Humphrey Stafford (died 1442)

Sir Humphrey Stafford (c. 1379 – 27 May 1442) "With the Silver Hand",[2] of Hooke in Dorset and of Southwick in the parish of North Bradley in Wiltshire was a member of the English gentry in the south west of England, where he was a Member of Parliament multiple times and an important royal official.

Some time before then he had married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Maltravers of Hooke, Dorset.

"[5] Although the date of this occurrence is unknown, he was an active soldier at the turn of the fifteenth century; there were, therefore, plenty of opportunities for him to have lost a limb.

[3] Most recently it has been suggested that it was in Henry's Welsh service – possibly at this siege – that he lost his hand, and replaced it "with an artificial one made out of silver".

[10] He inherited both the Stafford estates (including Southwick Court in Wiltshire) and also those from the Maltravers family, which were centred around Hooke.

[11] His new wealth enabled him to improve the marriage prospects of his daughters, one of whom soon married James, a nephew of Thomas, Lord Berkeley.

[4] Stafford attended the coronation of Queen Catherine of Valois in 1421, in his role of King's knight, and in the same period, spent time defending his estates (one of his Shropshire manors, for example, had been seized by Welshmen in the employ of Edmund, Earl of March).