Percival Willoughby

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Sir Percival Willoughby (? – 1643) prominent land owner, businessman in mining and iron smelting and investor in the Newfoundland Company was born Wollaton, Nottingham, England. He married Bridget, the daughter of a kinsman, and inherited a large estate, including Wollaton Hall. Willoughby was knighted by King James I on 20 April 1603 at Worksop and subsequently became a member in King James' first parliament.

Willoughby was drawing into the Newfoundland Company venture by John Slany, to which he was heavily in debt. Appointed to the council which managed the company's affairs in 1610 he sent his third son Thomas to Cuper's Cove in 1612 along with Henry Crout and six apprentices. The orders to the party was to leave the colony and develop Willoughby's own tract which was all that land north of a line drawn between Carbonear and Heart's Content on the Bay de Verde Peninsula. This also included the rich fishing grounds around Baccalieu Island. Bartholomew Pearson and a surveyor named Olney had made the trip to Newfoundland to access its mineral and agricultural potential. Willoughby's main interest lay in the mining potential of Bell Island and was very critical of his parties’ lack of exploration upon their return to England.

Willoughby's partnership in 1618 with Thomas Rowley and William Hannam to give them half of his tract for a nominal fee had turned sour. Willoghby's entitlement to the land was becoming increasingly harder to maintain as he could not find anyone to settle on it. Then in 1631 he entered into a partnership with Nicholas Guy, who at the time was living in Carbonear.