William Parr, 1st Baron Parr of Horton

[2] William Parr was a military man who fought in France, where he was knighted by King Henry VIII at Tournai Cathedral, and Scotland.

After the death of his brother, Sir Thomas, William's sister-in-law Maud, widowed at age 25, called upon him to help in financial matters and to manage her estates in North England while she was busy in the south securing a future for her three children.

Along with Cuthbert Tunstall, a distant kinsman of the Parr's, they provided the kind of protection and father figure which was missing in the lives of Maud's children.

[3] Although William was inadept at handling his financial matters, he was ironically appointed the office of Chamberlain in the separate household of the Duke of Richmond, the acknowledged illegitimate son of King Henry VIII and Elizabeth Blount, based at Sheriff Hutton Castle in Yorkshire.

Along with the limited possibilities came other daily frustrations as the Duke's tutors and the household officers under Parr disagreed on the balance of recreation and study.

Parr was a countryman who thought it perfectly normal for boys to prefer hunting and sports to the boring rhetoric of learning Latin and Greek.

[3] Despite his failed attempts at achieving personal gain from the household of the Duke, Sir William made up for it during the Pilgrimage of Grace during 1536.

Parr's presence at the execution in Hull of Sir Robert Constable prompted Cromwell to share in confidence a correspondence in which he received from the Duke of Norfolk on William's "goodness" which "never proved the like in any friend before.

"[3] Parr was a strong supporter of the new religion under Henry VIII and he became Thomas Cromwell's chief agent for the dissolution of the monasteries in Northamptonshire.