Christopher Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby de Eresby

Sir Christopher Willoughby, de jure 10th Baron Willoughby de Eresby (1453 – between 1 November 1498 and 13 July 1499), was heir to his second cousin, Joan Welles, 9th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, in her own right Lady Willoughby, as well as great-grandson and heir male to William Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby de Eresby. Christopher Willoughby was also heir to his elder brother, Robert Willoughby, who died unmarried and underage on 24 March 1467. He was unable to enjoy his inherited title as a result of the attainders of his cousin Joan Welles' father, Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles, and brother, Robert Welles, 8th Baron Willoughby de Eresby.

Christopher Willoughby, born in 1453, was the second son of Sir Robert Willoughby (d. 30 May 1465) of Parham, Suffolk, and Cecily Welles, the daughter of Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles (d. 29 March 1461), and his first wife, Joan Waterton, the daughter of Robert Waterton (d. 1425), esquire, of Methley, Yorkshire, by his second wife, Cecily Fleming, daughter of Sir Robert Fleming. He was the grandson of Sir Thomas Willoughby and Joan Arundel (born c. 1407), daughter and co-heiress of Sir Richard Arundel and his wife Alice, and the great-grandson of William Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby de Eresby (d. 4 December 1409), and Lucy Le Strange.

After the death of Joan Waterton, Lionel Welles married Margaret Beauchamp (c. 1410 – c. 3 June 1482), widow successively of Sir Oliver St John (c.1398 – 1437) and John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (d. 27 May 1444), and daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, by his second wife, Edith Stourton, daughter of Sir John Stourton (died c.1414) of Stourton, Wiltshire.