Sir Henry Willoughby (1451 – 11 May 1528) was a Knight of the Body to Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII and MGO.
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Origins
He was born in 1451 in Wollaton (Nottinghamshire), the eldest son of Robert Willoughby by his wife Margaret Griffith. His father's parents were Hugh Willoughby and his second wife Margaret Willoughby.
His mother married Peter Leigh of Nottingham after his father's death. Robert inherited the Wollaton and Middleton estates from his half brother Richard in 1471. It took a further two decades for him to take full possession, since his mother Margaret Leigh had an interest in Wollaton, while his grandmother Margaret Bingham spent her life in the Middleton estate, the Dunsby and Wigtoft estates in Lincolnshire, and the manors of Gunthorpe and Lowdham in Nottinghamshire.
At the origin of the Willoughby (Willuby) surname there is record of the Bugge family. They were either the original inhabitants of the town of Wollaton, or settled in it about the time of King John, rising to considerable eminence. From them sprung the Willoughbies of Wollaton.
Radulphus Bugge was an ancestor of diverse good families as observed in Willoughby-on-the-Wolds. He was a wealthy merchant and purchased the lands in 1240–41. Probably buried at St.Peter's church (Nottingham). He had two sons, Richard and Radulphus, the latter having been the father of Richard de Bingham. Richard's son, Richard de Willoughby was Knighted by King Edward II in 1325, and increased their patrimony exceedingly as a very rich lawyer.