William Plumpton

Who was William Plumpton?

Sir William Plumpton was a 15th-century English aristocrat, landowner and administrator.

He was the grandson of Sir William Plumpton executed in 1405 for treason by Henry IV and the son of Sir Robert Plumpton of Plumpton Hall, Yorkshire. On the death of his father in 1421 he became the ward of Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland.

He served in the French war 1427–30 and was knighted. On his return to England he was appointed by Northumberland as Seneschal of Knaresborough Castle and Steward of Northumberland's Spofforth estates.

Plumpton's own estates included Plumpton Hall, Yorkshire, Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire and Hassop Hall, Derbyshire. He represented Nottinghamshire in the Parliament of 1436. He served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1447 and High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1453.

During the War of the Roses he fought on the Lancastrian side at the Battle of Towton in 1461, where his son William and his benefactor Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland were slain. Plumpton was captured but later was pardoned by Edward IV and regained his offices in 1471.

He married firstly in 1430, Elizabeth Stapleton of Carlton, Yorkshire and secondly in 1451 Joan Winteringham.