The Stanleys, of Great Eccleston, were descended from Henry, the fourth earl of Derby, who was born in 1531, through Thomas Stanley, one of his illegitimate children by Jane Halsall, of Knowsley, the others being Dorothy and Ursula. Thomas Stanley settled at Great Eccleston Hall, probably acquired by purchase, and married Mary, the relict of Richard Barton, of Barton, near Preston, and the daughter of Robert Hesketh, of Rufford. The offspring of that union were—Richard Stanley; Fernando Stanley, of Broughton, who died unmarried in 1664; and Jane Stanley, who was married to Henry Butler, of Rawcliffe Hall. Richard Stanley, the eldest son, succeeded to Great Eccleston Hall and estate on the death of his father, and espoused Mary, the daughter and sole heiress of Lambert Tyldesley, of Garret, by whom he had one son, Thomas Stanley, who in course of time inherited the Eccleston property, and married Frances, the daughter of Major-General Sir Thomas Tyldesley, of Tyldesley and Myerscough Lodge, the famous royalist officer slain at the battle of Wigan-lane in 1651. Richard Stanley, the only child of this marriage, resided at Great Eccleston Hall, and espoused Anne, the daughter and eventually co-heiress of Thomas Culcheth, of Culcheth, by whom he had two sons—Thomas and Henry Stanley. Richard Stanley, who died in 1714, was buried at St. Michael’s church, and the following extract is taken from the diary of Thomas Tyldesley, of Fox Hall, the grandson of Sir Thomas Tyldesley, and consequently Richard Stanley’s cousin, who at that time appears to have been in failing health, and whose death occurred on the 26th of January in the ensuing year:—
“October 16, 1714.—Wentt in ye morning to the ffuneral off Dick Stanley. Partᵈ with Mr. Brandon att Dick Jackson’s dor; but fell at Staven’s Poole; and soe wentt home.”
It may here be mentioned that for two years the cousins had not been on very friendly terms, owing to Richard Stanley having at a meeting of creditors, summoned by Thomas Tyldesley in 1712, when he had fallen too deeply into debt, objected to an allowance being made to Winefride and Agatha, daughters of Thomas Tyldesley by a second marriage. We may form some idea of the strong feeling existing between them from an entry made on the 7th of May, 1712, by Thomas Tyldesley in his diary:—“Stanley—Dicke—very bitter against my two poor girlles, and declared he would bee hanged beffor they had one penny allowed; yet my honest and never-to-be-forgotten true friend Winckley, with much art and sence, soe perswaded the otheʳ refferys that the slaving puppy was compelled to consent to a small allowance to be sedulled—viz.: £100 each.” After the decease of Richard Stanley, Great Eccleston Hall, for some reason we are unable to explain, passed into the possession of Thomas Westby, of Upper Rawcliffe.
TYLDESLEY OF FOX HALL.
The family which inhabited the ancient mansion of Fox Hall in the time of Charles II., and for many subsequent years, sprang originally from the small village of Tyldesley, near Bolton-le-moors. When or how they first became associated with the latter place is impossible to determine, as no authentic documents bearing on the subject can be discovered; but that they must have been established in or connected with the neighbourhood at an early epoch is shown by the fact that Henry de Tyldesley held the tenth part of a Knight’s fee in Tyldesley during the reign of Edward I., 1272-1307. A Richard de Tyldesley was lord of the manor of Tyldesley towards the close of the sovereignty of this monarch, and there is sufficient evidence to warrant the assumption that he was the son and heir of Henry de Tyldesley.
At a later period Thurstan de Tyldesley, a lineal descendant, who is accredited with having done much to improve his native village, and having built Wardley Hall, near Manchester, about 1547, was a justice of the peace for the county of Lancaster, and Receiver-General for the Isle of Man in 1532. He was on intimate and friendly terms with the earl of Derby, and we may safely conjecture that the members of the two houses had for long been familiarly known to each other, as we read that in 1405 Henry IV. granted a letter of protection to William de Stanley, knt., John de Tyldesley, and several more, when they set out to take possession of the Isle of Man and Peel Castle. In 1417, when Sir John de Stanley, lord of the same island, was summoned to England, he left Thurston de Tyldesley, a magistrate, to officiate as governor during his absence. The Tyldesleys held extensive lands in Wardley, Morleys, Myerscough, and Tyldesley, having seats at the three first-named manors. Thurstan de Tyldesley, who erected Wardley Hall, was twice married and had issue by each wife. To the offspring of the first, Parnell, daughter of Geoffrey Shakerley, of Shakerley, he left Tyldesley and Wardley; and to those of his second, Jane, daughter of Ralph Langton, baron of Newton, he bequeathed Myerscough, and some minor property. There is nothing calling for special notice concerning any, except two, of the descendants from the first marriage—Sir Thomas Tyldesley, a great-grandson, attorney-general for Lancashire in the reign of James I.; and his son, who did not survive him many months, and terminated the elder branch. In consequence of this failure of issue the Tyldesley estate, but not Wardley, which had been sold, passed to the representatives of Thurstan’s children by his second wife. The eldest son of the second alliance, Edward, had espoused Anne, the daughter and heiress of Thomas Leyland, of Morleys, and, subsequently, inherited the manor and Hall of Morleys. The grandson and namesake of Edward Tyldesley, of Morleys and Tyldesley, who was born in 1585, and died in 1618, entertained James I. for three days at his seat, Myerscough Lodge, in 1617. Edward Tyldesley, of Myerscough, was the father of Major-General Sir Thomas Tyldesley, knt., who so greatly distinguished himself, by his fidelity and valour, in the wars between King and Parliament. In those sanguinary and calamitous struggles he served under the standard of royalty. He was slain at the battle of Wigan-lane in 1651; and as a mark of esteem for his many virtues and gallant deeds a monument was erected, near the spot where he fell, in 1679, by Alexander Rigby, of Layton Hall, High Sheriff for the county of Lancaster. The monument was inscribed as under:—
“An high Act of Gratitude, which conveys the Memory of
SIR THOMAS TYLDESLEY
To posterity,
Who served King Charles the First as Lieutenant-Colonel at Edge-Hill Battle,
After raising regiments of Horse, Foot, and Dragoons,
and for
The desperate storming of Burton on Trent, over a bridge of 36 arches,
Received the Honour of Knighthood.
He afterwards served in all the wars in great command,
Was Governor of Litchfield,
And followed the fortune of the Crown through the Three Kingdoms,
And never compounded with the Rebels though strongly invested;
And on the 25th of August, A.D. 1651, was here slain,
Commanding as Major-General under the Earl of Derby,
To whom the grateful erector, Alexander Rigby, Esq., was Cornet;
And when he was High Sheriff of this county, A.D. 1679,
Placed the high obligation on the whole Family of the Tyldesleys,
To follow the noble example of their Loyal Ancestor.”
Sir Thomas Tyldesley married Frances, daughter of Ralph Standish, of Standish, and had issue—Edward, born in 1635; Thomas, born in 1642; Ralph, born in 1644; Bridget, who became the wife of Henry Blundell, of Ince Blundell; Elizabeth; Frances, wife of Thomas Stanley, of Great Eccleston; Anne, who was abbess of the English nuns at Paris in 1721; Dorothy; Mary, wife of Richard Crane; and Margaret.
Edward Tyldesley, the eldest son and heir, followed in the footsteps of his father, and was a staunch supporter of Charles II. When that monarch had been restored to the throne of his ancestors he purposed creating a fresh order of Knighthood, called the Royal Oak,[62] wherewith to reward a number of his faithful adherents, whose social positions were of sufficient standing to render them suitable recipients of the honour. Edward Tyldesley was amongst those selected; but the design was abandoned by the king under the advice of his ministers, who considered that it was likely to produce jealousy and dissatisfaction in many quarters, and might prove inimical to the peace of the nation. Under an impression, which afterwards proved erroneous, that Charles II. intended to confer upon him the lands of Layton Hawes, in recognition of the loyal services of his father and himself, Edward Tyldesley erected a residence, called Fox Hall, near its borders, where he lived during certain portions of the year until his death, which occurred between 1685 and 1687. Edward Tyldesley espoused Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Fleetwood, of Colwich, in Staffordshire, and baron of Newton, in Lancashire; and after her decease, Elizabeth, daughter of Adam Beaumont, of Whitley, by whom he had only one child, Catherine Tyldesley, of Preston. The offspring of his union with Anne Fleetwood were Thomas, Edward, Frances, and Maria. Thomas Tyldesley succeeded to the estates, on the decease of his father, with the exception of Tyldesley, which had been sold by Edward Tyldesley in 1685, and resided during a considerable part of his life at Fox Hall, and occasionally at Myerscough Lodge. Thomas Tyldesley was born in 1657, and at twenty-two years of age married Eleanor, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Holcroft, of Holcroft, by whom he had Edward, Dorothy, Frances, Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Mary. After the death of his wife Eleanor, Thomas Tyldesley espoused Mary, sister and co-heiress of Sir Alexander Rigby, of Layton Hall, and had issue—Charles, Fleetwood, James, Agatha, and Winefrid. Thomas Tyldesley, whilst living at Fox Hall, employed his time chiefly in field sports, visits amongst the neighbouring gentry, and frequent excursions to his more distant friends, as we learn from his diary, a portion of which is still preserved. The following extracts from it will illustrate what formed the favourite recreations of the numerous well-to-do families peopling the Fylde at that era:—
“May 16, 1712.—In the morning went round the commone a ffowling, and Franke Malley, Jo. Hull, and Ned Malley, shoot 12 times for one poor twewittee; came home; after dinner Cos. W: W: went with me to Thornton Marsh, where we had but bad suckses; tho wee killed ffive or six head of ffowle.