October 2021 – Kirsten Claiden-Yardley

Who was Edward Stafford?

One of the lesser known Tudor noblemen, Edward Stafford was well-connected by birth but made little mark on the political scene and died before he was thirty. His father, John Stafford was the third son of Humphrey Stafford, duke of Buckingham (d. 1460 at the Battle of Northampton) and Ann Neville, daughter of the earl of Westmorland. His mother, Constance Greene, was the only daughter and heiress of Henry Green of Drayton, a Warwickshire based gentleman. From the Greenes, Edward would inherit extensive lands in Northamptonshire.

Edward was born on 7 April 1470; his father died in May 1473 and his mother in March 1474/5 leaving him orphaned at just four years of age. Responisbility for his governance and tuition was given to his grandmother Anne, dowager duchess of Buckingham. He was present at the coronations of both Richard III in 1483, where he carried the Queen’s crown, and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth of York in 1487. He helped defeat the rebel army at the Battle of Blackheath on 17 June 1497 and hosted Henry VII at Drayton in 1498, but otherwise his career seems to have been undistinguished. He secured a suitable marriage to Margaret Grey, daughter of Viscount Lisle, but they had no surviving children. Edward died in March 1498/9, at the age of 29.