STANFORD, Hugh

More may be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 450-1.

The possibility that the MP is to be identified with the ‘Staunford’ admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1418 is strengthened by the disappearance of the Lincoln’s Inn man from the list of the Inn’s members between Michaelmas 1427 and Michaelmas 1434. LI Adm. i. 4; Lincoln’s Inn, Black Bk. 1, ff. 16, 26v-27. The MP almost certainly died in this period, last appearing in the records when he attested the Staffordshire parliamentary election of 11 Jan. 1431. C219/14/2.

A deed of 1453 shows that Stanford married, as his second wife, the mother of William Hextall. Staffs. RO, Sutherland mss, D593/A/2/22/49. It is thus likely that he took a part in securing his stepson’s election for Newcastle-under-Lyme to the Parliaments of 1425 and 1429, and, more importantly, that he introduced him to the service of the earls of Stafford.