View source for William Stafford, 4th Earl of Stafford

{{Short description|English noble}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''William Stafford, 4th Earl of Stafford''' (21 September 1375 – 6 April 1395) was an English [[Peerage of England|noble]] in the fourteenth century. He was the third son of [[Hugh Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford]] (c. 1344 – 16 October 1386); Hugh's second son [[Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford|Thomas]] inherited the [[earldom]] in 1390. He died in 1392, still childless, and the title passed to William.<ref name="auto">Cokayne, G.E., The Complete Peerage of England and Wales (Vol. XII, part i, London, 1953), 179-80.</ref>  He was still a [[Minor (law)|minor]], however, in the [[Ward (law)|wardship]] of [[Thomas, Duke of Gloucester]],<ref>Rawcliffe, C., ''The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham 1394–1521'' (Cambridge, 1978), 12.</ref> his dead brother's father-in-law, and the Stafford estates were administered by a ' group of senior officials and lawyers.'<ref>Rawcliffe, C., ''The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham 1394–1521'' (Cambridge, 1978), 152.</ref> He was still so when he died on 6 April 1395 in [[Pleshey]], [[Essex]]<ref name="auto"/> of natural causes.<ref>Harris, B., '' Edward Stafford, Third Duke of Buckingham, 1478-1521'' (Stanford, 1986), 245 n.4.</ref> He was interred in [[Tonbridge]], [[Kent]]. William also dying childless, the Stafford earldom descended to the next brother, [[Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford|Edmund]], who became the fifth earl.<ref name="auto"/>
==References==
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==External links==
*[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol17/pp477-495 Inquisition Post Mortem], 1395.
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{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford|Thomas Stafford]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Earl of Stafford]]|years=1392–1395}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford|Edmund Stafford]]}}
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[[Category:1375 births]]
[[Category:Earls of Stafford|04]]
[[Category:1395 deaths]]