William Stafford, 4th Earl of Stafford

William Stafford, 4th Earl of Stafford (21 September 1375 – 6 April 1395) was an English noble in the fourteenth century. He was the third son of Hugh Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford (c. 1344 – 16 October 1386); Hugh's second son Thomas inherited the earldom in 1390. He died in 1392, still childless, and the title passed to William.[1] He was still a minor, however, in the wardship of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester,[2] his dead brother's father-in-law, and the Stafford estates were administered by a ' group of senior officials and lawyers.'[3] He was still so when he died on 6 April 1395 in Pleshey, Essex[1] of natural causes.[4] He was interred in Tonbridge, Kent. William also dying childless, the Stafford earldom descended to the next brother, Edmund, who became the fifth earl.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Cokayne, G.E., The Complete Peerage of England and Wales (Vol. XII, part i, London, 1953), 179-80.
  2. ^ Rawcliffe, C., The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham 1394–1521 (Cambridge, 1978), 12.
  3. ^ Rawcliffe, C., The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham 1394–1521 (Cambridge, 1978), 152.
  4. ^ Harris, B., Edward Stafford, Third Duke of Buckingham, 1478-1521 (Stanford, 1986), 245 n.4.
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Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Stafford
1392–1395 		Succeeded by
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