Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/21

 Ufford to marry at will, but five years afterwards she and Ufford obtained, on 21 Oct. 1329, a release from its payment (ib. 1327–30, p. 497). Ufford and Margaret had two sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Robert, was distinguished at the siege of Lochmaben in 1341, and took considerable part in the French wars, and, though commonly distinguished as ‘Robert de Ufford le fitz,’ is not seldom confused with his father. He married Elizabeth, widow of William de Latimer, without royal license, but on 20 Aug. 1337 was pardoned for the offence (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1334–8, p. 495). He died before his father, so that titles and estates passed to the younger son, William de Ufford, second earl of Suffolk [q. v.]. The five daughters were: (1) Joan, betrothed in 1336 to John, son and heir of John de St. Philibert, an East-Anglian landowner. But he was a boy under six, of whose lands Suffolk had the custody (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1330–4 p. 176, 1334–8 p. 176). The marriage was not carried out, and John at last wedded another lady (, ii. 150). (2) Cicely, married to William, lord Willoughby De Eresby. (3) Catharine, married to Robert, lord Scales. (4) Margaret, married to William, lord Ferrers of Groby; and (5) Maud, a canoness at Campsey.

[Rymer's Fœdera, vols. ii. and iii. Record ed.; Rolls of Parliament; Calendars of Patent and Close Rolls; Cal. of Documents relating to Ireland; Lords' Reports on the Dignity of a Peer; Galfridus le Baker, ed. Thompson; Walsingham's Historia Anglicana, Chron. Angliæ 1328–88, Murimuth and Avesbury, and Knighton (these last four in Rolls Ser.); Chronicle of Lanercost (Bannatyne Club); Chandos Herald's Le Prince Noir, ed. F. Michel; Froissart, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove; Hemingburgh, vol. ii. (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 47–8; Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 584, 1468, 1555; Beltz's Memorials of the Garter, pp. 98–101; Nicolas's Royal Navy, vol. ii.; Gilbert's Viceroys of Ireland; Doyle's Official Baronage, iii. 431–2; Nicolas's Hist. Peerage, ed. Courthope, pp. 459, 483; Barnes's Edward III. A very full and detailed summary is in G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage, vii. 301–2.]  UFFORD, WILLIAM, second of his house  (1339?–1382), was the second but eldest surviving son of Robert de Ufford, earl of Suffolk (1298–1369) [q. v.], and of his wife, Margaret Norwich. He was born about 1339. His elder brother Robert's death made him heir to estates and earldom, and his father's advanced age brought him prominently forward, even before he succeeded to the title. On 3 Dec. 1364 he was summoned as a baron to the House of Lords during his father's lifetime. On 10 Feb. 1367 he was appointed joint commissioner of array in Suffolk, and in the same year received license to travel beyond sea. He was often engaged in local public work. On 4 Nov. 1369 he succeeded, on his father's death, to the earldom of Suffolk. He served in 1370 against the French along with the Earl of Warwick (Fœdera, iii. 895). On 12 June 1371 he was put at the head of the surveyors of a subsidy for the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and on 25 Oct. 1371 he was appointed chief warden of the ports and coasts of the same shires (ib. iii. 925). His appointment was renewed when a different commission for this purpose was made out on 10 May 1373 (ib. iii. 976). In August 1372 he was summoned to serve in the abortive expedition which Edward III proposed to lead in person to the relief of Thouars (, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, viii. 208). In the summer of 1373 Suffolk accompanied John of Gaunt on his long and fruitless foray that started from Calais and finally reached Bordeaux, whence he returned next year in April to England along with the Duke of Lancaster (ib. viii. 280–5, 321). A year later, in July 1375, he was made knight of the Garter.

In the Good parliament, which met in April 1376, Suffolk, though so constantly associated with John of Gaunt abroad, attached himself strongly to the constitutional party headed by Bishop Courtenay and the Earl of March, and inspired by Edward, prince of Wales. He was one of the four earls added to the committee of barons and bishops which held conference with the commons before the houses joined in granting a subsidy (Chronicon Angliæ, 1328–88, pp. 69–70; cf. Rot. Parl. ii. 322). After the death of the Prince of Wales and the break up of the parliament it was still thought worth while to detach Suffolk from his associates, and on 16 July he received the important appointment of admiral of the north (Fœdera, iii. 1057). However, his deprivation of that office so early as 24 Nov., in favour of the courtier Michael de la Pole [q. v.], suggests that he could not be relied upon by John of Gaunt and the ruling clique. Yet Suffolk was still enough in favour to be appointed on 29 April 1377, just before the old king's death, chief commissioner of array for Norfolk and Suffolk (, iii. 432).

At the coronation of Richard II on 16 July 1377 Suffolk acted as bearer of the sceptre and cross. The policy of forgetting the factions of the last reign insured him frequent employment during the next few