Thomas Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby of Parham (c.1602–1691/92) was an English peer of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He was born in about 1602, son of Sir Thomas Willoughby and Mary Thornhaugh (Thornley), and grandson of

Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham (c.1536/7 – d. 1610–12) was the only son of William Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby of Parham, and Elizabeth Heneage. Family Charles Willoughby, born about 1536/7, was the only son of Willi ...

and Lady Margaret Clinton.

Family

He married Eleanor Whittle, heiress and daughter of Hugh and Mary Whittle, of

Horwich Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It ...

on 22 February 1639 (or 1640). After marriage they lived at Old Lord's Farm in Horwich, the area is still known as 'Old Lords Estate', the family inherited leases of a substantial amount of land from Horwich Moor to Anderton through the will of Nicolas Whittle of Horwich, 1597.The freeholder Sir Thomas Barton commissioned a map of 1620 which shows the Whittle holdings reflected in a large area of field names on the Rivington side of Horwich. These land holdings passed to the Shaw family, distributed in the will of Honourable Elizabeth Shaw in 1797. Thomas and Eleanor had two sons and three daughters, Hugh, the eldest son and Francis who in 1696 married Eleanor Rothwell of Haigh. Their daughters were Mary who married Samuel Greenhalgh of Adlington, Sarah and Abigail. Eleanor died aged 67 in 1665.

Military and Civic Life

Thomas was a staunch

puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

and is closely associated with dissenting religious bodies. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, he was a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and fought on the side of the Parliamentarians. He saw action in the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

battles at

Middlewich Middlewich is a town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is located east of Chester, east of Winsford, south-east of Northwich and north-west of Sandbach. The population of the parish at the United Kingdom 2021 census, ...

in 1643, and at the

Bolton Massacre The Storming of Bolton, sometimes referred to as the "Bolton massacre", was an event in the First English Civil War which happened on 28 May 1644. The strongly Parliamentarian town was stormed and captured by Royalist forces under Prince Ru ...

in 1644.

School Governor

He was a governor of

Rivington Grammar School Rivington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of ...

during the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

and after Restoration from 1650 until 1691. The school lacked income between 1650 and 1660 so Thomas travelled to London, York and Durham for affidavits and trials and secured the rental income for the school. In the school's records he is noted as

Gentleman ''Gentleman'' (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is a term for a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire ...

of Horwich. He served as Chairman of Governors in 1651, 1653–54, 1653, 1670, 1676 and 1683.

Succession

Thomas was called to parliament by writ 19 May 1685 subsequent to there being no other heir known at the time of the death of his cousin,

Charles Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby of Parham Charles Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby of Parham was an English peer of the House of Lords. He succeeded to the title in September 1678 on the death of John Willoughby, 9th Baron Willoughby of Parham. Charles Willoughy was the male heir and d ...

in 1679. He was called to parliament as the 11th

Baron Willoughby of Parham Baron Willoughby of Parham was a title in the Peerage of England with two creations. The first creation was for Sir William Willoughby who was raised to the peerage under letters patent in 1547, with the remainder to his heirs male of body. An ...

1547 creation, however, the writ had created a new Barony and with it a new title of 1st Baron Willoughby of Parham (1685 creation). The title would have been inherited by Henry Willoughby, grandson of Sir Ambrose Willoughby, and great-grandson of Charles, the 2nd Baron. However, Henry Willoughby had emigrated to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and his whereabouts was not known. The right to the first barony created by

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

in 1547 was later claimed by a descendant of Henry Willoughby as 16th Baron Willoughby of Parham in 1767.

Death

Thomas died in 1691 aged 89 and was buried under the chancel by the east window at the old Horwich Parish Church. Thomas was succeeded by his eldest son

Hugh Hugh is the English-language variant of the masculine given name , itself the Old French variant of '' Hugo (name)">Hugo'', a short form of Continental Germanic Germanic name">given names beginning in the element "mind, spirit" (Old English ). ...

as the 12th Baron Willoughby of Parham, 2nd Baron of the 1685 creation.

References

Bibliography * . * . * * * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Willoughby Of Parham, Thomas, 11th Baron 1600s births 1691 deaths Peers of England created by James II Barons Willoughby of Parham