Return to Standish families of the Manor of Duxbury.

Return to - Standish Family of the Burgh - part 1.

Standish Family of the Burgh - part 2.

 

 

The Stanley family the Lords of Lathom House Lancashire.

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The Kings and Lords of Mann.

 

 

Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby.

.After the death of his father in 1459, Stanley inherited his father's titles, including that of King of Mann and Baron Stanley. Stanley owned what is now Tatton Park in Cheshire. Stanley remained in favour with successive kings throughout the Wars of the Roses until his death in 1504. His marriage to Eleanor, sister of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, did him no harm, even after Warwick was toppled from power, and he took as his second wife Margaret Beaufort, whose son, Henry Tudor, was the leading Lancastrian claimant to the throne.

King Richard III unwisely continued to trust Thomas Stanley and his brother, William, even after he had briefly imprisoned Thomas in 1483 on suspicion of conspiracy. At the Battle of Bosworth Field, the Stanleys deliberately hesitated before coming in on the side of the Lancastrians at a crucial moment, despite Richard holding Thomas's eldest son, Lord Strange, hostage for his father's continuing loyalty, and allegedly issuing the order for his execution. Following Richard's death, Thomas is supposedly to have retrieved Richard's lost crown from the battlefield and placed it on the head of his own stepson. In recognition, Henry created him Earl of Derby on October 27, 1485, and his fortunes continued to flourish. His brother, William, made the mistake of supporting the pretender Perkin Warbeck, and was executed for treason in 1495.

 

1399 – 1504. Kings of Mann.

 

1504 – 2008. Lord of Mann

The son of Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby, did not take the style 'King', and he and his successors were generally known instead as Lord of Mann.

However, the Latin style Rex Manniae et Insularum (King of Mann and the Isles) continued to be occasionally used in official documents until at least the 17th century.

In 1765 the title was revested in the Crown of the United Kingdom, thus today the title 'Lord of Mann' is used by Queen Elizabeth II.

 

1644. The Siege of Lathom House.

Eleanor - Countess of Derby

 

A loyal Royalist, James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, the lord at Lathom House was ordered by Charles I to fortify the Isle of Man against a possible Scottish invasion, and then on to the northern campaign. His wife, Charlotte de la Tremoüille was left in charge of what turned out to be the last remaining Royalist stronghold in Lancashire.

Thomas Fairfax saw Stanley's absence as an opportunity to strengthen the Long Parliament's position in Lancashire and set out to conquer Lathom House.

Thomas Fairfax.

 

 

Immediately after the fall of Warrington, the Roundheads requested that the countess acknowledge the parliament and surrender her house, but she refused on the grounds that doing so would dishonour her husband. But she offered to limit herself to defending her home, and this postponed further attacks on her position.

 

 

Artist's impression of Lathom House

 

 

A 6-foot thick wall defended the house with 9 towers (each with 6 cannon) and a strongly fortified gatehouse. A high tower (the 'Eagle Tower') stood in the centre.

While the Earl was in the Isle of Man rounding up an army to defend the island against a possible invasion by the Scots, his wife the Countess of Derby (Charlotte de la Trémouille) built up a garrison of 300 men to defend the house and plentiful supplies.

Feb 28th 1644.  Sir Thomas Fairfax arrives and summons the House to surrender. The Countess requests a week to consider. Fairfax leaves the siege to his cousin William Fairfax

Mar 12th 1644.   The bombardment begins. The besieged make effective sallies to attack the Roundheads whose artillery proves inept and makes little effect on the walls.

Mar 24th 1644.  William Fairfax then moves away and leaves the siege to Colonel Rigby. Rigby sends a summons for surrender to the Countess...who tells the messenger he should be hanged at the gate.. "Carry," said she, "this answer back to Rigby (tearing the paper), and tell that insolent rebel, he shall have neither persons, goods, nor house. When our strength and provisions are spent, we shall find a fire more merciful than Rigby; and then, if the providence of God prevent it not, my goods and house shall burn in his sight; and myself, children, and soldiers, rather than fall into his hands will seal our religion and loyalty in the same flames."

May 23rd 1644.  A final summons was sent to the Duchess  She replied, "the mercies of the wicked are cruel," and that unless they treated with her lord, "they should never take her, nor any of her friends alive."

May 25th 1644. Prince Rupert arrives to relieve the siege. Rigby flees to Bolton and the Countess retires to the Isle of Man.

The heroic defence of Lathom House by the Countess of Derby earned her a place in the heroines of history.

The house was eventually taken by the Roundhead General Egerton on Dec 6th 1645 and was ruined.

 

 

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Lewis Standish of the Burgh, Duxbury Manor.

 

 

Soldier - Adventurer - Rogue - a man for all seasons - a son of the Standish Family of the Burgh.

Lewis was like Myles a one off Standish family christian name. Lewis Standish unlike his cousin Myles did leave a paper trail in the family documentation to record his illustrious deeds and also his knavish behaviour. Lewis started life well making an excellent marriage to Anne Mawdesley a daughter of the Mawdesley family of Mawdesley Hall. Myles Standish in his will of 1655 claimed land in Mawdesley and by coincidence the Mawdesley family were the owners of land or property in many of the locations named in the will of Myles.

Mawdesley Hall - Mawdesley - Lancashire.

 

In 1563 Lewis & Anne had a son Lawrence Standish - parish register of St. Laurence Chorley.

 

Date 1st February 1557. Land in Chorley and Duxbury - agreement between the Standish and Mawdesley families.

This document is signed by James Standish Lord of the Manor of Duxbury and Laurence Standish of the Burgh, Duxbury Manor then by Richard Mawdesley.

Original document - DP397/8/28  date 1st February 1557.

 

Date  4th May 1567. The register of the church of St, Laurence, Chorley, Lancashire.

Lewis Standish confessed to one of his many sins to spare a noble lady being named the mother of his illigitamate son Joseph in the parish register.

 

 

Date  17th March 1620. The register of the church of St, Laurence, Chorley, Lancashire.

The death record of the one and only - the inimitable Lewis Standish.

 

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Three Key Son's

Henry- James - John sons of the Standish family provide a link between Standishes of the Burgh & Pele at Duxbury and Standish of the Manor of Standish.

1. Henry Standish, (c.1482–1535), Bishop of St Asaph - Uncle of John Standish, and James Standish.

2. James Standish, (c 1498-1566), Lord of the Manor of Duxbury 1515 - 1566 - nephew of  Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph

3. John Standish, (c.1509–1570), Church of England clergyman - nephew of Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph

Katharine Standish (the mother of James Standish Lord of the Manor of Duxbury 1515 - 1566) was the daughter of Sir Alexander Standish (Lord of the Manor of Standish 1468 – 1507).  Katharine Standish was also the sister of Thurston Standish of the Burgh upon Duxbury Manor and the sister of Henry Standish the Bishop of St. Asaph. Katharine Standish was the aunt of John Standish, (c.1509–1570), Church of England clergyman the son of Thurston Standish.

 

1. Henry Standish bishop of St Asaph.

Henry Standish, (c.1482–1535), bishop of St Asaph, was born at Standish, Lancashire,(according to Dugdale) a  son of Alexander Standish. He was educated at the Franciscan school in Hereford, at Oxford, where he had proceeded DTh by 1502, and then at Cambridge. A Franciscan friar, he became warden of Greyfriars, London, about 1508, and later Franciscan provincial, before his consecration as Bishop of St Asaph. He was also rector of Standish, Lancashire (in commendam with his episcopal appointment). He preached before King Henry V111 in February 1511 and thereafter became a court favourite, asked back in the spring of every year from 1515 to 1520 (receiving 20s. each time). His sermons, much to Henry's liking, brought him an important place among the king's spiritual advisers.

Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph has been located by researchers into the Standish family at different points in the family tree. Thus was Henry Standish (1482–1535) son of Alexander Standish Lord of the Manor of Standish 1468 to 1507 the Bishop of St Asaph? In the year 1664 Sir William Dugdale records Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph as the son of Alexander Standish Lord of the Manor of Standish 1434 - 1445 and brother of Ralph Standish born 1421, this dating would result in Henry Standish acting as Bishop of St Asaph at the great age of 100 years. Consequently many learned scholars have suggested that the visitation recorded in 1664 by Sir William Dugdale was incorrect and the correct record is "Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph, the son of Alexander Standish Lord of the Manor of Standish 1468 - 1507 and brother of Ralph Standish born 1479".

 

 

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2. James Standish - Legal Dispute date 1534.

1534. James Standish Lord of the Manor of Duxbury versus Henry, Bishop of St. Asaph.

James Standish versus Henry, Bishop of St. Asaph, as Arbitrator between Abbot of Whalley and James Standish re Title to Tythes of Standish Parsonage, &c. the Right Honourable Sir William Fitzwylliam, Knight.

James Standyshe [Standish] of Dukkesbury [Duxbury] in the county of Lancaster, Esq., complains that whereas divers variances and strifes were heretofore depending between the Abbot and Convent of the Monastery of Whalley of the one part and plaintiff on the other part, for the appeasing whereof Henry now Bishop of St. Asaph and parson of Standyshe [Standish] desired plaintiff to submit all the said variances to his judgment, promising that if he would so do he should occupy all his tithe of Dukkesbury [Duxbury], parcel of his parsonage of Standyshe during all the time that he was parson there, he (plaintiff) paying yearly to the said Bishop for the same 5 marks. Thereupon obligations with conditions were made between plaintiff and the said Abbot to abide by the award and judgment of the said Bishop: which obligations plaintiff has kept although the award made by the said Bishop was to his great loss and hindrance and to his disherison. Plaintiff occupied the said tithe for 2 years and paid his rent for the same, but now the Bishop has taken it away from him although he has spent a great deal on the parish in many ways, and has also brought divers actions for trespass against plaintiff for occupying the same.

Prays that the said Bishop may be compelled to answer the premisses.

S. 1. a. The answer of Henry, Bishop of St. Asaph.

It is true that he was chosen to arbitrate between the plaintiff and the said Abbot by the friends and "lovers" of plaintiff, and that the said parties then bound themselves in the sum of £100 to abide his award. The said Bishop never promised plaintiff the tithe of the hamlet of Dukysbury [Duxbury] and plaintiff never suffered any loss through him. The said Bishop took a great part of the said tithes at the time of the "compromitting" and has ever since converted them to his own use, as in threshing of corn and grain for his household at the parsonage of Standishe, and other good works of charity, such as making of ways and giving of alms to poor people in the said parish, and not for his own covetous mind as plaintiff alleges, for it is bestowed in building and repairing the said parsonage which was in extreme ruin, and in hospitality. Plaintiff has several times unlawfully taken and carried away part of the said tithes after the 10th part thereof has been severed from the 9 parts, and has interrupted deponent's servants while gathering the same, by reason whereof witness has commenced an action for trespass against him at Lancaster. Plaintiff has done nothing in the said parish beyond marling his own demesne lands, to his own singular profit and commodity, and to do this he has borrowed money of deponent.

S. 1. b. ***The replication of James Standysshe. "Plaintiff is very nere kynnysman to the said Bysshopp."

S. 1. c. "The rejoinder of Harry, Bisshop of Seynt Asse." [Asaph]. Says that plaintiff was right well contented and pleased in every way with his award.

S. 1. d. Commission dated 04 Jul [1534] , 26 Henry 8., directed to Sir Henry Faryngton, Knight, Sir Roger Bradsha, Knight, Rauff Standyshe, Esq., and Roger Asshowe, Esq.

S. 1. e. Commission dated 17 Feb [1535] , 26 Henry 8., directed to Sir Hen. Faryngton, Knight, and Sir Thos. Southworth, Knight.

S. 1. f. Commission dated 28 Nov [1534] , 26 Henry 8., directed to above.

S. 1. g. Interrogatories on behalf of plaintiff.

1. Imprimis, whether the said Bishop knew of any variance between the parties?

2. Whether the Bishop required plaintiff to "compermyt" all the said matters to him and to make him arbitrator.

3. As to what ground, pasture and common, the variance was depending?

4. Whether the Bishop promised plaintiff that if he would make him arbitrator he should have the farm of the parsonage of Dukkesbury [Duxbury]?

5. Whether plaintiff made the Bishop arbitrator between himself and the Abbot?

6. Whether the Bishop ever made any award between the parties?

7. Whether the award was in writing under the seal of the Bishop, and whether he set his hand thereto?

8. Whether the said James Standyshe, after the award, occupied the tithe of Dukkesbury [Duxbury]?

9. Whether Alexander Standyshe and John Wryghtynton at the command of the Bishop received any rent from plaintiff?

S. 1. h. The answer of the Bishop of St. Assaph [Asaph].

1. This the Bishop grants.

2. Does not remember whether he asked plaintiff or plaintiff him.

3. Does not know.

4. This he denies.

5. This he grants.

6, 7. If there were an award it is under the Bishop's hand and seal, and was delivered to the said James Standyshe.

8. He cannot tell.

9. The Bishop himself received nothing; whether others in his name had anything he cannot say.

S. 1. i. The Commissioners certify that on the 23 Mar last, they went to the parsonage of Standyshe, then the dwelling house of the said Bishop, he being there present, and showed him the said Commission. He refused to be sworn on the holy Evangelists, otherwise than he had done before, and said he would make his answer and send it with his own hand: which answer is hereto annexed.

S. 1. j. At Standysshe, 23 Mar.

S. 1. k. Copy of above.

 

On the 15 Jan [1535] last, We the said Commissioners went to the parsonage of Standyshe and desired the Bishop to be sworn on the holy Evangelists to the truth of his answer, but he said it "wose not mett for no lorde of the parliament ner other greate prelett to be sworne oder wisse then to lay ye hande on ye brest, how be itt, he said, he wold lay his handes on his brest and so saye his said answer was true." As his saying was contrary to our said Commission, we dare not charge him with his said oath. However, the Bishop then caused a new bill to be made which he signed with his own hands, we standing "aferrom" in the chamber from him, and then he laid his hand on his breast and said that all things in the bill were true: which bill he would have delivered to us desiring us to certify the same, but as all he did was on his own pleasure and contrary to our commission we refused to receive it or to meddle any further in the matter until we knew your further pleasure. Howbeit, we moved him to an agreement, but he said if he did agree he should lose his best friends "such as he loveth ye litill fynger better then he did all the body of James Standissh."

At Farrington, 20 Jan [1535]. 26 Henry 8.

S. 1. l. Memorandum, that on the 24 Oct , 26 Henry 8., the said Commissioners met at Standishe, and took the depositions following:

On the part of the said James.

Peres Caterall, servant to the said James, aged 24, says that he was present at Assheton in Makerfeld when the said James desired my lord of St. "Asshes" [Asaph] to be good to him, and to let him have the tithe as he had before. The said Bishop answered that he should have it, and a better thing too if he would be ordered by him.

Henry Garstan, tenant to the said James, aged 60, was with his master at the "grey freres," in West Chester, and there saw him walking with the said Bishop. Immediately after they had taken leave of each other, the said James showed deponent 5 marks or thereabouts which the said Bishop had lent him, with the promise of the said tithe or something better, but he was to keep it privy from the rest of the parish of Standish.

Richard Catterall, tenant to Nicholas Boteler, Esq., aged 54, was present at the parsonage of Standishe when the said Bishop promised plaintiff the tithe.

William Wigan, tenant to Elen Brown, aged 40, says that he formerly lived with plaintiff, who told him of the promise made by the Bishop. Lambe, servant of William Standishe, told plaintiff that the Abbot of Whalley would not abide by the award of the Bishop, but would rather forfeit his obligation.

Roger Plesyngton, servant to Rauf Arrosmyth, aged 40, knows that the said James has occupied the said tithe for 2 years. Edmund Lawe, tenant to Roger Asshawe, aged 40, says that during the 2 years the said James occupied the said tithe, he (deponent) carried away half the tithe for his hire, and James took the other half thereof. Robert Hyll, tenant to the said James, aged 46, as above.

The said Henry Garstan does not know the value of the loss of the said James, because before the award of the Bishop there was an award made between the Abbot of Whalley and Sir Richard Hoghton, Knight, for certain enclosures of 200 acres, wherewith the plaintiff was not content, but always claimed the 3rd part thereof and pulled down the ditches and cut down the woods upon the enclosures. Since the award made by the Bishop the said James has never had any advantage thereof.

 NOTE.

S. 1. b. ***The replication of James Standysshe. "Plaintiff is very nere kynnysman to the said Bysshopp." -Katharine Standish mother of James Standish Lord of the Manor of Duxbury was the sister of Henry, Bishop of St. Asaph and she was also the aunt of John Standish,Church of England clergyman.

 

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3. John Standish, 1509–1570 son of Thurston Standish of the Burgh Duxbury Lancashire.

John Standish, (c.1509–1570), Church of England clergyman,belonged to the family of Standish of Burgh, Lancashire, and was the nephew of Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph. Admitted a scholar of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1524 he graduated BA on 16 May 1528. On 16 June following, aged nineteen, he was appointed a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, becoming a fellow in 1530. He proceeded MA on 17 July 1531 and relinquished his fellowship. He was ordained priest at Lichfield on 24 February 1532 but thereafter gravitated to London. By 1538 he had become praelector in theology at Whittington College, also serving as a university preacher at Oxford that year. After Robert Barnes had been burnt for heresy in 1540, defending his protestant views at the stake, Standish published A Lytle Treatise Against the Protestation of R Barnes at the Time of his Death, which was answered by Miles Coverdale. Perhaps as a result of this literary effort Standish was admitted BTh at Oxford in 1540 or 1541 and incorporated DTh on 16 July 1542. On 3 December 1543 he was collated rector of St Andrew Undershaft in London and on 30 June 1544 vicar of Northall, Middlesex, at the hands of Edmund Bonner, bishop of London.
During the next five years Standish rapidly transferred his allegiance to the evangelical camp and accordingly prospered under Edward VI. He was appointed chaplain to the king in 1550 and on 12 July that year was presented by the crown to the eighth prebend in Worcester Cathedral, receiving licence in 1552 to retain it though non-resident. In March 1551, probably as a result of the government's drive at this time to promote protestant preaching in the north, he was presented to the rectory of Wigan, Lancashire, although it must be doubted that he was ever admitted. On 10 January 1553 he was instituted by Nicholas Ridley, first protestant bishop of London, to the archdeaconry of Colchester on the presentation of Sir Edward Norton. Later that year he was admitted rector of Medbourne, Leicestershire.

 

 

Standish Deeds in a private collection - Lancashire England.

 

1. Bond date 1556 – Christopher Standish to John Standish son of Thurston Standish.

       [May all men know, by these presents, that I, Christopher Standish, the son of James Standish of Duxbury in the County of Lancaster, esquire, am held and firmly bounden unto John Standish,

       In the sum of twenty pounds of good and lawful money of England, to be paid to the same John, or his certain attorney, his executors or administrators, on the Feast of the Birth of our Lord next coming after the date of these presents.

To which payment, indeed, well and faithfully to be made, I do, by these presents, sealed with my seal, firmly bind myself, my heirs, executors and administrators.

       Dated the third day of December in the third and fourth years of the reigns of Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, [King and Queen] of England, France and both Sicilies, Jerusalem and Ireland, defenders of the faith, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Milan, Burgundy and Brabant, Counts of Hapsburg, Flanders and Tyrol.]

 

 

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 Eleanor Johnson  a very creditable Standish family researcher indicates the possibility that Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph could be the grandson of Alexander Standish Lord of the Manor of Standish 1434 - 1445 and not the son of the Alexander stated by Sir William Dugdale.

Eleanor Johnson also noted that Henry Standish born 1482 was a son of Alexander Standish Lord of the Manor of Standish 1468 to 1507 and that the said Alexander had a large family of ten or eleven children. Not all the children are positively documented.

One of his daughters Katherine, married Thomas Standish Lord of the Manor of Duxbury 1495 –1516 thus reuniting the two branches of the Standish family. Katherine would therefore have been the sister of Thurston Standish of the Burgh and Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph. Other daughters of Alexander (1)Joan, married James, son of William Bradshaigh of Haigh (2) Alice married Richard Worthington and (3) Isabel married Thomas Lathom.

The son and heir of Alexander Standish - Ralph married Alice, daughter and co-heir of Sir James Harrington of Wolfage in Northamptonshire. This marriage in 1497 brought in the manor of Brixworth into the Standish estates.

 

 

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John Wilson.

The Eminent local historian John Wilson also addressed the question of the father of Henry Standish Bishop of St. Asaph quotes the visitation of Dugdale and the contrasting evidence of Gregson in his book  Verses and Notes dated 1903. Gregson stated that Henry Standish Bishop of St. Asaph had a sister Agnes married into the Worthington family. None of the Henry Standishes cited as the Bishop of St. Asaph had a sister Agnes, however two of the Henry Standishes had a sister named Alice and only one of these sisters married into the Worthington family. In the family tree produced by Eleanor Johnson (above) the marriage of Alice Standish daughter of Sir Alexander Standish Lord of the Manor of Standish 1465 – 1507 to Richard Worthington is recorded in common with the family papers. Thus another indicator that Henry Standish Bishop of St. Asaph was the son of Sir Alexander Standish Lord of the Manor of Standish 1465 – 1507.

John Wilson -  Verses and Notes  dated 1903

 

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Standish Family Deed number 226 date 9th June 31st. year of Henry VIII [1539]

The Will of Ralph Standyshe Lord of the Manor of Standish 1507 – 1538 brother of Thurston of the Burgh and Henry Bishop of St. Asaph  and Katharine wife of Thomas Standish Lord of the Manor of Duxbury.

Indenture recording the Inquisition post mortem 1539 taken at Wygan on 9th June 31st year of Henry VIII [1539] before Ralph Worseley, escheator. The jury were Robert Langton, John Hawarden, Robert Caunce-field, esqs., Ralph Arrowsmith, Laurence Cotton, Henry Boys, John Parker of Monkhal], John Chernley, William Waryng, Edmund Lawe, Richard Molyneux of Wygan Wodhouse, Laurence Standisshe, Ralph Gerrard, William Sonkey, Roger Molyneux, gentlemen, and Oliver Markland ; who say that Ralph Standissh was seised in fee of the manor of Standissh with appurtenances, of the advowson of the Church of Standissh, and the advowson of three chantries there, and of 22 messuages, 3 mills, 200 acres of land, 100 of meadow, 200 pasture, 100 wood, 100 heath and moor with appurtenances in Standissh; and of one messuage and 2 acres in Wygan; and of 2 messuages and 40 acres of land, 10 of meadow, 30 pasture, 10 wood in Shevyngton; and of 7 messuages, 40 acres of land, 10 of meadow, 40 pasture, 22 wood, 20 heath and moor in Coppull and Worthyngton ; and of one third of the manor of Chaterton [Chadderton], and 2 messuages, one mill and a third part of 300 acres of land, 100 of meadow, 200 of pasture, 30 (?) wood, 200 heath and moor with appurtenances in Chaterton, Glodeth [Glodwick], Wytton [Witton near Blackburn] and Rachedale [Rochdale] ; also of one messuage, 20 acres of land, 6 of meadow, 20 of pasture, and of service and a free rent of 8d. annually in Dokesbury [Duxbury] ; and of the moiety of one messuage, 6 acres of land, 2 of meadow, 5 of pasture in Chorley; and of one messuage, 20 acres of land, 6 of meadow and 20 of pasture in Blakerode ; and of 4 acres in Heth Charnoke ; and of 4 acres of land, 2 of meadow, 3 of pastures in Wryghtyngton ; and of one cottage in Ormeskyrk ; and of one barn and one toft in Chernok Richard; and of one messuage, 3 acres of land, and one acre of meadow in Wygan ; and of 20d. annual rent issuing from land belonging to William Gerrard in Wygan. As to tenures, the jurors say that the manor of Standissh and advowson of the Church, &c, there, are held of Edward, Earl of Derby, Sir Thomas Stanley, knight, Lord Monteagle, and Richard Schyrburn, esq., by fealty and a rent of 6s. 8d. annually (the said Richard Schyrburn is under age in the King's wardship), and worth net £40 ; the first-named premises in Wygan are held of Richard Kyghley, rector of Wygan, by a rent of 12d., and are worth 12s. 8d. One of the two messuages in Shevyngton with 10 acres of land, 2 of meadow, and 4 of pasture is held of the Prior of St John of Jerusalem in England by fealty and 3d. rent, and is worth 10s. Id. ; the other messuage there with the rest of the land is held of Thomas Wrighttington by fealty and a rent of 16d., and is worth £3 2s. 4d. The lands, &c, in Coppull and Worthyngton are held of Edward, Earl of Derby, by fealty and 4s. rent, and are worth £9 10s. lOd. The lands, &c., in Chaterton are held of the King as of his Duchy of Lancaster in chief by military service as a third of a Knight's fee, and are worth £18. The lands, &c, in Glodith are held of the King by fealty and lid rent, and are worth £4 ; those in Wytton and Rachedale are held of the King by fealty and are worth £3 ; those in Dokesbury are held of James Standissh, esq., by fealty and 8d. rent, and are worth £4 7s. 4d. The lands in Chorley are held [of the same lords as those in Standissh] by fealty only, and are worth 14s. 6d. ; those in Blackerode are similarly held of the heirs of Sir James Haryngton, and are worth 33s. 4d. ; those in Heth Charnock are held of Lord Mounteagle, and are worth three (?) shillings ; those in Wrighttyngton are held of Thoma3 Wrighttyngton at Id. rent, and are worth 8s. The premises in Ormskyrk are held of the King in free hurgage, and are worth 12d. ; those in Charnock Richard are held of the Prior of St John of Jerusalem in England by fealty only, and are worth 3s. 4d. The premises in Wygan (mentioned secondly) are held of the rector as before, but by fealty only, and are worth 9s. 8d. The jurors say that Ralph Standyshe, being so seized, died 27th August last past [1538]. Alexander Standysshe, esq., is his son and heir, and was then aged 36 years^ and more.

The deed is signed by Otwel Worseley, deputy of the said eschaetor. 18i x 10J.    Seal gone.

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Standish, Henry (c.1481–1535), Bishop of St Asaph.

Standish, Henry (c.1481–1535), bishop of St Asaph, was born at Standish, Lancashire, possibly (according to Dugdale) the son of Alexander Standish. He was educated at the Franciscan school in Hereford, at Oxford, where he had proceeded DTh by 1502, and perhaps at Cambridge. A Franciscan friar, he became warden of Greyfriars, London, about 1508, and later Franciscan provincial, before his consecration as bishop of St Asaph. He was also rector of Standish, Lancashire (in commendam with his episcopal appointment). He preached before the king in February 1511 and thereafter became a court favourite, asked back in the spring of every year from 1515 to 1520 (receiving 20s. each time). His sermons, much to Henry's liking, brought him an important place among the king's spiritual advisers. It was thought by Wood that Standish had collected his sermons together as Sermons Preached to the People, but firm evidence is lacking.

Perhaps because of his court position, Standish became involved in the disputes over benefit of clergy of the years following 1510. In this clash between church and state, Standish opposed his fellow clergymen. At a conference held at Blackfriars in February 1515 he argued that clergymen were subject to temporal authorities, and raised clerical ire further by giving a series of lectures on the issue, following which he was summoned to convocation on heresy charges. At a second Blackfriars conference, held later that year, he was vindicated by the king's legal experts, although Bishop Fox clearly had reservations, remarking to the king, ‘Sir, I warrant you Dr. Standish will not abide by his opinion at his peril’ (LP Henry VIII, 2/1, no. 1313). Some time later, ignoring Wolsey's claims for William Bolton, Henry nominated Standish to the see of St Asaph (provided by papal bull dated 28 May 1518), less, perhaps, as a reward than as a sign of royal displeasure to other bishops. He was consecrated by Warham at Otford, Kent, on 11 July 1518, for which he later became subject to a praemunire charge, for having been consecrated before he had received royal assent and done homage for his temporalities.

Little is known of Standish's administration of his diocese, which was probably left largely to his chancellor and vicar-general, Robert ap Rhys. In 1520 he gave a canonry to his nephew Richard Standish, and the fact that he later made bequests to the Carmelites of Denbigh and to his own cathedral suggests that he was not entirely uninvolved in diocesan affairs. In 1521 he re-emerged from obscurity, when he publicly attacked Erasmus's scholarship in a sermon at St Paul's Cross. His subject was ostensibly Christian charity, but soon turned into an attack on Erasmus's Greek New Testament. John Stokesley (later bishop of London) and Thomas More took Standish to task over his opinions. Shortly thereafter, hoping to check the distribution of Erasmus's work, Standish took his warnings against Erasmus to the king, fearing ‘a time of by far the greatest peril was at hand’ because of them (Collected Works Erasmus, 8.10). In subsequent debate he was overmatched by Stokesley and More, and the king, ‘sorry to see such colossal stupidity pilloried in such exalted company’, ended it. Erasmus labelled Standish an ‘egregious numskull’ (ibid., 6.13–14). Standish probably wrote out his arguments in a treatise directed against Erasmus's translation of the New Testament, but whether this was ever actually published (as Wood suggests) is questionable.

Standish thereafter played only a small role in official matters. In May 1522 he received Charles V at Canterbury, and in February 1524 accompanied Sir John Baker (later attorney-general) on an embassy to Hamburg. Early in 1526 he was a member of Wolsey's heresy commission which received the recantation of and imposed a public penance upon Robert Barnes and five Hanse merchants. And he was subsequently among the judges at the trials for heresy—all in London—of Richard Foster, Thomas Bilney, and Thomas Arthur (November 1527), and John Tewkesbury (December 1531). Standish supported Katherine of Aragon when Henry VIII began proceedings for a divorce, speaking on her behalf on 29 June 1529, although she later doubted his sincerity. According to Campeggi, Standish had submitted a book on Katherine's behalf (it was not read out in court). In the Lords, Standish objected to a discussion of the divorce prior to a papal decision but, in upper convocation, agreed that the pope's original dispensation allowing Henry to marry Katherine was faulty. On 11 July 1530 a praemunire information was filed in king's bench against him (and thirteen other clerics) because he had supported Wolsey's legatine authority through a composition with the cardinal for an annual payment of 10 marks.

On 15 May 1532 Standish subscribed to the king's supreme headship of the English church, and in the summer presided briefly in southern convocation. He was one of the three bishops who on 13 March 1533 consecrated Thomas Cranmer as archbishop of Canterbury. Standish's support for the king's policies was held in doubt by Thomas Cromwell, who used the first available occasion to test him. In October 1533 Robert ap Rhys, Standish's vicar-general at St Asaph, was indicted for praemunire in the great leet of Denbigh, and Standish, as his superior, was included in the charge. Both men fought the charges, and swore out writs of supersedeas in chancery. John Salisbury, the steward of the court at Denbigh, failed to process the writs even after subpoenas were sworn out against him. The results of this are unclear, but Standish was finally pressured into a formal renunciation of papal jurisdiction on 1 June 1535. He died a little over a month later, on 9 July, probably of old age.

In his will, made on 3 July and proved on 31 August, Standish directed that he should be buried ‘among the friars minor’, perhaps a reference to the London Greyfriars, though no monument to him there is recorded by Stow. He left £40 for his burial, and £13 6s. 8d. for his tomb. His other bequests included £40 apiece for paving the choir of St Asaph Cathedral, for building an aisle of the Franciscan church in Oxford, for exhibitions for Oxford scholars, and for the Lancashire parish of Standish. He also left £5 to buy books for the Oxford Franciscans, and appointed executors to dispose of his library. However, his legal capacity to make a will, as a religious who had become a bishop, was open to question, and Standish's will seems to have brought trouble to his legatees.

 by - Andrew A. Chibi .

Sources  

J. D. M. Derrett, ‘The affairs of Richard Hunne and Friar Standish’, in St Thomas More, The apology, ed. J. B. Trapp (1979), vol. 9 of The Yale edition of the complete works of St Thomas More, 215–46 · S. Thompson, ‘The pastoral work of the English and Welsh bishops, 1500–58’, DPhil diss., U. Oxf., 1984 · LP Henry VIII, vols. 1–10 · J. J. Scarisbrick, ‘The conservative episcopate in England: 1529–1535’, PhD diss., U. Cam., 1963 · A. A. Chibi, Henry VIII's bishops: administrators, scholars and shepherds [forthcoming] · A. Ogle, The tragedy of the Lollard's tower [1949] · Rymer, Foedera · Collected works of Erasmus, ed. W. K. Ferguson and others, [86 vols.] (1974–) · E. Rummel, Erasmus and his Catholic critics, 1: 1515–1522 (1989) · S. Ehses, ed., Römische Dokumente zur Geschichte der Ehescheidung Heinrichs VIII. von England, 1527–1534 (Paderborn, 1893) · D. Wilkins, ed., Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae, 4 vols. (1737) · CSP Milan · CSP Spain, 1485–1535 · CSP Venice, 1509–54 · Emden, Oxf., 3.1756–7 · A. G. Little, The Grey friars in Oxford, OHS, 20 (1892) · W. Dugdale, The visitation of the county palatine of Lancaster, made in the year 1664–5, ed. F. R. Raines, 3, Chetham Society, 88 (1873) · Wood, Ath. Oxon., new edn, 1.92–4 · TNA: PRO, PROB 11/25, fol. 194v · Fasti Angl., 1300–1541, [Welsh dioceses], 39 · G. Williams, The Welsh church from conquest to Reformation (1962) · bishops' registers, St Asaph, Standish, 1518–35, NL Wales · TNA: PRO, state papers domestic, Henry VIII, 1/12, fols. 18–21 · TNA: PRO, state papers, 1/54, fol. 262 · JHL, 1 (1509–77) · A. A. Chibi, ‘The intellectual and academic training of the Henrician episcopacy’, Archive for the Reformation (1998)

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Standish, John (c.1509–1570)

Lancashire, and to have been the nephew of Henry Standish, bishop of St Asaph. Admitted a scholar of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1524 he graduated BA on 16 May 1528. On 16 June following, aged nineteen, he was appointed a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, becoming a fellow in 1530. He proceeded MA on 17 July 1531 and relinquished his fellowship. He was ordained priest atLichfield on 24 February 1532 but thereafter gravitated to LonStandish, John (c.1509–1570), Church of England clergyman, is said to have belonged to the family of Standish of Burgh, don. By 1538 hehad become praelector in theology at Whittington College, also serving as a university preacher at Oxford that year. After Robert Barnes had been burnt for heresy in 1540, defending his protestant views at the stake, Standish published A Lytle Treatise Against the Protestation of R Barnes at the Time of his Death, which was answered by Miles Coverdale. Perhaps as a result of this literary effort Standish was admitted BTh at Oxford in 1540 or 1541 and incorporated DTh on 16 July 1542. On 3 December 1543 he was collated rector of St Andrew Undershaft in London and on 30 June 1544 vicar of Northall, Middlesex, at the hands of Edmund Bonner, bishop of London.

During the next five years Standish rapidly transferred his allegiance to the evangelical camp and accordingly prospered under Edward VI. He was appointed chaplain to the king in 1550 and on 12 July that year was presented by the crown to the eighth prebend in Worcester Cathedral, receiving licence in 1552 to retain it though non-resident. In March 1551, probably as a result of the government's drive at this time to promote protestant preaching in the north, he was presented to the rectory of Wigan, Lancashire, although it must be doubted that he was ever admitted. On 10 January 1553 he was instituted by Nicholas Ridley, first protestant bishop of London, to the archdeaconry of Colchester on the presentation of Sir Edward Norton. Later that year he was admitted rector of Medbourne, Leicestershire. By now he was married but nothing is known of his wife.

The chapter of St Paul's, even under Ridley, had remained notably conservative and Standish's position as one of its few married prebendaries left him extremely exposed after the accession of Mary in July 1553. Possibly for that reason his institution to the archdeaconry of Colchester was cancelled on 22 January 1554, six weeks before Mary ordered the deprivation of married priests. After she had done so Standish was deprived of his London living and of Northall, and probably also of his Worcester prebend, where his successor was installed in September 1554. If he had ever held the rectory of Wigan it was presumably likewise relinquished at this time.

Standish repaired the damage by repudiating his wife and, thus reconciled to the Marian regime, published in 1554 A discourse wherin is debated whether it is expedient that the scripture should be in English for al men to read that wyll, in which he assigned fifty reasons why it was not. Nearly half of them emphasize that making the Bible accessible to the laity undermined the established order. It gave rise to ‘teachers in corners & conventicles’, encouraged women to engage in theological debate, and made servants ‘stubborne, frowarde and disobedient’ towards their employers (sigs. K3r, H7r). Standish finally advocated the burning of all English bibles and was accordingly denounced by John Bale.

Standish was collated by the restored Bonner to the rectory of Paglesham, Essex, on 19 November 1554 and in 1555 was admitted rector of Rodmarton, Gloucestershire. In 1556, apparently still in possession of Medbourne, he dedicated to Cardinal Pole The Trial of the Supremacy wherein is Set Forth the Unitie of Christes Church. On 21 October 1557 Bonner further collated Standish to the prebend of Ealdland in St Paul's and on 15 October 1558, having taken part during the summer in the heresy trial of the Lancastrian martyr Roger Holland, he was once again admitted archdeacon of Colchester. He was deprived of the latter on 23 October 1559, during Elizabeth's royal visitation, and had to relinquish Paglesham to the married priest he had supplanted. Yet he seems to have been allowed to keep his prebend and on 15 December 1560 was admitted rector of Evington, Leicestershire. His successor was collated to Ealdland, vacant by his death, on 31 March 1570.

Brett Usher

Sources  

Emden, Oxf., 4.533–4 · Wood, Ath. Oxon., new edn, 1.235–8 · Bale, Cat. · Fasti Angl., 1541–1857, [St Paul's, London], 12, 13, 31 · Fasti Angl., 1541–1857, [Ely], 128 · G. Hennessy, Novum repertorium ecclesiasticum parochiale Londinense, or, London diocesan clergy succession from the earliest time to the year 1898 (1898) · C. Haigh, Reformation and resistance in Tudor Lancashire (1975) · J. W. Martin, Religious radicals in Tudor England (1989)

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Another cousin of Myles Standish with a Christian name not normally used by the Standish Family.

Standish, Arthur (fl. 1552–1615).

 

Arthur Standish writer on agriculture, was, on his own assertion, a descendant of the Standish family, of Standish, near Wigan, Lancashire, and was plainly familiar with the layout of Standish Hall and grounds. Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, or Cambridgeshire are most likely candidates for his home county. His place of residence remains unknown, though his writing shows an acquaintance with the East Anglian fens. Other Standishes in his or the next generation were connected with Peterborough and Brixworth, Northamptonshire, Conington in north Huntingdonshire, and west Cambridgeshire, and several Standishes attended Cambridge University. In the will, dated 1552, of Dr Richard Standish (d. 1553), rector of Standish, Arthur shared with a brother and three sisters a bequest of £50. They were named as the children of Thomas Standish, one of the two feoffees who instituted Richard as rector on 19 May 1541, but the precise relationship was not disclosed.

The midland revolt in 1607 had troubled Standish deeply, and it is noteworthy that three of the rebel villages in Northamptonshire were Pytchley, Rushton, and Haselbech, close to Brixworth, where one Standish branch held the manor. In a search for measures to reduce discontent among the common people, Standish made a four-year journey through the kingdom in search of answers. He was seemingly a curious, gregarious, and sociable enquirer, questioning all he encountered, including surveyors, husbandmen, and working men. The resulting essay, The Commons Complaint, was personally approved by James I. Henry Peacham wrote in praise of the author in the 1611 edition. Eight versions are known, four of 1611, and four more of 1612, 1613, 1614, and 1615. The texts of each edition were changed to accommodate new knowledge, and the last three were much abbreviated, given another title, New Directions of Experience to the Commons Complaint, and focused on one only of the four ‘complaints’ with which he started.

Central to Standish's concerns was the destruction of woods, leading to high fuel and food prices, which, he said, had risen faster since 1605 than in the previous twenty years. His remedies for fuel shortages were the planting of more trees, and, to increase food supplies, the planting of fruit trees, the destruction of vermin, the breeding of wildfowl and poultry, and the reduction of dovecotes, since pigeons consumed much grain.

Standish gave practical instructions on tree-planting, especially of fruit trees—notably apples, wardens, pears, walnuts, and chestnuts—either in hedgerows or in orchards, where he insisted on regular planting in rows and on cereals being grown for some years between the rows. He urged attention to soils and the use of lime as a fertilizer, gave measured distances for the trees, and expected the better feeding of livestock, including pigs fed on mast, and more cider and perry for households and for sale. Combating vermin meant reducing rooks, crows, sparrows, buzzards, kites, and other birds of prey. He was alone among his contemporaries in recommending fowl and poultry plots. These were to be hedged enclosures, for taming and breeding wildfowl such as ducks and mallards, and for the keeping of hens. His scheme was inspired by his observations in St James's Park in London and at Standish, but it benefited from knowledge of practices in the East Anglian fens, where local people regularly collected wild birds' eggs in spring. The details on breeding, feeding, housing, and killing the birds were precise and practical, with estimates of costs and profits. A clear illustration of a hedged and moated wildfowl or poultry plot appeared in editions of 1611 and 1612. In the texts of 1613, 1614, and 1615 the poultry–wildfowl project was omitted; it had evidently not evoked public interest, though a not dissimilar scheme for wildfowl decoys did succeed. The revised text dealt only with the replanting of woodlands. Current concerns had shifted the weight of different arguments, and prominence was now given to human greed for profit, the needs of the iron and glass industries for fuel, and a fear that coal near the coast, though easily shipped, might not prove a sufficient substitute. Nothing is known of Standish's later life, nor of the date or circumstances of his death.

Joan Thirsk

Sources  

T. C. Porteus, A history of the parish of Standish, Lancashire, Wigan (1927), 98, 99–100 · B. Henrey, British botanical and horticultural literature before 1800, 1 (1975), 114–15

 

 

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