East Langton, Leicestershire
The Dictionary of National Biography
Founded in 1882 by George Smith
From the Earliest Times to 1900
Volumes 1-22
Staveley, Thomas (1626-1684), antiquary, son of William Staveley, rector of Cossington, Leicestershire, by his wife Anne, daughter of Thomas Babington of Rothley, was born at East Langton, Leicestershire, in 1626. He was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, admitted of the Inner Temple on 2 July 1647, and called to the bar on 12 June 1654. He resided the greatest part of his life at Belgrave, but a few years before his death removed to Leicester; he there held the office of steward of the court of records, to which he was appointed in 1672, probably by the Earl of Huntingdon. The stimulus given to protestant opinion by the conversion of James, duke of York, to Romanism (avowed in 1669), the Declaration of Indulgence (1672), and the counter-move of the Test Act of 1673, elicited from Staveley in 1674 the work by which he is best known, 'The Romish Horseleech: or an Impartial Account of the Intolerable Charge of Popery to this Nation' (London, 8vo). To the 1769 edition of this work is annexed an essay by Staveley 'of the supremacy of the king of England.'
During the later years of his life Staveley studied English history and the antiquities of his native county. He left some valuable collections for the history and antiquities of Leicester, which were printed by Nichols, first in his 'Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica' and afterwards, with a curious historical pedigree of Staveley's family drawn up in 1682, in his 'History of Leicestershire.' He was a justice of the peace for Leicestershire, and was reputed to be 'strictly just, abhorring bribery.'
Staveley died at Leicester on 2 Jan 1683-4, at the age of fifty-seven, and was buried in St. Mary's Church, Leicester, on the 8th. His monumental inscription is given in Nichols's 'History' (i. 318), as well as an engraved protrait (ii. 678). He married, at Cossington, Leicestershire, on 31 Dec. 1656, Mary, daughter of John Onebye of Hinckley, by whom he had three sons and four daughters. His wife died on 12 Oct. 1669.
After his death were published: 1. 'Three Historical Essays,' published by his youngest son in 1703. 2. 'The History of Churches in England; wherein is shown the time, means, and manner of founding, building, and endowing of churches, both cathedral and rural, with their furniture and appendages,' 1712 (a second edition, with improvements, in 1773); a work of research and learning. Manuscript copies of 'The History and Antiquities of the Ancient Town, and once City, of Leicester,' are in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 15917) and in the Leicester Free Library. [Nichols's Leicestershire, i. 3, 318, 469, &c., ii. 677, 685, &c; Hill's History of Langton. p. 23; Chalmer's Biographical Dictionary, xxviii. 350] W.G.D.F.
The following reference to Thomas is extracted from Chalmer's Biographical Dictionary:
Staveley, (Thomas, esq.) a learned gentleman, of Cossington, Leicestershire, after having completed his academical education at Peter-house Cambridge, was admitted of the Inner Temple, July 2, 1647, and called to the bar June 12, 1654. In 1656 he married Mary the youngest daughter of John Onebye, esq. of Hinckley, and steward of the records at Leicester, and succeeded his father-in-law in that office in 1672. In 1674, when the court espoused the cause of popery, and the presumptive heir to the crown openly professed himself a Catholic, Mr. Staveley displayed the enormous exactions of the court of Rome, by published in 1674, "The Romish Horseleech." This work was reprinted in 1769. Some years before his death, which happened in 1683, he retired to Belgrave near Leicester, and passing the latter part of life in the study of English history, acquired a melancholy habit, but was esteemed a diligent, judicious, and faithful antiquary. His "History of Churches in England: wherein is shown, the time, means, and manner of founding, building, and endowing of Churches, both cathedral and rural, with their furniture and appendages," was first published in 1712, and reprinted 1773. It is a work of considerable research and learning, the result of having carefully examined many books and records; and contains a complete account of the sacred furniture of churches from the earliest origin. In one respect, however he has too hastily adopted the notion that the Saxons had no stone buildings among them, while he is forced to acknowledge that Bede's Candida casa was one of them. Besides this work Mr. Staveley left a curious historical pedigree of his own family, drawn up in 1682, the year before he died, which is preserved at large in the work which furnishes this article; and also some valuable collections towards the "History and Antiquities of Leicester," to which he had more particularly applied his researches. These papers, which Dr. Farmer, the late learned master of Emanuel-college, Cambridge, intended once to publish, were, by that gentleman's permission, put into the hands of Mr. Nichols, who gave them to the world in the "Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica," and since in his more elaborate "History of Leicestershire." The younger Mr. S. Carte (an able antiquary, and an eminent solicitor), who had a copy of Mr. Staveley's papers, says of them, in a MS letter to Dr. Ducarel, March 7, 1751: "His account of the earls of Leicester, and of the great abbey, appears to have been taken from Dugdale's "Baronage," and "Monasticon;" but as to his sentiments in respect to the borough, I differ with him in some instances. By the charter for erecting and establishing the court of records at Leicester, the election of the steward is granted to the mayor and court of aldermen, who likewise have thereby a similar power, in respect to a bailiff for executing their writs. But afterwards, viz. Dec. 20, 7 Jac. I. the great earl of Huntingdon having been a considerable benefactor to Leicester, the corporation came to a resolution of granting to him and his heirs a right of nominating alternately to the office of steward and bailiff, and executed a bond under their common seal, in the penalty of one thousand pounds, for enforcing the execution of their grant. And as John Major, esq. was elected by the court of aldermen to succeed Mr. Staveley, in December, 1684, I infer that Staveley was nominated by the earl of Huntingdon, and confirmed by the aldermen, in pursuance of the grant above-mentioned.1
1 Nichols's Hist. of Leicestershire.