England and Great Britain; Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Kent, Lincolnshire and the Peerage of Great Britain
Willoughby of Middleton — Parham and Wollaton-Middleton composite cadet achievement
- Family / house
- Willoughby of Middleton; Willoughby of Wollaton; Willoughby of Bore Place; Willoughby of Parham; Willoughby de Eresby; Bugge-Willoughby
- Family / cadet branch
- Middleton and Wollaton branch, descended through Sir Percival Willoughby of Bore Place and Bridget Willoughby, heiress of Sir Francis Willoughby of Wollaton
- Armiger / bearer
- The Barons Willoughby of Middleton and the Middleton male-line succession founded through Sir Percival Willoughby and Bridget Willoughby
- Entity type
- cadet_branch
- Social rank / class
- peer
- Heraldic authority
- College of Arms tradition as recorded in peerage and county-history sources; University of Nottingham Middleton Collection
- Record basis
- recording
- Issued / first recorded
- 1580
- Historical period
- Late Tudor foundation; Stuart and Georgian peerage succession
- Grant / record reference
- Barony of Middleton created by letters patent on 1 January 1711/12 for Sir Thomas Willoughby, 2nd Baronet
- Blazon
- Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Or, fretty Azure; 2nd and 3rd, Or, on two bars Gules three water-bougets Argent, two and one.
- Plain-English description
- The shield is divided into four quarters. The first and fourth show a gold field covered with a blue fret, the ancestral Willoughby of Parham and Eresby arms. The second and third show two red horizontal bars on gold, each carrying three silver water-bougets, the arms associated with the Wollaton and Middleton branch, formerly identified with Bugge ancestry.
- Tinctures
- Or; Azure; Gules; Argent
- Charges / ordinaries
- fret; two bars; three water-bougets
- Crest
- The bust of a man couped at the shoulders and affrontée Proper, ducally crowned Or.
- Motto
- Vérité sans peur.
- Exterior ornaments
- For the baronial achievement: dexter, a pilgrim or grey friar Proper holding a staff and rosary; sinister, a savage Proper holding a club; each supporter holding a red banner charged with a silver owl ducally crowned and chained Or. The precise supporter wording varies between later authorities.
- Difference / variant
- This is a distinct collateral composite of two already armigerous Willoughby traditions. The Parham/Eresby quarter represents the male-line ancestry of Sir Percival Willoughby; the water-bouget quarter represents the Wollaton and Middleton estate-holding branch inherited through Bridget Willoughby.
- Source reference
- University of Nottingham, The Willoughby Family of Wollaton and Middleton: A Brief History
- Source
- Open source
Genealogical context
Documented depiction
Notes / sources
The foundation marriage should be stated precisely as Sir Percival Willoughby of Bore Place marrying Bridget Willoughby, eldest daughter and coheiress of Sir Francis Willoughby of Wollaton. The water-bouget arms are associated with the older Bugge/Willoughby family of Nottinghamshire and are not a newly invented Middleton coat. The composite quartering became the characteristic armorial identity of the Middleton baronial house.