Stanley, Thomas (1625 -1678)

Thomas Stanley, the author, was the only son of Sir Thomas Stanley, of Cumberlow in Hertfordshire and Leytonstone in Essex, and his second wife, Mary, daughter of Sir William Hammond, of St Albans near Dover. He was educated privately and at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, which he entered as a Gentleman Commoner 22 June 1639 at the age of thirteen, graduating M.A. in 1641, and is said to have transferred to Oxford in 1640. He married Dorothy, daughter and coheir of Sir James Enyon Baronet of Flower in Northamptonshire. During the early years of the Civil War, he travelled on the Continent, afterwards returning to London where he cultivated literary society. He published a number of volumes of poetry and prose, the first in 1647, which contain translations from a number of languages. These were followed in 1655 by a history of philosophy, further volumes of which continued to appear until 1662, and this in turn was followed by an edition of Æschylus which appeared in 1663. His manuscripts, mostly commentaries on classical Greek texts, were bought by John Moore Bishop of Ely, whose library was bought by George I and presented to Cambridge University.