William Darrell (23 June 1539 – 1 October 1589) of Littlecote House, Wiltshire, later of Warwick Lane, London; was an English Member of Parliament for the constituency of Downton in 1572.
During the Spanish Armada crisis, Darrell offered his services, with twenty horsemen, to Sir Francis Walsingham.
The midwife, who did not know where she had been brought, afterwards succeeded in identifying the house and the room and Darrell was convicted of murder.
Notwithstanding Aubrey's proven fondness for gossip, the subsequent discovery of some contemporary accounts seem to prove the tale true.
[2] He died on 1 October 1589, aged 50, and is commemorated by a memorial window in the church of St Mary, Kintbury, Berkshire.