors, 

 Claughton in Amounderness, Osmotherley, 

 and Dunderdale ; with others in Cheshire, 

 Westmorland, Yorks. Middlesex, Oxford- 

 shire, Shropshire, and North Wales, and 

 houses, lands, and various rights In these 

 and other places. 



' The order of this funeral is fully 

 described by Seacome and Collins, 



^ He was a commissioner for ecclesias- 

 tical causes, and a member of the Council 

 of the North (one of its principal duties 

 being the persecution of the adherents of 

 the ancient faith). As to his attitude in 

 this matter, see the long correspondence 

 in Peck, Desid. Cur. bk. iv. 



He was a commissioner on the trials of 

 Mary queen of Scots, and of the Ven. 

 Philip Howard, earl of Arundel. These 

 offices were not particularly honourable to 

 him, the less so as Howard was a near 

 relation. 



The motto on his garter plate is 



162 



Sauns Changier, the earliest known occur- 

 rence. 



His household regulations, approved In 

 1587, gave as the first rule that all his 

 household * daily repair unto and hear 

 divine service.* The principal officers 

 were the steward, controller, and receiver 

 general, each with three attendants. There 

 were seven gentlemen waiters, two clerks 

 of the kitchen, a chaplain (Sir Gilbert 

 Townley, rector of Eccleston), numerous 

 yeomen officers and grooms, two trum- 

 peters, the cook and his staff, and many 

 artificers, as the candle man, armourer, 

 malt maker, and the like ; a yeoman of 

 the horses and assistants in the stables ; 

 and * Henry the Fool.' In all there was 

 a staff of 118. The household books also 

 give particulars of the provisioning of the 

 house, the guests who came and went, and 

 Lord Derby's own movements. See 

 Stanley P. (Chet. Soc.) 



3 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 243. 



^^ By Jane Halsall, of Knowsley, he 

 had several natural children — Thomas 

 Stanley of Eccleshall and Broughton in 

 Salford, Dorothy, wife of Sir Cuthbert 

 Halsall, and Ursula, wife of Sir John 

 Salisbury — for whom he made liberal 

 provision. 



^^ Seacome, Hist.j Diet. Nat. Biog. ; 

 see also Stanley P. pt. i, 20-29. ^Y 

 his will, dated four days before his 

 death, he confirmed the dispositions of 

 his manors already made, which may be 

 seen in the Inq. p.m. of his son Ferdi- 

 nando, adding West Lidford in Somerset 

 to those granted to his second son William ; 

 P.C.C, 66 Dixy. Ferdinando dying be- 

 fore probate, administration was granted 

 to his widow Alice (as his executrix), 

 17 October, 1594. 



12 Amyntas in Colin Clout's Come Home 

 again. Ferdinando was a verse writer 

 himself, and * Lord Strange's Company of 

 players' Is heard of in 1589 and later. 

 See Sttnley P, pt. I, 13, 30, 37. 



