William Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby of Parham (c.1515 – 30 July 1570) was an English nobleman and soldier who in 1547 was made an hereditary peer of the House of Lords.
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Family
William Willoughby was the son of Sir Christopher Willoughby of Parham, Suffolk, and Elizabeth Tailboys, daughter of Sir George Tailboys, de jure 9th Baron Kyme. His father, Sir Christopher Willoughby, was a younger brother of William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, who died without male issue in 1526, leaving a daughter, Katherine. The 11th Baron had settled lands on his brother, Sir Christopher, at his marriage with Elizabeth Tailboys, but had died before the lands had been transferred, resulting in a dispute which was ultimately settled by an Act of Parliament which divided the lands between Sir Christopher and his niece, Katherine, who had married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.
William Willoughby's father was the second son of Sir Christopher Willoughby (c.1453 – 1498/9) of Parham, de jure 10th Baron Willoughby, by Margaret Jenney (d.1515/16), the daughter of Sir William Jenney.
Career
According to Bindoff, he was almost certainly the William Willoughby who in 1536 was in service with King Henry VIII's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, as William Willoughby's uncle, Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme, had by then married Henry Fitzroy's mother, Elizabeth Blount.