town." The general opinion was that "if Mr. Stanford do at any time hereafter, by reason of his Burgess-ship, any good to the town, then his charges to be allowed; otherwise he to repay again that which he hath received for the two Parliaments past." The wages paid to Borough Members had long been a burden upon the town's finances, which was bitterly resented at Leicester as at other places. In this case there was, no doubt, an additional grievance, because the recipient was, to all appearances, the richest man in Leicester. At any rate, his personal effects were valued in 1590 at a higher sum than those of any other townsman. Among the Leicestershire subscribers of £25 towards the defence of this country at the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was "John Stanford, Grazier." When he was again appointed Burgess for the town in 1592 he agreed to bear his own charges, though his colleague, James Clarke, was "to have his charge." In 1597 his son John was appointed a Burgess only on condition of bearing his own expenses.
In 1594 the grazier seems to have been living at a house in Belgrave Gate, which he rented from the town. At that time the South end of Leicester was infected with plague, and for that reason the Mayor could not take the Judges to sit at the Castle as usual, but was obliged, as he said, " to lodge them at Mr. Stanford's house, and to have them sit at the Town Hall." In the last years of his life Stanford retired to Barkby, and died at Elmesthorpe[1] on March 17th, 1603. He was buried at Barkby. His son, John Stanford, was a prominent lawyer, who during the latter years of the 16th century was busied with various pieces of litigation in which the town of Leicester was concerned, chiefly in connection with the purchase of the Newarke Grange. A letter of his, dated January 26th, 1592, which is quoted by Thompson in his History of Leicester, shows the independence of his spirit. He had chambers at Gray's Inn, and a house, it would seem, at Barkby Thorpe. He was appointed Recorder of the Borough of Leicester in 1603, at a yearly salary of £6 13s. 4d., but died in the December of the
- ↑ There were Stanfords then living at Elmesthorpe: see Visitation of Leicester 1619, p. 137.
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