The Sterling genealogy

208 THE STERLING GENEALOGY
Stephen Starling of the parish of St. Sepulcher, Newgate;
will proved Nov. 27, by brother Simon. (1632, p. 177, Probate
Acts of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.)
The family is a small and unimportant one in England at
the present time if we can accept the evidence given in the " Owners
of Land in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland," published in
1872—1876 ; a work which gives the names of all those in the
United Kingdom who were possessors of one acre or more of
land at that time, with the acreage and the value of the annual
rental. From this authoritative work it is learned that but eleven
of the forty counties of England contained any land owners of
the name. These eleven were Cambridge, Cornwall, Derby, Essex,
Hertford, Kent, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northampton, Southampton,
and Sussex, and the total number of land owners of the family
name were but twenty-eight, their aggregate landed estate amount-
ing to less than 250 acres, an insignificant figure or rather a
significant one, indicating an inferior position, in a country where
real property is an index of social and financial standing. Wales
has none of the name. Of the counties named above, six are those
wherein Sterlings have lived since 1600 or prior, — Cambridge,
Essex, Hertford, Kent, Middlesex, and Sussex. Essex and Norfolk
contained nearly half of the twenty-eight land owners. The
name in nearly all cases is spelled Starling. There are a few of
the family resident in London but they are mainly representatives
of the family in Scotland.
Gray's Inn Admission Register
Mar 2, 16f^. George Starling (late of Staple Inn, son and heir
of George S. of Chastfield, Suffolk, Esq r ., deceased.
June 13, 1634. George Sterlinge, son and heir of George S. of
Charsfield, Suffolk, gent.
Apr. 20, 1638. Samuel Sterling, son and heir of Samuel S. of
St. Mary's, Whitechapel, gent.
Feb. 12, 16 fi George Starling, son and heir of George S. of
Charsfield, Suffolk, gent.
Nov. 20. 1827. Paul Joy Sterling, eldest son of Rev. Joseph
S. late of " Marino," near Dublin, deceased.
May 25, 1868. William Robert Sterling, aged 25, only son of
Paul Ivy S., late Judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon.