The eldest son of Adam de Stanley, succeeded to his father's Manor of Talk on the Hill, and to the manor of Bagnall, near Leek, which had been passed to his father by Adam de Aldithley. (Talk on the Hill was one of three manors held by Gamel, a Saxon Thane at the time of the Domesday Book of 1086.)
After the death of his father, his cousin, Adam de Aldithley, wished to rearrange his estates by exchanging his Manor of Stanleigh (which was near William's Manor of Bagnall), and half of the Manor of Balterley, for William's Manor on Talk on the Hill, (which adjoined Adam's Manor of Aldithley). The Manors concerned were all held from the De Verduns, and their exchange had to have the Overlord's consent. Since Stanleigh was an additional tenancy held by special favor, Adam de Aldithley proposed that if that Manor could not be warranted, he an his heirs would give as much in value to William and his heirs. Stanleigh would be held by William from Adam de Aldithley for a yearly rent of 12 pence.
A Charter was arranged and the Manor of Stanleigh passed to William.
He now being in possession, he adopted the surname "de Stanleigh" and thus
became the ancestor of the House of Stanley. He
used the surname when he witnessed the Charter in 1203 as "William de Stanle".
Adam de Aldithley and William de Stanleigh were the first members of their
respective families to use surnames in official documents.
It is highly unlikely that their respective fathers, Lydulph de Aldithley
and Adam de Stanleigh, possessed surnames during their actual lifetimes.
