It turned the fortunes of the day. The shock was irresistible, and the Scottish force fell into disorder; 10,000 of the bravest of Scotia's warriors were slain, and her King fell a lifeless corpse almost within a spear's length of the feet of Surrey. Among those who bit the dust that day were the Archbishop of St. Andrews, two bishops, two abbots, twelve earls, thirteen barons, five eldest sons of barons, and fifty other persons of distinction, including the French Ambassador, the King's secretary, and, last and saddest of all, the King himself. "Scarce a family of eminence," says Scott, "but has an ancestor killed at Flodden," as the Scottish minstrel laments:-- Dool and wae for the order, sent our lads to the border! The English for ance, by guile wan the day; The flowers of the forest, that fought aye the foremost, The prime of our land, are cauld in the clay. We'll hear nae mair lilting at the ewe milking; Women and bairns are heartless and wae; Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning-- The flowers of the forest are a' wede awae. The English loss was also very severe, the number slain being estimated at seven thousand; but the men of rank who fell were not nearly so numerous. Cheshire lost many of her sons, among them William Honford, of Handforth, with his neighbours, Thomas Venables, the Baron of Kinderton; Christopher Savage, the valiant Mayor of Macclesfield; and many substantial burgesses of that town.[25] As the ancient poem of "Scottish Feilde," believed to have been written by a Cheshire man--a Legh, of Baguley--expresses it-- The Barne (Baron) of Kinderton full kenely, was killed them beside; So was Honforde, I you hete, that was a hynde swyer![26] Fulleswise[27] full feil, was fallen to the grounde! Christopher Savadge was downecaste that kere[28] might be never! Another of the heroes of Flodden, more fortunate than William Honford, we shall meet with anon--Sir John Stanley, who afterwards became lord of Handforth Hall. With the death of William Honford the direct line of the house of Honford terminated, the estates devolving upon his only daughter, Margaret, a child of ten years at the time her father lost his life. His widow, Sibyl, some twelve years later became the second wife of Laurence Warren, of Poynton, Esquire. William Honford's Inquisition, from some cause or other, was not taken until January, 1516; his daughter Margaret, then twelve years of age, was found to be his heir, and in the interval between the victory at Flodden and the taking of the Inquisition she had been married by her feoffees to Sir John Stanley, William Honford's companion in arms.