Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Staunton, Hervey de
STAUNTON, HERVEY de (d. 1327), judge, was son of Sir William de Staunton of Staunton, Nottinghamshire, by Athelina, daughter and coheiress of John de Masters of Bosingham, Lincolnshire (Thornton, Nottinghamshire, i. 305). He seems to have held the living of Soham, Norfolk, as early as 1289: afterwards he held the livings of Thurston and Werbeton, and about 1306, on being ordained priest, received the living of East Derham (Bliss, Cal. Pap. Reg. ii. 19). In November 1300 there is mention of him as going to the court of Rome (Cat. Pat. Rolls, Edward I, 1292-1301, p. 556). He was a justice itinerant in Cornwall in 1302 and in Durham in I303. In the parliament of September 1305 he was a receiver of petitions from Ireland and Guernsey (Rolls of Parliament, i. 159), and on 20 April 1306 was appointed one of the judges of the common pleas. On the accession of Edward II, Staunton was reappointed to the common pleas, and is frequently mentioned In judicial commissions (Calendars of Close Rolls and Patent Rolls). On 28 Sept. 1314 he was appointed one of the barons of the exchequer, and on 22 June 1316 chancellor of the exchequer, but continued to act as a judge, and was regularly summoned to parliament with the other judges (Parl. Writs, ii. 1457). In 1323 he was made chief justice of the king's bench, and directed to discharge his duties at the exchequer by a substitute (Dugdale, Orig. p. 38; Madox, Hist. Exchequer, ii. 53). On 27 March 1324 Staunton resigned the chief-justiceship, and on 26 March was reappointed chancellor of the exchequer. He resigned the latter post on 16 July 1326, when he was appointed chief justice of the common pleas (Parl. Writs, ii. pp. ii, 1458). Staunton seems to have sided with Edward II, and in September Queen Isabells seized eight hundred marks which he had deposited at Bury St. Edmunds (Chr. Edw. I and Edw. II, i. 314). He was not reappointed on the accession of Edward III, and the proceedings of an iter he had held at London were reversed (ib. i. 328; Cal. Pat. Rolls,Edward III, i. 2). As prebend of Husthwaite, York, and parson of East Derham, he is mentioned as receiving protection on 30 Jan. and 11 Feb. 1327 (ib. i. 1, 10). On 2 March he had license to alienate in mortmain the manor and advowson of Barenton to the masters and scholars of St. Michael, Cambridge (ib. i. 25). Staunton died in 1327, before he could give effect to his foundation, and the license was renewed to his executors (ib. i. 232, 319, 366, ii. 146). He was buried in the church of St. Michael, Cambridge. His foundation of Michael House was eventually absorbed in Trinity College, where Staunton is still commemorated as a benefactor.
[Chronicles of Edward I and Edward II (Rolls Ser.); Calendars of Close and Patent Rolls, Edward II and Edward III; Foss's Judges of England; Mullinger's Hist. University of Cambridge, i. 234-6,]