Henry Stanley, s. of Edward, 3rd Earl of Derby; nat. 1531; known as Lord Strange; m. Margaret, d. of Henry, 2nd Earl of Cumberland, 7 Feb. 1555; succ. as 4th Earl, 24 Oct. 1572; Lord Steward, 1588; ob. 25 Sept. 1593.
Ferdinando Stanley, 2nd s. of Henry, 4th Earl of Derby; nat. c. 1559; m. Alice, d. of Sir John Spencer of Althorp, 1579; summoned to Parliament as Lord Strange, 28 Jan. 1589; succ. as 5th Earl of Derby, 25 Sept. 1593; ob. 16 Apr. 1594.
William Stanley, s. of Henry, 4th Earl of Derby; nat. 1561; succ. as 6th Earl of Derby, 16 Apr. 1594; m. Elizabeth, d. of Edward, 17th Earl of Oxford, 26 Jan. 1595; ob. 29 Sept. 1642.
The companies connected with the great northern house
of Stanley present a history perhaps more complicated than
that of any other group, partly because it seems to have been
not unusual for the heir of the house to entertain players
during his father's life-time. The 3rd Earl had a company
in Henry the Eighth's reign. His successor had one as Lord
Strange, which is only recorded in the provinces, in 1563-70.[1]
Four years later he had again a company as Earl of Derby.
The earliest mention of it is at Coventry in 1573-4. It was
at Dover and Coventry in 1577-8, at Ipswich on 28 May 1578,
at Nottingham on 31 August 1578, at Bristol in the same year,
and at Bath in 1578-9. In the last three months of 1579 it
was at Leicester; and during the following Christmas it made
its first appearance at Court with a performance of The Soldan
and the Duke of on 14 February 1580. In 1579-80 it was
at Stratford-on-Avon, Exeter, and Coventry, on 1 January
1581 at Court, in 1580-1 at Bath, Leicester, Nottingham,
Exeter, and Winchester, in 1581-2 at Nottingham, Winchester,
and Abingdon, in October to December 1582 at Leicester,
and in 1582-3 at Bath, Norwich, and Southampton. Its last
appearance at Court was in Love and Fortune on 30 December
1582.
I think that the Earl of Derby's players must be taken to be distinct from another company, which was performing during much the same period of years under the name of Lord Strange. These men are found in 1576-7 at Exeter, in 1578-9 at Bath, Ipswich, Rochester, Nottingham, Coventry, and Stratford-on-Avon. They also made their first appearance at Court in the winter of 1579-80. Their performance was on 15 January 1580, and they are spoken of, not as players, but as tumblers. On the other hand they appear as players
- ↑ Murray, i. 294. I add Maldon (1564-5). There is no proof that 'Beeston and his fellowes' at Barnstaple in 1560-1 were Strange's.
