Sir James Stanley died March 17th, 1746-7, when the baronetcy as well as the patrimonial lands devolved upon his younger brother, Edward, who succeeded as fifth baronet. He did not, however, long enjoy possession of the estates, for in 1755, while returning from Adlington, where he had been on a visit to Charles Legh, he was suddenly seized with a fit of apoplexy, and died in his carriage before he could be conveyed home. By his marriage with Mary, daughter of Thomas Ward, a wealthy banker, of London, who survived him and died at Bath in 1771, he had two sons, James Stanley, who died in infancy, and John Thomas, born 26th March, 1735, who succeeded as sixth baronet. He was in his twenty-first year at the time of his father's decease, and married in April, 1763, Margaret, daughter and heiress of Hugh Owen, of Penrhos, in Anglesey, a well-wooded estate, about a mile from the town and harbour of Holyhead. When he came into possession of the family estates the steep rocky promontory known as the Edge, and with which every Manchester holiday-maker is familiar, was a wild dreary common, without any sign of cultivation, except the few clumps of hardy fir trees which had been planted by his father and by his uncle, Sir James Stanley, between the years 1745 and 1755. It is recorded that in 1799 he enclosed the Edge, with other waste lands on the estate, and, at the same time repaired or rebuilt the old Beacon which had been in existence from the time of Elizabeth, if not from a still earlier date, and which was then in a state of decay, covering in the square chamber with the pyramidal roof which, until it became obscured by the thick umbrage around, made it one of the chief landmarks in Cheshire. Sir John Thomas Stanley died in London, November 29th, 1807, and was buried at South Audley. By his wife, who survived him, and died February 1st, 1816, he had a numerous family--two sons and five daughters. Of the sons, the eldest, born November 26th, 1766, and named after himself, succeeded as seventh baronet, and in 1839 was elevated to the peerage by the title of Baron Stanley of Alderley. The other son, Edward, the youngest of seven children, was born at his father's residence in London, January 1st, 1779. While the baronetcy and the broad lands of Alderley were reserved for the eldest son of Sir John Thomas Stanley, the family living--the rectory and the pleasant old rectory house--was the portion that Edward, the youngest son, could look forward to, for the Stanleys were then, as now, patrons of the church, as well as lords of the manor of Alderley. The future rector, as we have seen, first saw the light on New Year's Day, 1779. He was born at his father's residence in London, and his birth and baptism are thus recorded in the church register at Alderley:--