[1] Born on or by 22 August 1509 at Monken Hadley in Middlesex, he was the second son of William Stanford, a mercer (textile dealer) in the City of London, and his wife Margaret Gedney.
In 1543 he was made a justice of the peace for Middlesex, later sitting on the bench for Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
[1] He made his will on 4 April 1558 and died at Monken Hadley on 28 August, leaving his wife as executrix and his eldest son as heir.
[1] He is said to have prepared the first printed edition of Glanvill's Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie and in 1557 published the first textbook of English criminal law; Les Plees del Coron.
They are recorded as having six sons and five daughters,[1] including: His widow Alice later married Roger Carew, MP for St Albans in 1563,[1] and died in 1573.