Francis Willoughby, 2nd Baron Middleton (4 October 1692 – 31 July 1758), was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1713 to 1727. He succeeded to a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

y in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself repla ...

He was born the eldest son of Thomas Willoughby, 1st Baron Middleton, and Elizabeth, the daughter and coheiress of Sir Richard Rothwell, 1st Bt. He was the brother of Hon. Thomas Willoughby, MP. He was educated at Eton and at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

, graduating MA in 1712. He was returned as Member of Parliament for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

at the general elections of

1713 Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take ...

and

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire in ...

. At the 1722 general election he was returned as MP for Tamworth until 1727. He succeeded to the barony on his father's death in 1729, and inherited estates at

Wollaton Hall Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuilding ...

(where he lived), and at Middleton Hall, Middleton,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. He was High Steward of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield from 1729. He married Mary Edwards in 1723 by whom he had two sons, who succeeded in turn to the barony, and a daughter: * Francis Willoughby, 3rd Baron Middleton (1726–1774) * Thomas Willoughby, 4th Baron Middleton (1728–1781) *daughter, name unknown

References

1692 births 1758 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Willoughby, Francis British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 Francis 2 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub