Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham
Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham | |
---|---|
Henry Willoughby (acting) | |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1605 |
Died | 23 July 1666 | (aged 52)
Nationality | English |
Occupation | Peer |
Known for | Governor of Barbados |
Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham (baptised 1614; died 23 July 1666 O.S., 2 August 1666 N.S.) was an English peer of the House of Lords.[1]
He succeeded to the title on 14 October 1617 on the death in infancy of his elder brother Henry Willoughby, 4th Lord Willoughby of Parham. Francis Willoughby was the second son of William Willoughby, 3rd Lord Willoughby of Parham The young and unexpected death of his elder brother Henry made Francis successor to the hereditary peerage and seat in the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament.[2] Francis Willoughby was an early supporter of the Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War but later became a Royalist. He twice served as governor of English colonies in the Caribbean. Francis Willoughby died without male heirs of his body and the title passed to his younger brother William Willoughby, 6th Lord Willoughby of Parham, the third son of William Willoughby, 3rd Lord Willoughby of Parham.
Background
Francis Willoughby was born in perhaps late 1613 (since he was baptised in 1614) to William Willoughby, 3rd Baron Willoughby of Parham and Frances Manners, daughter of John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland of Nottingham at Parham in Suffolk.[3] His father died in 1617, and the barony was held by his older brother Henry for one year until he too died barely five years old,[3] at which point Francis inherited the seat in the House of Lords and with it the family title.
As tensions between the king and Parliament grew in the 1630s, he found himself opposed to Charles I over the levying of ship money. His loyalty was further strained by the Bishops' Wars, in which he was reluctant to fight the Scots.
Parliamentary Commander
When the king in 1642 issued his
On 16 July of the same year, he led his soldiers in a surprise attack on Gainsborough where he seized the town. Facing a counterattack, Willoughby's soldiers fought along with those under Oliver Cromwell to hold off an advancing Royalist force of superior strength. The main body of the Parliamentary army withdrew to Boston with only two dead.
That September, Willoughby was a subordinate commander under the Earl of Manchester and Cromwell. He fought at the Battle of Winceby and accepted the surrender of Bolingbroke Castle in November.
Willoughby's relations with the Parliamentarians began to fray in 1644. In March he joined with
In the next few years, Willoughby became the leader of the
Royalist Supporter
Now espousing the Royalist cause, Willoughby was promoted to
He was appointed
On 25 October 1651, a seven-ship force under Commodore George Ayscue arrived off Barbados, demanding that the island submit "for the use of the Parliament of England". Willoughby's reply (tellingly addressed to "His Majesty's ship Rainbow") was unyielding, declaring that he knew "no supreme authority over Englishmen but the King". With some 400 horsemen and 6,000 militia, he was prepared to resist any attempt at coercion.
Over the next month, Barbados was blockaded. In early December, with the Royalist cause defeated in England, Ayscue began a series of raids against fortifications on the island and was reinforced by a group of thirteen ships bound for Virginia. On 17 December a force of more than 1,000 Barbadian militia was defeated by one of Ayscue's detachments. Governor Willoughby attempted to stem the spread of Parliamentary sympathies by hanging two of the returning militia soldiers and prohibiting the reading of documents from the blockading fleet. The Royalists held out for several more weeks until one of Willoughby's own commanders declared himself for Parliament. A battle was averted by a week of rain, after which Willoughby, perhaps having seen the hopelessness of his cause, sought negotiations. He was replaced as governor but Barbados and the Royalists there were not punished. Additionally, Willoughby's properties in England were restored. He returned to them in August 1652.
Later years
While he was twice imprisoned during
In June 1664 he organised an expedition from Barbados against the small French garrison at
During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Willoughby organised Barbados' defences and managed to repel a Dutch fleet led by Michiel de Ruyter in April 1665. Three months later Willoughby engaged in another expedition, sailing to the Dutch island of Tobago. Finding a force under the English privateer Robert Searle already looting the settlement there, he put a stop to the destruction and installed a garrison of fifty men to maintain order.
His last act on behalf of the English crown came in July 1666 when, having learned of the recent French seizure of Saint Kitts, he formed a relief force of two Royal Navy frigates, twelve other large vessels (including commandeered merchant ships), a fire ship, and a ketch, bearing over 1,000 men. He planned to proceed north to Nevis, Montserrat, and Antigua to gather further reinforcements before descending on the French. Leaving Barbados on 28 July (18 July O.S.), his force prowled off Martinique and then Guadeloupe, where he sent a frigate to assault the harbour and capture two merchant vessels on 2 August. This success could not be exploited however as that night most of his force was destroyed by a strong hurricane, including the flagship Hope, from which Willoughby did not emerge.
Marriage and issue
On 16 November 1628 Willoughby married Elizabeth Cecil (1606–1661), the daughter of the soldier Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon and Theodosia Noel.
Francis Willoughby and Elizabeth Cecil had four children:
- Diana, married 21 May 1645 Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea
- Frances Willoughby (1625 – September 1680) married William Brereton, 3rd Baron Brereton
- Elizabeth Willoughby (born about 1633 – 1 August 1695) married 28 October 1662 Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh
- William Willoughby (born about 1635); died young and unmarried in his father's lifetime
Legacy
Willoughby died on 2 August 1666 (23 July O.S.), at sea on board his ship Hope, in a hurricane off Guadeloupe.
In his will, he left extensive holdings in
Notes
- ^ Burke 1831, p. 576
- ^ Burke 1831, p. 577
- ^ a b Dictionary of National Biography: Willoughby, Francis, fifth Baron Willoughby of Parham (1613?-1666); Volume: Whichcord - Zuylestein (Vol 21); Ancestry.com. Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22 database on-line. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original source: Firth, Charles Harding (1885–1900). . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. - ^ Sainsbury, W. Noel. "America and West Indies: July 1666 Pages 392-402 Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 5, 1661-1668. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1880". British History Online. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
References
- Burke, John (1831), A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage of England, Ireland and Scotland, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley.
Further reading
- Portraits of Francis Willoughby at the National Portrait Gallery
- "Francis Willoughby" at Tudor Place[unreliable source]
- Biography of Francis, Lord Willoughby of Parham Archived 31 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine British Civil Wars and Commonwealth website
- The Civil War in Lincolnshire Archived 11 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine British Civil Wars and Commonwealth website
- Marley, David F. Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1998. ISBN 0-87436-837-5
- Peacock, Edward. The Army Lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers: Containing the Names of the Officers in the Royal and Parliamentary Armies of 1642. London: Chatto & Windus, 1874. googlebooks.com. Retrieved 30 September 2007
- Staff writer (12 September 2005). "Bagatelle Great House, Restaurant and Wine Bar and Lord Willoughby's Tavern officially open". Barbados Advocate. Archived from the originalon 24 December 2005. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- familysearch.org