The eldest son and heir of Robert Ughtred, lord of the manor of Scarborough, Kilnwick Percy, Monkton Moor, and other places in Yorkshire.

[5] They had a son: On 8 June 1319 he was appointed commissioner of array for Yorkshire, an office which he frequently filled during Edward II's reign.

In the same month he was granted the custody of the manor of Bentele, Yorkshire, during the minority of Payn de Tibetot or Tiptoft.

In 1332 he acquired a house and garden called Le Whitehalle in Berwick, and in the same year he accompanied Edward Balliol on his invasion of Scotland.

Ughtred was apparently present at Balliol's coronation at Scone on 24 September, and sat in the Scottish parliament as Baron of Innerwick.

In 1338 Edward III required Balliol to entrust the command of Perth, threatened with a siege by Robert the Steward, to Ughtred.

He was urged to remain until the arrival of reinforcements, but these were not despatched in time, and on 16 August 1339 Ughtred was compelled to surrender.

[5][6] However, in 1357 he was referred to as "Thomas Ughtred, knight, the elder"[11] and in 1360 he was styled simply "chivaler";[2] none of his descendants were summoned to parliament, and it has been suggested that he represented Yorkshire in the House of Commons in 1344 and 1352.

[9][13] William Ughtred married Catherine, daughter of Peter, Lord Mauley and his first wife, Margaret Clifford, and by her had a son, Thomas, who subsequently became his grandfather's heir.

[5][6] Anthony Ughtred (d. 1534), a later member of the family, took a prominent part in the French and Scots wars of Henry VIII.