ii. Sir Thomas, a soldier of distinction, and one of the heroes

of Agincourt. He m. Joan, the dau. and heir of Sir Richard FitzAlan, and was succeeded by his son,

Sir Robert, who, dying in his minority, was succeeded by his brother,

Sir Christopher, who was made a Knight of the Bath, 6 July, 1483. He m. Margaret, dau. of Sir William Jennet, and by her (among other children) had,

Sir Christopher, knighted for his gallant conduct at the siege of Tournay, temp. Henry VIII. He m. Elizabeth, dau. of Sir George Talboys, and by her had,

Sir William, Knt., who was elevated to the peerage, by letters patent, dated 16 Feb. 1547, in the dignity of Lord Willoughby of Parham. His lordship having distinguished himself in the wars of Henry VIII., was made lieutenant of Calais, 4th of Edward VI., and resided there the remainder of that reign. He m. Elizabeth, the dau. and heir of Sir Thomas Heneage, by whom he had,

Charles, second Lord Willoughby of Parham, who espoused Lady Margaret Clinton, dau. of Edward, first Earl of Lincoln, by whom he had issue,

William, who died before his father, leaving issue, by Elizabeth, his wife, dau. and heir of Sir Christopher Hilliard, a son,

William, third Lord Willoughby of Parham, who succeeded his grandfather. This nobleman died in 1617, leaving issue, by his wife, Lady Frances Manners, dau. of John, fourth Earl of Rutland, three sons, Henry, Francis, and William. Henry was the fourth lord, but dying in his infancy, his brother

Francis succeeded him, and became fifth Lord Willoughby of Parham. This nobleman, on whose account, in the first and principal degree, we have introduced the present lineage, married Elizabeth, second dau. and co-heir of Edward Cicil, Visct. Wimbledon, and had issue one son, William, who died young, and three daughters, i. Diana, m. to Heneage, Earl of Winchilsea. ii. Frances, m. to William Brereton, Lord Brereton, of Laghlin, in Ireland; and iii. Elizabeth, m. to Roger Jones, Visct. Ranelagh.

This nobleman--viz., Francis, fifth Lord Willoughby--was one of the most celebrated characters of his age, but whose fortune brought him to Antigua, and the other Caribbee Islands, of which he became one of the most distinguished and notable governors; having under his command at one time, the whole archipelago of which the British empire in those parts consist.

Those who would wish to be fully acquainted with the character and conduct of this nobleman, must consult all the annals of the eventful period in which he lived, comprising the entire epoch of the civil wars, and which, from first to last, abound with anecdotes and facts relating to his personal history. We find him first mentioned in connexion with the siege of Newark, a place he gallantly besieged and took, sword in hand, at twelve o'clock at night; and also at the termination of the civil commotions, as state prisoner in the Tower of London, for attempting (after his return from the West India Islands, in 1652) to raise a rebellion against the government of the Protector, Oliver Cromwell.

In 1649, when the English fleet revolted from the parliament and the service of the Commonwealth, they chose this nobleman, Francis Lord Willoughby, for their commander and admiral; a capacity in which he attended upon his Majesty Charles II., then in Holland. Pointing out to his Majesty the islands in the West Indies which still remained faithful to his cause, and unsubdued, and where had congregated a vast assemblage of gallant royalists --the island of Barbados alone counting several thousands of them --his Majesty proposed to him to give him a commission of governor thereof, provided only he would go out and assume the command in his own person; terms with which Lord F. Willoughby was readily induced to comply--obtaining also a commission from the Earl of Carlisle, to whom those islands had been previously granted. Thus armed at all points, he arrived at the island of Barbados at the beginning of the year 1650. The first act of his lordship's government, and of the ardent spirits there assembled and associated with him, was, now that Charles I. had perished by the fatal axe, to proclaim Charles II., his son, as his successor;--this was done when, by the laws of the Commonwealth, it was felony and death to acknowledge the Prince of Wales as king of England, or rightful heir of any of the territories thereunto belonging;--and Charles II. was proclaimed accordingly, on 7th May, 1650. But the legislature of Barbados being at this time engaged in some affairs of a very delicate nature, they wished to bring them to a close before any new commander assumed the head of the government; they therefore entreated his lordship to suspend his authority for the space of three months, when, on his return at the end of that period, they promised him all due submission--an arrangement to which Lord Willoughby assenting, he left Barbados, with some of his personal friends, (Major Byam in the number,) and came to Antigua, where they again proclaimed Charles II. as king of England and the territories thereto belonging. This seems to be the first occasion of his visiting the shores of this island; for at the end of the specified term he returned to Barbados, where, at the expiration of little more than another year, a fleet arrived for the reduction of that colony, an account of which will be found in the annals of the Byam family. (Vide page 40, vol. i.)

Lord Willoughby availing himself of the comprehensive nature of the terms then and there obtained, went to England. After the restoration of Charles II. to the throne of his ancestors, his lordship renewed his pretensions to Antigua and other West India colonies; and again obtaining a commission, dated 12th June, 1663, he shipped himself for those ports, and arrived at Barbados in the August following. In another part of this work is given an account of his loss off the Saint's Island, near Guadaloupe, with a large fleet under his command, destined for the recovery of St. Christopher's, recently taken by the French. On his plantations at Surinam, his lordship expended no less than £26,000, a vast sum in those days, equal to £150,000 according to the value of money in our time; and these possessions (all lost by the surrender of Surinam, according to the terms of the treaty of Breda) his lordship, by his will, bequeathed to his nephew, Lieut-Gen. Henry Willoughby; his Barbados property to his next nephew, William; and his Antigua estates to his dau., Lady Brereton, already mentioned. Of this possession of his lordship's in the island of Antigua, we find traces in the maps of the same, as late as 1748, wherein on "Collins's" estate, near Nonsuch Harbour, is marked down, "My lord's pond," "My lord's cove," evidently in allusion to his lordship's former possessions, and perhaps personal residence in the island. Lord Francis Willoughby dying without male issue him surviving, his brother

William succeeded to his hereditary honours, and became sixth Lord Willoughby of Parham, and obtaining letters patent for the renewal of his brother Francis's commission, dated 3 Jan. 1666-7, he shipped himself for these colonies, where he arrived soon afterwards. His sons Henry and William, acted conspicuous parts in the West India islands, where, together with their father, they found their grave, though no memorial of them now seems to exist, nor, indeed, have the exact dates of their deaths been ascertained; but their father, William, Lord Willoughby, by whom the most ancient of the Antigua laws, as they now exist in the printed statutes book, were signed, died at Barbados, on 10 April, 1673. To the circumstance of the considerable mortality in this family (occurring in these islands) may fairly be traced the speedy extinction of their hereditary honours, and thus enabling a foot soldier (collaterally related to those who died in the Western hemisphere) to claim and recover the ancient honours of the Willoughby family; for Edward Willoughby, a private in the confederate army, serving under the illustrious Duke of Marlborough, perceiving the family honours vacant, and knowing himself to be a cadet of the house, laid claim to them, and succeeded in establishing his right to the same, though he did not long enjoy them, dying in April, 1713, when his brother Charles succeeded him. It would not be consistent with the plan of this work to pursue the history of this family further than to observe, that the title finally became extinct in 1779, in the person of George Willoughby, the seventeenth Lord Willoughby of Parham.

The present Earl of Abingdon traces his descent from George, seventh Lord Willoughby of Parham, (who succeeded [on the failure of male issue] William, sixth Lord Willoughby of Parham, capt.-gen. of the Leeward and Windward Caribbee Islands, and who died 10 April, 1673,) in the following manner:--

Elizabeth, dau. and sole heir of George, seventh Lord Willoughby,