William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby

My name is Will.
Shakespeare, Sonnet 136

What think'st thou, then, of Stanley?
Shakespeare, Richard III

· Wrote plays (none survive)
· Fine musician and composer (at least one composition, a pavane, survives)
· Derbyites make much of his name-William-and his initials - W. S.
· His chief supporter was Abel Lefranc, an eminent French literary historian and professor at the Collège de France, who wrote about Derby just after WWI. Among English speakers his candidacy has remained shadowy.