Stanley Families

James Stanley (1762-1845) of Bethlehem, Co. Westmeath and Elizabeth Ireland (c1766-1832) were married 06 July 1786. The standard published genealogies disclose only one child – William James Stanley, born 1798. However, as Peter Stanley in his 1998 book The House of Stanley observed “Pedigrees are generally restricted to the issue of elder sons”. In fact, other sources reveal that in the nineteen years between 1788 and 1807, James and Elizabeth had thirteen children, of whom eight survived childhood.

There are three sources to support this:

(i) a C19th manuscript list of all thirteen children, in the possession of a descendant;
(ii) the parish records of Kilkenny West held by the Church of Ireland’s Representative Church Body Library in Dublin; and
(iii) a manuscript pedigree produced by the Office of Arms and held by the National Library of Ireland in Dublin.

C19th manuscript
(i) The C19th manuscript listing all thirteen children with accompanying dates of birth (and death where applicable) appears to have been written by one of the grandchildren of James and Elizabeth.

Kilkenny West parish records
(ii) The C19th century manuscript is corroborated by the parish records of Kilkenny West church, Co Westmeath in terms of the names, dates and order of children – but only so far as the last seven are concerned. The dates of baptism correspond perfectly with the dates of birth in six of the seven cases. The first six children do not appear in the parish’s records so were evidently baptised elsewhere.

Heraldic Pedigree
(iii) The heraldic pedigree (NLI. GO. MS. 8307) which purports to list the children of James and Elizabeth with spouses is (a) incomplete, having neither Elizabeth Ireland’s Christian name, nor any of the infants, nor two of the adults known to have married (b) in the wrong chronological order (c) incorrect in that the Christian name of at least one spouse is known to be wrong (although the surname is correct) and (d) partial – since William James Stanley’s line is full, detailed and presumably accurate, up to 1920, unlike those of everyone else. It does however corroborate the manuscript list (i) in several respects and certainly explodes the idea that William James was an only child.

The complete list of children is therefore as follows:

Magdalene + 1788-1805
James + 1789-1789
Edmond 1790-
Eliza + 1792-92
Catherine 1793-1854
Elizabeth 1795

James + 1797-1797
baptised Kilkenny West 12 Feb 1797 “son of James and Elizabeth Stanley”

William James 1798-1885
baptised Kilkenny West 18 March 1798 “son of James and Elizabeth Stanley”

Richard 1799-1864
baptised Kilkenny West 28 Oct 1799 “son of James and Elizabeth Stanley”

Susan 1801
baptised Kilkenny West 26 April 1801 “dau of James and Elizabeth Stanley”

Anne + 1802-1803
baptised Kilkenny West 29 Sept 1802? “dau of James and Elizabeth Stanley”

Arthur 1803-1880
baptised Kilkenny West 10 April 1803 “son of James and Elizabeth Stanley”

Magdalen 1807-1885
baptised Kilkenny West 13 June 1807 “dau of James and Elizabeth Stanley”

Obviously, there is still some work to do here.  Did Kilkenny West records only begin c1797?  Was the family based elsewhere between 1788 and 1797?  (Not at St Werburgh’s, Dublin).  Are there any nearby parishes, perhaps closer to Low Park, that might be likely candidates?

According to the manuscript ‘Pedigree of Stanley of Dublin…etc’ (NLI  GO  MS 176) in the NLI, Dublin, the marriages of James and Elizabeth Stanley’s children were as follows:

+ Edmond = Jane Talbot of Castle Talbot.  Licence dated ?4th August 1786.

+ James = Elizabeth Ireland

+ Catherine =  (1) Brinsley Hewetson, Esq. “Major in the Army”; (2) Christopher Clarke of Twickenham House, King’s Co. 

+ Susanna = De Courcy Ireland, married 1774.  Licence dated 02 July 1774.

+ Elizabeth = (1) John Irwin, (2) Richard Ireland

+ Rebecca = James ?Coultry, Esq, RN

There was no sign of either Jane (1759) or Jane (sic) (1764).

John Bacon Stanley was born 1776, Dublin.  Died 21 Sept. 21, 1832, St. James, Dublin.  Married May 3, 1800 St. Thomas, Barbara Lynch, daughter of Henry Francis Blosse Lynch.  They had a son Henry V. Stanley.

Henry Valentine Stanley, b: 1805 at Gardenrath, Meath.  Died – 1856 at Beech Hill, Grand Canal St. Dublin  He married Elizabeth Vincent in 1835.  Father of Eliz. was John Crawford Vincent.

Henry & Eliz. had a daughter Lydia, b: 1847???  Married Frederick Stanley Ireland Nov. 1868, Parish of Belfast.   Frederick’s parents were Thomas Ireland & Cecilia Stanley.

Would anyone have any further info. on this family.

Help – I am looking for Sergeant Thomas Stanley – Saddler, late 4th Dragoon Guards who died 21 October, 1812.  Only bit of information is that he was born at Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

In searching St Werburgh’s Parish records recently, there were further Stanleys not known (by me) to be connected. They may, however, be blood relations, and mean something to somebody else, I just don’t know. They are as follows:

1746 26th October
Edwin, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1747 15th December
Edward, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1748 26th December
George, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1749 10th December
Arthur, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1751 8th December
Mary, daughter of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1753 18th March
Edwin, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1754 14th April
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1755 13th April
James, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1756 14th March
Jane, daughter of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1757 6th March
James, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1758 28th March
Andrew, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1759 22nd April
Thomas, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1760 13th August
Anne, daughter of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1761 9th August
George, son of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

1763 17th April
Mary, daughter of Edward and Bridget Stanley, Castle Street

An alarming fiteen births within sixteen years.

* * *

Also:

1760 31st August
John, son of Edward and Marget (sic) Stanley, Bride Street

The Christening registers were searched over the period January 1724/5 to December 1800 so together with my earlier post detailing the children of James Stanely and Elizabeth Ireland, these wld seem to comprise all the Stanleys in this parish over that period.

Marriages

Having searched the marriage registers between 1704 and 1760, I found only the following:

1756,  May, Edward ?Staley (sic) and Elizabeth Geach. prs(?) Consistory Licence by the Revd, Dan Dickinson

Some background on the location of the Stanleys’ Dublin home and parish church:

St Werburgh’s was a church of Norman foundation, and in the seventeenth century it had been the burial place of many important Anglo-Irish families. There was a churchyard next to the church used for hundreds of years and beneath the church are twenty-seven vaults. Before the Castle Chapel was rebuilt it was “one of the most fashionable [churches] in Dublin; it was regularly attended by the Lord Lieutenant and his suite, and was always densely thronged”. (J. T. Gilbert. History of Dublin. 1854). A son of the Viceroy, Viscount Townsend, born at nearby Dublin Castle, was baptised in the church in December 1768 and the Latouche family, owners of Dublin’s greatest (Huguenot) bank, lived in the parish, in Castle Street. John Field, composer and pianist was also baptised in the church in 1782 and Handel played there. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, commander-in-chief of the United Irishman who died in the 1798 Rising was buried in the vaults of the church in June 1798.

It was (re)built in its present form following a devastating fire in 1754 and reopened in 1759. Sir Philip Hoby, Bart, Rector between 1748 and 1766 who baptised the children of James and Jane Stanley bequeathed funds to erect a steeple. This was 160 feet in height, terminating with gilt ball and weather vane, which formed one of the chief ornaments of Dublin, until allegedly found to be in a dangerous condition and removed in 1810. The church tower was likewise taken down in 1836, so what remains of the church today is sadly reduced from its days of glory.  See St Werburgh’s Church, 2010, exterior .

Like the most ancient streets of the majority of Irish cities, Werburgh Street, and the adjoining Hoey’s Court were found within the immediate vicinity of the castle. “The buildings forming “Hoey’s-court” were erected in the 17th century, apparently by Sir John Hoey, founder of the family of Hoey of Dunganstown, county of Wicklow… Jonathan Swift was born, on the 30th of November, 1667, at the house of his uncle, Counsellor Godwin Swift, No. 9 in this court, which at that period was inhabited by some of the chief lawyers of Dublin. Robert Marshall, third Sergeant of the Exchequer, who resided here from 1738 to 1741, was the friend of Swift’s “Vanessa”. … The Guild of Glovers and the Corporation of Brewers had their public halls till late in the last century in Hoey’s-court, where William Ruxton, Surgeon-General, resided till his death in 1783, and on the north side of which stood Eade’s tavern, closed about 1813.” (Gilbert).

The ‘Goldsmiths Hall’ and office of the Dublin Assay Master was held until the late eighteenth century in the house nearly opposite Hoey’s Court. Round the corner, in a lane just off Werburgh’s Street, the Phoenix tavern, was “one of the most fashionable and most frequented houses of its time in Dublin” in the mid eighteenth century…. In ‘Cole’s-alley’ the passage from Hoey’s-court to Castle-street, was the Royal Chop-House,” a tavern much frequented for billiards about 1768.” (Gilbert)

On the western side of the street stood Darby Square, a small court almost opposite from the entrance to Hoey’s Court where, during the early part of the eighteenth century, many eminent lawyers resided, and in which were situated the Examiner’s Court of Chancery, and the office of the Masters in Chancery. The Solicitor-General, John Bowes, lived in Werburgh Street from 1730 to 1772.  James Stanley, of course, was an ‘attorney’, the term used for lawyers who practised in the common law courts, rather than appearing as advocates in the higher courts, a role reserved (as it still generally is) for barristers. (A century later, attorneys were redesignated as solicitors).

See Central Dublin, mid C18th.  Hoey’s Court is in the bottom left hand corner, immediately to the west of Dublin Castle.  The building immediately to its north is St Werburg’s Church.

Apologies if all a bit surplus to requirements.

The family of James Stanley (1727-65) and Jane Kelly of Low Park, nr Athlone, Co Westmeath, have variously been listed as Edmond (later Sir) Stanley; Edmond and James (later of Bethlehem); and Edmond and James togther with two daughters both of whom married members of the Ireland family.

Having now consulted the original records of St Werburgh’s church, Dublin held by the RCB Library in Braemar Park, Dublin over the period January 1724/5 to December 1800, the full story is as follows:

Anno Domini 1753
1753 14th December
Elizabeth-Maria, daughter of James and Jane Stanley,
Hoey’s Court

1755 3rd March
Catherine, daughter of James and Jane Stanley,
Hoey’s Court

1757 11th December
Susanna, daughter of James and Jane Stanley.
Hoey’s Court

1759 25th November
Jane, daughter of James and Jane Stanley,
Hoey’s Court

1760 7th December
Edmond (sic), son of James and Jane Stanley
Hoey’s Court

1762 21st September
James, son of James and Jane Stanley,
Hoey’s Court

1764 19th February
Jane, daughter of James and Jane Stanley,
Hoey’s Court

1765 2nd May
Rebecca, daughter of James and Jane Stanley,
Hoey’s Court

All were christened by the Rector, Sir Philip Hoby, Bart.

James Stanley was an ‘attorney’, the term used for lawyers who practised in the common law courts, rather than appearing as advocates in the higher courts, a role reserved (as it still generally is) for barristers. (In 1873 attorneys were redesignated as solicitors).

The Reverend Edward John Theodore Stanley BA, aged 61, and his sister Elizabeth Rebecca Frances Stanley, aged 58, were on convoy route HG from Gibraltar to the UK, said to be returning from unoccupied France, whence they had gone on missionary work. Traveling on the “S.S. Avoceta”, they lost their lives with 74 other passengers and 46 crew when she was sunk by submarine U-203 on 25 September1941.

Reverend Stanley was vicar of Christchurch, Folkestone Road, Dover, between 1923 and 1934, and had famously challenged the Archbishop of Canterbury over the form of words to be used at the unveiling of the Dover Town Memorial.

They were the son and daughter of the late George Wilson Stanley and Rebecca E. Stanley, of The Beeches, Ashburton Road, Croydon, Surrey.

See also http://www.thebrassbuddha.net/stanley/?p=306
See also http://www.thebrassbuddha.net/stanley/?p=628

The above text is taken from the Dover War Memorial Project at:
http://www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Casualties/Civilians/awayfromhome.htm

Edward J. T. Stanley was born 3 July, 1880 at Dalkey, Dublin.  He was the son of George Wilson Stanley, Dalkey, later residing at Croydon, Surrey.  George Wilson was my great grandfather.

Edward had a degree at Trinity College, Dublin. Then became a Cleryman at a Church in Belfast.  He went to China as a Missionary in 1906.  Also a Vicar of the Christ Church in Dover.  In the 30′s he went to live in France as a Missionary and was caught there when German occupation began.  He escaped to Spain but was torpeoed on his way home and drowned at sea.

In memory of civilian the Revd Edward John Theodore Stanley, civilian war dead who died age 61 on 25 Sept. 1941.  Also in memory of Elizabeth Rebecca Frances Stanley, his sister, who died age 58 at sea.   Remembered with honour – S.S. Avoceta, the ship they were on.

See also http://www.thebrassbuddha.net/stanley/?p=306
See also http://www.thebrassbuddha.net/stanley/?p=839

Mary Ann, the only child of Sir Edmond & Jane Talbot, was born 24 Oct. 1801.  Died 7 Jan. 1881.

Mary Ann was born in Ireland some 15 years after her parents were married. Edmond was 44.  She had quite an interesting life travelling to far off places with her parents.  Her mother & herself spent 5 months travelling home, perhaps for some more advanced schooling with her rapidly approaching status as a young lady of quality.

This event must have been tarnished somewhat by her elopement & marriage of 1815 to a widower 16 years her senior. His name was Edward Trant Bontein, Army Captain, b: 1785 in Balglas, Scotland. She was not quite 14 years of age. There were no objections to the match but those which arose from her extreme youth.

Her first son Edward was born Jan 1818 & was only 4 months old when the family all sailed for Madras to join Sir Edmond. Just under a year later in Sept. 1819 she gave birth to her second son James.  Only two months later her husband died while in service at the age of 34. She was only 18 at the time.  The family stayed in Madras, leaving in 1824.

Little is known of her life thereafter except that towards the end of her father’s life, her mother having already died, she was living with him at Richmond. By this time her sons surnames had been changed to Stanley by Royal License, registered at the College of Arms. Mary Ann referred to herself as Mrs. Bontain Stanley. It was the condition of Sir Edmond’s Will that she should take back the name Stanley & pass it on to her sons.  Interestingly she had the full support of Sir James Bontain, her father-in-law. She lived most of her life in rather elevated circles in Brussels where she moved & is buried.

The late Mrs. Bontein Stanley was very much respected by all indicated by the large number who assembled at her house afterwards joined in the funeral service in the English Church Rue Belliard. It was quite evident that all present were deeply affected on bidding a final farewell to one who had been such a universal favourite & whose generous efforts in the cause of charity will long be remembered.

Further information on Edmond Stanley can be found at: http://www.thebrassbuddha.net/stanley/?p=413″