Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby
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James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby
James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby KG was a supporter of the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.Born at Knowsley, he is sometimes styled the Great Earl of Derby, eldest son of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby and Lady Elizabeth de Vere. During his father's life he was known as Lord Strange...
and Charlotte de La Trémouille
Charlotte Stanley, Countess of Derby
Charlotte Stanley, Countess of Derby , born Charlotte de La Trémoille, was the daughter of the French nobleman Claude de La Trémoille, Duke of Thouars, and his wife Charlotte Brabantina of Nassau...
.
As Lord Strange, he took little part in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
at the time of his father's condemnment in 1651, he petitioned unsuccessfully for the latter's life. After succeeding to the Earldom, he lived quietly at Bidston Hall, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, emerging to support Booth
George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer
George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer , known as Sir George Booth, 2nd Baronet, from 1652 to 1661, was an English peer.-Civil War:...
's unsuccessful rising in 1659. Attainted for so doing, he was restored the following year and the family's lands in the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
were returned to him.
He served as mayor of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
between 1666 and 1667.
He married Dorothea Helena Kirkhoven (d. 1674), daughter of Jehan, Lord of Heenvliet and his wife, Katherine Stanhope (later Countess of Chesterfield), in 1650. Dorothea reportedly had an extramarital tryst with King Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
which resulted in a child. Their son George, born 1658, was raised by the wife of a Gunner at Windsor named Swan. George assumed the surname Swan.
The brother of Swan's wife, Bartholomew Gibson, was the king's farrier in Edinburgh. It would further appear that Gibson obtained, on trust for George Swan from Charles II or his brother the Duke of York, a grant of land in New Jersey, where Gibson's son died about 1750, as would appear from a notice in the London Chronicle in 1771.
George Swan (1658–1730) was recognised by King Charles II as his son. When asked why he had not ennobled him, as he had his other illegitimate children, the king replied,"I did not dare to make a deuck (Scots for 'duck') of him, but I made a nobler bird". George Swan became a burgess in Glasgow in later life.
George Swan had, at least, two daughters, Hannah Swan (married name Robertson; 1724-1800, Edinburgh) and Elizabeth Swan (1726-1790). Elizabeth married William Mercer in 1746. Both are buried at Kinnoull, Perth, Scotland.