William Widdrington, 1st Baron Widdrington

William Widdrington, 1st Baron Widdrington (11 July 1610 – 3 September 1651) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642 and was created a peer in 1643. He fought in the Royalist army in the English Civil War and was killed in battle in 1651.

Widdrington was born on 11 July 1610, the son and heir of Sir Henry Widdrington of Widdrington, Northumberland and his wife Mary Curwen, daughter of Sir Nicholas Curwen. Knighted in 1632, he was appointed High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1636. He was then elected Member of Parliament for Northumberland in both the Short and the Long Parliaments of 1640 to 1642, but in August 1642 he was expelled for taking up arms in support of Charles I.

During the Civil War he fought for the King chiefly in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and on 9 July 1642 was rewarded for his loyalty to the Crown by creation as 1st Baronet Widdrington of Widdrington.

He served as governor of Lincoln in 1643, and on 2 November 1643 was elevated to the Peerage as 1st Baron Widdrington of Blankney.

In 1644, after helping to defend York, and the Kings defeat at Marston Moor he left England with the Duke of Newcastle for exile in Hamburg.

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