1240 "William de Ferrers, Knt., of Groby, Leicestershire, Newbottle, Northamptonshire, Woodham Ferris, Stebbing, and Fairstead, Essex, and Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire," was born about 1240. [1]
1251 William's father granted him the manor and advowson of Woodham, the manor of Stebbing, the capital messuage at Chiche, and lands in Fairstead, Essex. [2]
c1260 William's brother Robert de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, granted him the manor of Bolton in Great Bolton, Lancashire. [3]
1264 William de Ferrers was among the prisoners taken after the conflict at Northampton on April 5 or 6 and was committed by Edward the king's son to the custody of Roger de Leybourne. [4]
1266 King Henry III pardoned all trespasses committed by William de Ferrers up to 11 July. [5]
1270 Anne Durwand's husband Colban of Fife, 8th Earl of Fife, died. [6]
1270 William de Ferrers married Anne Durward, widow of Colban of Fife. [7]
1275 Anne Durward was co-heiress to her father Alan Durward. She inherited the baronies of Coull, O'Neill, and Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire. [8]
1275 Edward I visited Derbyshire on his way to North Wales. Several landholders of Derbyshire took a prominent part in the subjugation of Wales, including William de Ferrers, Edward Deincourt, and John de Musard. [9]
1281 On April 19, following the death of Margaret de Ferrers, an inquistion was ordered concerning land in Essex that William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, had deeded to William and Margaret's son William in 1251.
413. Margaret de Ferrariis, countess of Derbeye.
Writ of plenius certiorari to Richard de Holebrok, the king's steward, on the complaint of William de Ferrariis that the sheriff of Essex had taken into the king's hand the manors of Wodeham, Stubbyng and Feirstude which he had demised to the said Margaret, his mother, who had restored them to him long before her death, 15 April, 9 Edw. I.
Essex. Inq. Monday after the Invention of the Holy Cross, 9 Edw. I. Wodeham, Stobyng and Fayrstede. The manors with a messuage in Cheche were given by Sir William de FeiTariis, sometime earl of Derbeye, to William de Ferrariis his son at Nottingham about the feast of St. Lucy, 36 Hen. Ill, by letter patent, to be held of him and his heirs by sevice of 5 knights' fees, saving to the said earl the homage and service of Sir Richard de Grey and his heir's in Thurrok; and he had full seisin for four years and more during the life of his father, and the issues of the manors were collected by Robert de Duffeld his guardian (custodem) and placed in ward (custodiam) at Tyleteya, and in the fifth year they were rendered to the said William, and so he remained in peaceful seisin until he was made a knight and was of full age. Afterwards he granted these manors, &c. to Lady Margaret de Ferrariis his mother for her life for lands, &c. in Scotland and Gaweye of which she enfeoffed him, and into the aforesaid manors he had ingress sixteen days before his mothers death by her assent. The manor of Wodeham is worth 21l. yearly ; the manor of Stubbyng, with one carueate land in the same town afterwaids purchased by the said William of Sir Nicholas de Stubbyng, knight, 52l.; the manor of Fayrstede 10l.; and the messuage in Cheche 6s. (See Hen. III., No. 333.) C. Edw: I. File 28. (17.)
1281 On May 11 ownership of the land deeded to William de Ferres by his father, William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, was confirmed following the inquisition after the death of the younger William's mother Margaret. [10]
May 11. Westminster. To Richard de Holebrok, the king's steward. Whereas the king learns by inquisition taken by the steward that William de Ferrar[iis], sometime earl of Derby, enfeoffed William his son, 86 Henry III, of the manors of Wodeham, Stebbing, and Fairsted, and of a messuage in Cheehe, to be held of the earl by the service of five knights' fees, saving to the earl the homage and service of Richard de Grey in Thurrok, so that William son of the earl was in seisin of the manors for four years and more during the earl's lifetime, and that William the earl's son afterwards granted to Margaret de Ferrar[iis], his mother, for life, the manors aforesaid, with the rent issuing from the messuage aforesaid, which manors ought to revert to William after her death and which were taken into the king's hands by reason of her death: the king orders the steward to deliver the manors and messuage to the said William son of the earl.
1283 William de Ferrers was summoned to attend the king at Shrewsbury on June 28. [11]
1283 On October 1, William de Ferrers acknowledged a debt to the executors of the will of his mother Margaret. [12]
Oct. 1. Acton Burnell. William de Ferrariis acknowledges that he owes to Richard, bishop of London, Ralph de Hengham, and Robert de Hengham, executors of the will of Margaret, late tho wife of William de Ferrariis, late countess of Derby, 345 marks; to be levied, in default of payment, of his lands and chattels in cos. Essex, Leicester and Northampton.
William de Ferres married (2nd) Eleanor de Lovaine, daughter of Mathew de Lovaine, of Little Easton, Essex. [13]
1287 William de Ferrers died shortly before December 20. [14]
Research Notes:
"William de Ferrers, 2nd son of 7th earl of Derby, being armed against Hen. III., was taken at Northampton, in 1264 ; but was pardoned. He had grant of the manor of Groby, co. of Leicester, from his mother, and assumed the armorial bearings of her family,—Gu, 7 mascles Or conjoined 3 3 and 1. He m[arried]. Helen, dau[ghter]. of Matthew lord Lovaine, of Stanes; who d[ied]. in 1287. He was succeeded by his son and heir, William de Ferrers" [15]
[1] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[2] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[3] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[4] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[5] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[6] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[7] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[8] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[9] J. Charles Cox, Memorials of Old Derbyshire (London: Bemrose & Sons, 1907), 11-12, [HathiTrust].
[10] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edward I A.D. Vol. II. 1279-1288 (London: HMSO, 1902), 83, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].
[11] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[12] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edward I A.D. Vol. II. 1279-1288 (London: HMSO, 1902), 238, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].
[13] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[14] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:290, [GoogleBooks].
[15] Charles Ferrers Palmer, The history of the town and castle of Tamworth, in the counties of Stafford & Warwick (1845), 364, [HathiTrust].