Born at Stafford, Staffordshire, England, on the 15th of August, 1402 Humphrey Staford son of Edmund (5th earl Stafford) was created the first Duke of Buckingham, a new creation from the 14th of Sepember in 1444, having previously been recognized as Earl of Buckingham by right of his mother, Anne Plantagenet, Countess of Stafford.

Knight in 1421, he was made a knight of the Garter (KG) in 1429, and became a Privy Councillor from 1424.

Stafford had been Lieutenant-General of Normandy between 1430 - 1432 and was created, in 1431 the Count of Perche, a province in English-occupied Normandy during king Henry VI's imperial habit of conferring native fiefdoms on his leading supporters during the English occupation of France.

Captain of Calais, Seneschal of Halton 1439, and Lieutenant of the Marches 1442-51, he also served as an Ambassador to France in 1446. Humphrey Staford became Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle (and Queensborough, on the Isle of Sheppey), in 1450.

He was slain in battle fighting against the Yorkists at the Battle of Northampton.

Humphrey Stafford first Duke of Buckingham married Anne Neville sometime before the 18th of October, in 1424, at Raby , Durham, England.

The Duchess of Buckingham gave Humphrey Staford the following children

1. Humphrey Stafford (7th Earl Stafford).
2. Henry Stafford
3. Edward Stafford
4. Catherine Stafford (Countess Shrewsbury).
5. George Stafford
6. William Stafford
7. John Stafford (1st Earl Wiltshire).
8. Joan Stafford
9. Anne Stafford
10. Margaret Stafford

Ref: Burke's Peerage