Joan Gousell

Joan Gousell (Goushill) was the daughter and coheir of Sir Robert Goushill of Hoveringham, Nottinghamshire, by Elizabeth, the twice widowed daughter of Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel. Elizabeth's first marriage was to Sir William de Montagu, and her second to Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk.

Joan married Sir Thomas Stanley, KG, Lord of Lathom and Knowsley, 1st Baron Stanley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, King's Chamberlain, Justice of the Counties of Chester, Flint and North Wales. Sir Thomas Stanley was the eldest son and of Sir John Stanley and Isabell Harington, daughter of Robert de Harington and Isabel Loring. Joan's husband, Sir Thomas, died on February 11, 1458/1459. It was through the effort of Joan Gousell's and Sir Thomas Stanley's sons, Thomas and William who turned against Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and their son-in-law Sir John Savage who was commander of the left wing of Henry Tudor's army that gave the crown to Henry Tudor.

Sir Thomas Stanley and Joan Goushill had six children:

* Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby ,who married first Eleanor de Neville, and second Margaret Beaufort.
* Sir William Stanley, invested as Knight of the Garter in 1487. He was beheaded for and alleged share in the Perkin Warbeck conspiracy in 1495.
* Sir John Stanley
* Elizabeth Stanley, who married Thomas le Stange, and Sir Richard Molyneux.
* Margaret Stanley, who married Sir William Troutbeck, who was killed in the Battle of Blore Heath on September 23, 1459, and married John le Boteler (Butler) as her second husband, and Henry Grey as her third husband.
* Katherine Stanley married Sir John Savage of Clifton, England. Sir John Savage was the commander of the left wing of Henry Tudor's army at Bosworth.

References

*"The Complete Peerage", Vol XII/1, pg 249-252
*Rolls of Parliament, vol. v. pp 279, 312b, and 348)
*British Queens and Kings, Mike Ashley