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.[1] An error in identifying the heir in 1680 resulted in an inadvertent novel creation by writ in 1680, without the restriction on inheritance by gender.[2][3] The creation of the barony gave the right to a hereditary peerage and seat in the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament.

Shield of Arms of 15th Baron Willoughby of Parham

The barony was created on 20 February 1547 for Sir William Willoughby, a descendant of William Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby de Eresby living 1370 to 1409.[4] From his son Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham, descended a senior male line that went extinct on the death of Charles Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby of Parham in 1679.[5] At the time, the male line of Sir Ambroise Willoughby, the second son of the 2nd Baron, was wrongly thought to be extinct though Henry Willoughby, a grandson of Sir Ambrose, was still living in the Colony of Virginia.[6] Thus, in 1680 a grandson of the 2nd Baron via his fifth son, Sir Thomas, was summoned to Parliament as Thomas Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby of Parham.[7]

The title thus passed in this junior line of the family, but in 1733 while Hugh Willoughby, 15th Baron Willoughby of Parham was sitting in Parliament, Colonel Henry Willoughby, a grandson of the Virginia emigrant of Ambrose's line, put forward his claim with proofs of his right to the title.[8] No action was taken at the time, but on the death of the 15th Baron in 1765, Colonel Willoughby renewed his claim, and it was formally recognized in 1767.[8] This decision was based on the hereditary right of his as the senior line, and by implication meant that his father and grandfather had been the rightful Barons Willoughby of Parham before him.[8] It likewise would mean that the summons to Thomas Willoughby as 11th Baron must by law be viewed as having represented the creation of a novel barony of the same name, without the male line restriction of the original grant and hence in abeyance between the two sisters of the last baron of the junior line.[9]

The first creation of the Barony, 1547 is considered extinct as having no known male heir on the death of George Willoughby, 17th Baron Willoughby of Parham on 29 October 1779,[10] Though unidentified male heirs may still have existed.[11][12]