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- William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (1431 - 1483)
William Hastings fought to secure the throne for Edward IV. He was appointed Lord Chamberlain in 1461. When King Edward died in 1483 he was a staunch and loyal supporter of King Edward's young son - Edward V, one of the tragic little Princes in the Tower. He was arrested on charges of treason by the dead King Edward IV's brother Richard on route to the young prince's coronation. The two little princes were declared illegitimate and, as next in line to the throne, their uncle and Protector, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was declared the true King and was crowned Richard III. The two little princes were never seen again. And William Hastings was executed without trial.
- William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (c. 1431 - 13 June 1483) became one of the great powers of the English realm during the reign of Edward IV of England.
Hastings' father was Sir Leonard Hastings, a member of the English gentry who moved his seat to Leicestershire from Yorkshire where the family had long been established. His mother was Alice Camoys, daughter of the 1st Baron Camoys, by his second wife Lady Elizabeth Mortimer, widow of Henry "Hotspur" Percy and daughter of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and Philippa of Clarence, daughter of Lionel of Antwerp, second son of Edward III.
Hastings succeeded his father in service to the House of York and through this service became close to his distant cousin the future Edward IV, whom he was to serve loyally all his life. He fought with Edward at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross and was present at the proclamation of Edward as king in London on 4 March 1461 and then when the new king secured his crown at the Battle of Towton shortly thereafter. With the establishment of the Yorkist regime, Hastings became one of the key figures in the realm, most importantly as Lord Chamberlain, an office he held for the duration of the reign and which made him one of the most important means of access to the king. He was also created Baron Hastings, a title reinforced by grants of land and office, primarily in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. His importance in these years is recorded in a number of sources and was recognized by the greatest peer in the realm, Warwick the Kingmaker, who gave Hastings his widowed sister Katherine Neville in marriage. Katherine's first husband William Bonville, 6th Baron of Harington had been killed at the Battle of Wakefield on 31 December 1460, leaving her with a six-month old daughter, Cecily Bonville, who succeeded to the Bonville titles and estates. Hastings and Katharine had three surviving sons, including Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings who married Margaret Hungerford, heiress, and a daughter Anne, who married George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury (1468-1538).
Despite this matrimonial relationship with the Nevilles, when Warwick drove Edward IV into exile in 1470, Hastings went with Edward and accompanied the king back the following spring. Hastings raised troops for Edward in the English Midlands and served as one of the captains of the Yorkist forces at both Barnet and Tewkesbury. His service, loyalty and ability, along with the fall of his Neville in-laws, meant that Hastings was an even more important figure during the second half of Edward IV's reign. He continued to serve as chamberlain and was also appointed to be lieutenant of Calais, which made him an important player in foreign affairs, and he was given authority over an increasingly large section of the English Midlands.
On the death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483, Edward's wife Elizabeth Woodville and their young sons stood between Richard Duke of Gloucester (after June 26, 1483, Richard III, King of England) and the crown. As Hastings had allied himself with Edward's children, he too became a major obstacle and Richard first attempted to co-opt him but that was quickly deemed to be futile. While Hastings was too politically astute to directly challenge Richard, there was no denying that he was a dangerously influential threat to the so-called pretender as long as Richard let him live. Once he had control of his nephews, Richard of Gloucester seized Hastings while the two of them and other political leaders were meeting at the Tower of London and had him beheaded in the courtyard.[1] This is reputed to be the first recorded execution at the Tower of London. In spite of this murderous act, Hastings' wife and sons were allowed to inherit his lands and properties and Hastings himself was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor, next to Edward IV.
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Dutton, Berrett & Hungerford Twigs
1431 - 1483 (52 years)
[2, 4] 
