In Virginia the Hardys had been part of a very large and moderately prosperous family with some just claim to illustrious parentage. They traced their ancestry to the Norman knight le Hardi, who was the first of their name to come across the channel from France to "the greater pastures of England for their cattle and horses," arriving with William the Conqueror in 1066.
As the French Hardys chronicle it, a Hardy rode "next to William at Hastings." In England the family became notable as farmers, horsemen, and landed gentry in Dorset and Westmorland beginning in the eleventh century, and were later known for navel service, with portraits of several of their distinguished line hanging in the Greenwich Navel Gallery.
It was in the arms of Sir Thomas Hardy, flag captain on board the Victory at Trafalgar, that Admiral Nelson spoke his last words and died, a story well known to English schoolchildren. Earlier, in the mid 1500's, Sir John de Hardy was Lord Mayor of London. Sir John was descended from Sir John de Hardy of Bedfordshire and Lady Margaret, daughter of Michael de le Pole, a younger son of the Earl of Suffolk. Sir John, Lord Mayor, married Lady Mary de Stanley, whose ancestry included lords, ladies, the Dukes of Earl and of Westmorland, princes, barons, and seven kings of Scotland (from the years 942 to 1214).
One of these sovereigns was King Duncan I MacCrinin, murdered by Macbeth on 14 August 1040. Other of Lady Mary's ancestors were John de Lacie, Magna Carta Baron, and William Malet, twenty-fourth in descent from Clovis, Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset, and also a Magna Carta Baron. Yet another of her family was Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Magna Carta Baron, fifth in line of descent from King Malcolm III of Scotland, and who died on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1220.
Lady Mary was also lineally descended from Humphrey de Bohun VIII, Earl of Hereford and of Essex, Constable of England, born 1276 and slain 1332, and who married Isabel Plantagenet, daughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. through their parentage on the distaff side, the Hardys could thus trace their lineage to King Edward. Through her descent from Lady Joan, daughter of John of Gaunt (son of King Edward III), they were likewise doubly lineal descendants of that monarch. Sir John de Hardy, Lord Mayor of London, by his marriage alliance to the de Stanleys, thus gave the future Hardys of this union claim to royal blood, no matter how distant and diluted, for seven Scottish sovereigns and the two King Edwards were no mean ancestral boasts...
*Source: Our Farthers' Fields, James Everett Kibler, University of South Carolina Press [1998], pp.7-9
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Lord Mayor of London
In mid 1500 Sir John De Hardy was Lord Mayor of London. He was descended from Sir John De Hardy of Bedfordshire and Lady Margaret, d/o Michael De La Pole, a younger s/o the Earl of Suffolk. Sir John, Lord Mayor, m. Lady Mary De Stanley, whose ancestry incluDed lords, Ladies, the Duke of Earl & of WestmoreLand. Through their parentage on the distaff siDe, the Hardys could thus trace their lineage to King Edward. Sir John De Hardy, Lord Mayor of London, thus gave the future Hardys of this Union cLaim to royal blood, no matter how distant & diluted.
SOURCE: "Our Fathers' Fields" James Everett Kibler, University of South Carolina Press [1998
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