William Neville, Earl of Kent

William Neville, Earl of Kent KG (c. 1405 – 9 January 1463) and jure uxoris 6th Baron Fauconberg, was an English nobleman and soldier.

Born circa 1405, he was the third son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, and his second wife, Joan Beaufort.

John of Gaunt was the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault.

At the siege of Harfleur in 1440, he was made a Knight of the Garter for his part in the campaigns of 1438–39, in particular the capture and garrisoning of Meaux.

The English lords forced a confrontation, but the French fled, leaving twenty barges laden with supplies.

[2] As one of the three field commanders, Neville had been put on the royal council since 30 April, on Warwick's death, before a new regent could emerge.

[3] In October, Fauconberg helped recapture Harfleur, expelling the French garrison; only Dieppe remained intransigent.

[4] The field commander's pre-eminence was supplanted in March 1442 by the appointment of William, Lord Bourgchier, as governor-general of Normandy.

However, in 1449, he returned to France as part of a diplomatic mission, and in May 1449 he spent the night that the French chose to capture Pont de l'Arche in Normandy.

[6] The English had already lost the Bretons for taking their salt fleet, and then in July 1449, Somerset refused Fauconberg's return in a deal for Fougeres.

In July 1462, he was appointed Lord High Admiral, and in August that year he was granted 46 manors in the West Country.

He was survived by his wife, who died in 1490 at the age of 84 (thus living through the reigns of all the English kings of the fifteenth century).