As an illegitimate son of the influential soldier and administrator, Sir Richard (later Lord) Stafford, the subject of this biography was initially intended for the Church; and in October 1349, when he was but 18 years old, he received a papal dispensation to hold his first benefice, notwithstanding the circumstances of his birth. The prospect of an extremely lucrative marriage appears to have terminated his ecclesiastical career before it had fairly begun, since by Michaelmas 1353 he had taken possession of the extensive estates inherited by his young wife, Elizabeth, only daughter and heir of the late Thomas Meverel.
Although a notable landowner in his own right, Sir Nicholas owed much of his success to powerful family connexions, which must certainly account, in part at least, for his unusually advantageous marriage. His father, one of the most eminent figures in 14th-century Staffordshire, was the younger brother of Ralph, Lord Stafford, who received an earldom in 1351 after many years of loyal service to the Crown at Court and on the battlefield. Like many other members of the house of Stafford, Sir Nicholas prospered as a captain in the Hundred Years’ War, and a good deal of his early life was spent abroad. In June 1355 he and his father obtained royal letters of protection pending their departure for France in the Black Prince’s retinue, and were again offered the same privilege in the following February. Sir Nicholas probably received his knighthood at this time, perhaps at the battle of Poitiers, where he is said to have fought. By February 1362 he had crossed to Ireland with the King’s son, Lionel, earl of Ulster, and on the re-opening of hostilities with France in 1369 he returned to campaign with the Black Prince in Aquitaine, this time in the service of John Hastings, the young earl of Pembroke. He could not have left England at a more convenient time, since the process of outlawry then being brought to bear against him and certain others charged with offences against the property and person of Sir Robert Staunton was suspended and eventually forgotten.
From 1372 onwards, Sir Nicholas spent most of his time in England, concerning himself increasingly with the administration of the estates of Hugh, earl of Stafford (who succeeded to the title in that year), and with the business of local government. The 1370s proved to be a period of great significance in his life, for within less than a decade he served twice as sheriff of Staffordshire, began a term of almost 17 years’ service on the local bench, was appointed to the first of several important royal commissions and sat in at least three Parliaments. Whether or not his return as a shire knight was initially effected through family influence cannot now be determined; but both his cousin, Hugh, second earl of Stafford, and his father (who was himself a parliamentary peer from 1371 onwards) were members of Richard II’s council, and would certainly have welcomed support when the Commons as a whole was voicing such stringent criticisms of government policy. Sir Nicholas’s association with the earl was, moreover, so close that his standing in the local community cannot but have risen accordingly. In 1373 and 1386 Hugh gave his cousin power of attorney to act for him in England while he was abroad; and in 1374 and again in 1378, Sir Nicholas assumed similar responsibilities regarding his kinsman’s interests in Ireland. He was rewarded by him in May 1376 with a grant of land in the Staffordshire villages of Tillington, Norton in the Moors and Gretton, to be held for life at a very low rent.
Comparatively little is known of Sir Nicholas’s more personal affairs, perhaps because his preoccupation with local politics and the running of the Stafford estates gave him so little time to pursue his own interests. The surviving evidence underlines the importance, from an early date, of his position in county society. Between 1375 and 1378, for example, he was chosen to arbitrate in two property disputes between his fellow shire knight, Sir Adam Peshale, and his neighbours, besides being made proctor of the churches of the High Peak, an office held during the 14th century by the most prominent landowners in the area.
Sir Nicholas received a general pardon from the Crown in June 1393, although the suggestion that this was issued to him because of the Staffords’ feud with the earl of Kent and his family (the Holands) seems unlikely in view of their somewhat earlier rapprochement. He died in, or just after, the spring of 1394, since his name disappears from the Staffordshire bench in the following June, and no more is heard of him after this date. He left no children, being survived only by his widow, Elizabeth, who lived on for another ten years at least.