Sir Robert Wingfield, of Letheringham in Suffolk, was an English landowner, administrator and politician.
Origins
Born in about 1403, he was the son of Sir Robert Wingfield by his wife Elizabeth Russell, daughter of Sir John Russell, of Strensham in Worcestershire and his first wife Agnes. The elder Robert was son of Sir John Wingfield and his wife Margaret Hastings, later second wife of Russell. As guardian of her son, it was Russell who arranged the marriage of Robert to his daughter Elizabeth. He is thought to have been kin, although the precise nature of the relationship is unknown, to Sir John de Wingfield of Wingfield Castle in Suffolk, about 12 miles north of Letheringham, chief administrator to Edward the Black Prince, whose daughter and heiress Catherine Wingfield married Michael de la Pole, later 1st Earl of Suffolk, and lived at Wingfield Castle in Suffolk.
Career
In 1420 he was a legatee in the will of his great-aunt Elizabeth Elmham, and in 1426 was knighted at Hereford by King Henry VI. The next year he was elected a knight of the shire for Suffolk and sat in all Parliaments until 1436. In 1436 he was appointed steward of the lands in Norfolk of the Honour of Richmond and in 1443 he became steward to John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and accompanied him on his embassy to the court of King Charles VII of France. In December 1447 he was named as a rioter in Suffolk and was imprisoned in the Marshalsea, but was pardoned in February 1448. In September of that year he complained that the Duke of Norfolk had attacked his home at Letheringham with an armed force and had burned his furniture and removed goods worth the then huge sum of £1,200. Despite these local difficulties, in 1449 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire, but was denounced in Parliament next year as one of the King's "evil advisors".
Sir John Wingfield, of Letheringham, who married Elizabeth Fitzlewis, a daughter of Sir John Fitzlewis, MP, by whom he had sixteen children, including Sir Richard Wingfield, Sir Robert Wingfield, Sir Humphrey Wingfield, and Thomas Wingfield.
Sir Robert Wingfield, who married Anne Harling.
Sir Henry Wingfield, of Orford in Suffolk, who married firstly Alice Seckford and secondly Elizabeth Rookes, and was the ancestor of the Wingfields of Tickencote.
Catherine Wingfield, who married Sir John Bonville, of Halnaker in Sussex. Their daughter Florence Bonville married firstly Sir Humphrey Fulford and secondly John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath.
Agnes Wingfield, who married John Fremingham.
Alice Wingfield.
Margaret Wingfield.
Death
He died in 1454 and was buried at Letheringham. His will, made on 6 October 1453, was proved on 21 Nov 1454.
