 was returned as holding Lilford and its members. (fn. 29) He died in the same year seised, jointly with his wife Margaret, of the manor and advowson held of John de Britanny as of the Honour of Huntingdon by the service of one knight's fee, his heir being his son John aged 15 years. (fn. 30) John de Willoughby confirmed a grant of the manor for life to William de Willoughby and in 1330 was called upon to justify his claim to soc and sac, tol and theam, infangenthef and outfangenthef, free warren, view of frank-pledge, freedom from pontage, tolls, sheriff's aids, etc., in Lilford. (fn. 31) John de Willoughby was returned as holding half a knight's fee in Lilford in 1346. (fn. 32) He was present at the battle of Crecy in that year and died in 1349. (fn. 33) He was succeeded by his son Sir John de Willoughby, third Lord Willoughby, who settled the manor of Lilford and its member Hockington in 1361. (fn. 34) He took part in the battle of Poitiers and died in 1372, having settled the manor on his son Robert, fourth Lord Willoughby, and Robert's second wife Margaret, daughter of William Lord Zouche of Haringworth. (fn. 35) He re-settled the manor and advowson in 1376 (fn. 36) and in 1384 he and his wife Margaret granted the advowson to Sir John Holt and others. (fn. 37) He died seised of the manor in 1396 and was succeeded by his son William, fifth Lord Willoughby. (fn. 38) William died in 1409 leaving a son Robert, sixth Lord Willoughby. (fn. 39) The manor of Lilford had, however, been settled for life on Joan widow of William, who after his death married Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham, and later Sir Henry Brounflete. She died in 1434, (fn. 40) when Robert sixth Lord Willoughby succeeded. He was engaged in the wars in France, being present at Agincourt, and died in 1452. His heir was his daughter Joan, the wife of Richard de Welles, (fn. 41) seventh Lord Welles, who was summoned to Parliament in her right as Lord Willoughby, retaining this title apparently after her death in 1460. The paternal estates of her husband, forfeited by the attainder of his father Lyon or Leo, Lord Welles, slain at the battle of Towton, where he fought on the Lancastrian side, were restored to him in 1464–5, and in 1468 he obtained full restitution in blood and honours. But in 1469 he, his son-in-law Sir Thomas Dymock, and his son and heir, Sir Robert de Welles, were all beheaded near Stamford, in consequence of the latter's participation in the Lincolnshire rebellion. (fn. 42) The heir of Sir Robert de Welles (whose execution followed that of his father) was his sister Joan, who, being then the childless widow of Richard Piggott of London, married as her second husband Richard Hastings, brother to William, Lord Hastings, Chamberlain of the Household to Edward IV. (fn. 43) A faithful Yorkist, he obtained a grant in 1470 of the lands his wife would have inherited but for the attainder of her father and brother. Lilford and its member, as conveyed to himself and his wife Joan by grant of Thomas Fitzwilliam, senior, and Thomas Fitzwilliam, junior, (fn. 44) were expressly excepted from the act of attainder and forfeiture against Richard Lord Welles, his son Lord Robert, and his sons-in-law Thomas de la Laund and Sir Thomas Dymock and others, and from the petition for its repeal presented in 1485 (fn. 45) by the heirs of Lord Welles. In 1473 Lilford was conveyed by Sir Richard Hastings, kt., and Joan his wife, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Welles, kt., sometime Lord de Welles and Willoughby, to William Brown of Stamford, John Brown of Stamford, Sir William Stoke, kt., Thomas Stoke, clerk, John Elmes of Henley-on-Thames, and William Est. (fn. 46) In 1475 an exemplification was obtained at the request of William Brown of Stamford, merchant, of the article in the act of attainder exempting Lilford from its operation, as being at the date of the passing of the act in the hands of the Fitzwilliams, by whom it had been conveyed as above to Sir Richard Hastings and his wife, who afterwards sold it to the said William. (fn. 47)
William Brown settled the manors