Pedigree of the Statham family drawn up by Thomas Merydale and presented in evidence in the Court of Requests, 1544.

A Tudor pedigree, of the Statham family, drawn up by Thomas Merydale, of London, in 1544. He was the servant of Richard Jervys, the stepfather of the plaintiff, John Statham. His sworn deposition recalled his master personally going up to Derbyshire to collect rents on John's lands in Snelston, Alsop and Roston whilst he was abroad. The defendant (and one of the tenants), Sir Henry Sacheverell, had visited Jervys in London whilst John Statham was still overseas, and claimed he would be the next heir should John die without male issue. The pedigree was drafted on Sacheverell's instructions to demonstrate his assertion. The title deeds for the lands had come into the defendant's possession, and without these Statham could not seek a remedy at common law. The case started off in the Court of Requests, but by 1561 it had been transferred to the Court of Chancery, where a final decree was issued in Statham's favour. Sacheverell's successor as defendant had failed to turn up at the court as ordered or to furnish any documentary proof of entitlement to the land. Apparently the lands were to descend in tail male (for example, through the male line in their entirety) under a deed of 1453. The grantor, John Statham (at the top of the family tree), was to have them for life, after which his son Nicholas and his male heirs were to hold them; if his male line died out, another of John's sons, Thomas, and his male heirs were to enjoy them, failing which they were to pass to another son Henry and his male heirs. John made provision for his illegitimate son John alias Jenkyn Statham and his male heirs to inherit should the male line become extinct for all three sons. Henry Sacheverell was descended from the original grantor in the female line whereas the plaintiff (at the bottom right-hand corner of the pedigree) was the great grandson of Jenkyn Statham.