The Mysterious Death of the Earl of Derby: Was it Poison?

In this series:

• The Stanley Family Papers on the Earl of Derby's Mysterious Death.
• Another Account of the Mysterious Death of Fernando Stanley, Earl of Derby.
• The Mysterious Death of the Earl of Derby: Was it Witchcraft?
• The Mysterious Death of the Earl of Derby: Was it Poison?
• So then, What Did Cause the Mysterious Death of the 5th Earl of Derby?

At least half of Tudor medical practice still being based upon sympathetic magic and ancient classical texts it could only be the case that sudden, unexpected failures of health would be attributed to more powerful evil forces (black magic) than the patient's strength and/or the doctor's medicines (white magic) could withstand or to nefarious agents (poisons) deftly applied in secret. Our investigation into the purported evidence of witchcraft in the death of Ferdinando Stanley, the 5th Earl of Derby [link], further highlights that records of witness testimony uniformly lack key detail and often prove to be a combination of the witness actually seeing something and imagining they have seen something.

Persons leading lives in which they have rarely or never felt important suddenly remember that they saw something highly dramatic. No traces of the evidence can any longer be found but they are willing to swear an oath before God, and, therefore, it is entered into the record. They are suddenly important, in the spotlight. They are called upon to repeat the story again and again for every audience.

One notorious rake, Edmund Yorke, who appears briefly any number of times in the history of late 16^th century English history, was free of his talk. He was reported to the authorities for passing around the rumor that the Lord Treasurer, Baron Burghley, had Derby poisoned in order to make his granddaughter, wife of Ferdinando's brother, the Countess of Derby.¹

More than one historian, early and modern, has suggested that the Earls of Derby being next in line to the throne of England ― a chair of which Elizabeth I was fiercely possessive ― the queen was the prime suspect. Elizabeth had been rumored in the past of being complicit in more than one poisoning to remove impediments to her power or purported lovers. She was herself immediately aware that she would be the prime suspect in the minds of many of her subjects and accused by her enemies abroad. Almost certainly for this reason, she ordered a vigorous and complete investigation.

All of this said, a member of a highly respected Lancashire family, longtime neighbors to the Earls of Derby's estate at Knowsley, and frequent guests at the Earls' tables, journeyed from Europe to England, in late September of 1593. He like the 4^th Earl, Lord Henry Stanley, was Catholic in his sympathies, Unlike Lord Henry, he was an illegitimate son who was seeking his fortunes in Europe as an agent of that church.

Hesketh was carrying with him a letter from members of the Catholic hierarchy offering to provide the 4^th Earl with all the support necessary to usurp the English throne. He needed only verify that he remained a crypto-Catholic, as he was reputed to be, such that a Catholic would once again rule the island.

The 4^th Earl had died, however, the day before Hesketh was to present his letter. He thought best to present it to Ferdinando, who would next inherit the earldom in due order, such that the offer would go to him. The earl-to-be arranged to meet him again in a few days, at which time he arrested and escorted him to the Royal authorities at Windsor. The man was tortured for information, tried for treason and brutally executed the following November.

If there had been any doubts about the 5^th Earl's fealty to Queen Elizabeth, and/or his family's Catholic leanings, Ferdinando surely put them to rest by his actions. The queen is reported as saying on at least one occasion that he had her absolute trust.

The 5^th Earl died the following spring: also a brutal death. The most popular theory of a party that would plot to poison the him, in light of these facts, is the Jesuits of the Catholic church, the dark figures of the Spanish Inquisition. In this theory, their virulence against “heretics” extended, here, to the earl that cost Hesketh his life and the Catholics the rule of England. This seems particularly well supported by the fact that a Gentleman Waiter from Derby's kitchen staff escaped to Spain, as an expatriate Catholic on the payroll of the Spanish King Philip, following the earl's death.

To further support this, “specialists” are said to verify that the earl's symptoms are classic arsenic poisoning symptoms. But, while I do not claim to be a “specialist,” or a credentialed expert, I can only point out, in the next segment, that a number of the symptoms were decidedly not among those associated with arsenic.

More still, I can only point out that poisoning noblemen was quite difficult to do. At least as late as the 3^rd Earl, and highly likely during the earldom of Ferdinando, the kitchen employed taste-testers to detect poisons in food or beverage. The food at meals was served to the earl, countess, their top staff, and any guests, from the same dish. Yet so potent a dose of arsenic is theorized as would kill a full-grown, physically healthy male in 10 days, while no sign of any toxic substance is indicated in any other member who would have sat at table.

While it is true that any or all of these precautions and arrangements might have been suspended at one or more meals, the poisoner would have to know ahead of time which meals those might be. They would be unable to be sure that there would be no unexpected order to taste the dish, which a Gentleman Waiter poisoner was likely to be serving. Moreover, food was served directly in front of each person at table, in turn, from the communal serving dishes. The contents would be divided among the number of diners. In a serving dish, anything short of an enormous amount of arsenic would fail in a single serving to be fatal in 10 days. Everyone else who partook would suffer a similar fate depending upon the luck of the dose in their portion.

As for the servant's curiously timely trip to Spain, a wise Catholic member of an English kitchen staff, the head of whose house had died from some virulent, unknown toxin, would have made a wise choice to head for Catholic parts at the first opportunity where they would not be extradited. Surely, in some culinary circles, the pattern had been noticed of boiling to death first and asking questions later (if at all).

1 Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series, of The Reign of Elizabeth, 1591-1594. (1867). 545. "Aug. 15, 1594. 92. Declaration of Hen. Young. Was told by Edm. Yorke... Yorke said he believed the Lord Treasurer had poisoned the young Earl of Derby to marry the young Lady Vere to the Earl's brother,..."

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• The Stanley Family Papers on the Earl of Derby's Mysterious Death. April 8, 2023. “Strange events, of course, occurred at Lathom, according to statements later given under oath.”

• Queen Elizabeth I’s Heart and the French Ambassador. March 21, 2023. "The reason to delay his first audience under this pretext would soon be known."

• Young William, Lord Herbert, samples the pleasures. February 24, 2023. “...a bookish, melancholic young man, with an addiction to tobacco, only slightly less to the ladies...”

• A Brief Introduction to the Tudor Inn. February 5, 2023. "A London inn was homey enough, it would seem."

• Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.

• Check out the Queen Elizabeth I Biography Page for many other articles.