William Farrington

Who is William Farrington?

Sir William Farrington, was an English soldier and diplomat.

Farrington was from a well-known Lancashire family. He was knighted by the Duke of Lancaster before the battle of Nájera, 1366. During the decline of the English power in Aquitaine he there held several important military commands. He made an unsuccessful attempt to come to the assistance of the Earl of Pembroke in the sea-fight at La Rochelle. Having become governor at Saintes, he was in the fight at Soubise, where he narrowly escaped being made prisoner. Being obliged to abandon Saintes, he joined the forces under the command of Sir Thomas Felton, who went to relieve the town of Thouars, then besieged by the French. He subsequently joined the Duke of Buckingham, and distinguished himself during the campaign by several feats of arms. In 1376 he was named one of the guardians of the truce concluded with the French. The son of the Count Denia, one of the prisoners taken at the battle of Nájera, having managed to escape, Farrington was imprisoned with others in the Tower, as being therein guilty of negligence, and released by request of Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, 1377.