Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby

The Earl of Derby.

Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby (19 January 1628 – 21 December 1672), an English nobleman, was the only son of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby and Charlotte de La Trémouille.

As Lord Strange, he took little part in the English Civil War. In 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, emerging to support Booth'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 were returned to him.^{[citation needed]}

He served as mayor of Liverpool between 1666 and 1667.^[1]

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 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. ^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4][5]

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.^[6]

References

1. ^ "Former Mayors and Lord Mayors of the City of Liverpool". Liverpool City Council. http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Council_government_and_democracy/About_your_council/Town_Hall/formermayors/index.asp. Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
2. ^ The Life of Mrs Robertson, Grand-Daughter of Charles 11. Written by Herself. Derby, 1792
3. ^ Old and New Edinburgh. Cassell, by James Grant Cassell, New Jersey Colonial Records part II, vol XXI, 1890
4. ^ The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club - XX11, Edinburgh, 1938, p. 219
5. ^ Mercer Millions website
6. ^ Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain - The Kingdom in Scotland. 19th edition, vol. I, 2001

Links

• Images at the National Portrait Gallery

Honorary titles
English Interregnum	Vice-Admiral of Cheshire 1661–1672	Vacant Title next held by The Earl of Derby
	Vice-Admiral of Lancashire 1661–1672	Succeeded by William Bankes
	Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire jointly with The Lord Brereton 1662–1664 and Lancashire 1660–1672	Succeeded by The Earl of Bridgewater
Peerage of England
Preceded by James Stanley	Earl of Derby 1651–1672	Succeeded by William Stanley
Head of State of the Isle of Man
Preceded by Thomas Fairfax	Lord of Mann 1660–1672	Succeeded by William II Stanley