Francis Willoughby (1547–1596)
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Sir Francis Willoughby (1546/7–1596) was an English industrialist and coalowner, who built
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 ...
in Nottinghamshire.


Family

Francis Willoughby was the younger son of Sir Henry Willoughby (slain 27 August 1549 during
Kett's Rebellion Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in the English county of Norfolk during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealt ...
) of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, and Anne Grey (d.1548), the daughter of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, by Margaret Wotton. He had an elder brother, Thomas (d.1559) and a sister, Margaret, who married Sir Matthew Arundell (''c.'' 1533 – 24 December 1598) of Wardour Castle. Francis was thus the great-grandson of Sir Henry Willoughby (1451-1528), a Knight of the Body to both Kings Henry VII and
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
. His great-grandmother, Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington, was the richest heiress in England, and his great-great-grandmother was
Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile; c. 1437Karen Lindsey, ''Divorced, Beheaded, Survived'', p. xviii, Perseus Books, 1995. – 8 June 1492), known as Dame Elizabeth Grey during her first marriage, was Queen of Engla ...
, Queen of England.


Career

Francis Willoughby's father, Sir Henry Willoughby, had inherited Wollaton and other properties including 'lucrative coal pits' at the death of his uncle, Sir John Willoughby, on 10 January 1549. However, only a few months later, on 27 August 1549, Sir Henry Willoughby was slain on
Mousehold Heath Mousehold Heath is a freely accessible area of heathland and woodland which lies to the north-east of the Middle Ages, medieval city boundary of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. The name also refers to the much larger area of open ...
in the suppression of
Kett's rebellion Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in the English county of Norfolk during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealt ...
. Francis's elder brother, Thomas (d. 1559), then aged eight, became the ward of their mother's brother, Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, and came to live with Dorset and his wife, Frances Brandon, at Bradgate House, while Francis, then aged two, and his sister, Margaret, were put in the care of Dorset's half-brother, George Medley, the son of Dorset's mother, Margaret Wotton, by her first husband, William Medley. Dorset's ill-fated attempt to place his eldest daughter,
Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...
, on the throne eventually cost Lady Jane, Dorset, and Dorset's brother, Lord Thomas Grey, their heads, and brought other family members under suspicion. George Medley was arrested, and imprisoned in the
Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
for a time, and when he was released in May 1554 was unable any longer to care for Francis and Margaret. Dorset's widow, Frances Brandon, arranged for Francis to be sent to school, and took Margaret under her care. Their elder brother, Thomas, became the ward of Sir William Paget, and was married to Paget's daughter, Dorothy. In August 1559, Thomas Willoughby died from 'overheating' while out hunting, leaving no issue, and Francis inherited the family estates. At the age of seventeen, Francis married Elizabeth Littleton of Frankley, Worcestershire. This proved to be a turbulent marriage, and produced only daughters.An Account of an Elizabethan Family: The Willoughbys of Wollaton by Cassandra Willoughby (1670—1735).
Edited by Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran Cruz; Volume 55 - December 2018, Royal Historical Society Camden Fifth Series. Accessed August 2020.
Willoughby developed coal mines on his estate at Wollaton in the 1560s and 1570s. This enabled him to maintain a lordly lifestyle, maintaining a number of gentleman retainers. He employed Robert Smythson, who had previously worked at
Longleat Longleat is a stately home about west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath. Longleat is set in of parkl ...
to build him a mansion, Wollaton Hall. By 1580, when his heir died aged six, he was separated from his wife. She offered to try for another heir, they remained separated and the queen arranged for her to have an allowance of £200 per year. He then decided to make his distant relative Percival Willoughby of Bore Place in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
his principal heir, if he had no son, through marriage to his eldest daughter Bridget. This marriage took place in 1583, and several manors including Wollaton and Middleton, Warwickshire were settled on them in default of male issue. Willoughby entered into a number of speculative ventures, including growing and processing
woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, ''Isati ...
at Wollaton, and a plantation in Ireland. In these he worked with the
projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer type ...
, Robert Payne. These took capital, as did his ironworks, at Middleton, Oakamoor (
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
), and Codnor. The latter was his in consequence of the debts of Sir John Zouche. These were profitable, but Willoughby was unable to pay his debts as well as providing
dowries A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
for his other daughters. He accordingly handed them over in 1595 to Percival, who took responsibility for £3000 of the debts. This was followed by the death of his wife, with whom he had been reconciled. Willoughby immediately married a widow, but died only fifteen months later, leaving his widow expecting another child, who turned out to be another daughter. Percival thus inherited the estate, but encumbered with many debts.; ;


Footnotes


References

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External links


Biography of Francis Willoughby, University of NottinghamSir Matthew Arundell (1534–1598), History of Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willoughby, Francis 1540s births 1596 deaths People from Wollaton 16th-century English businesspeople
Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...
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