• Born: Radcliffe, Lancashire, England
• Marriage: Margaret de Peasfurlong in 1306 in Radcliffe, Lancashire, England
• Died: 1333, Radcliffe, Lancashire, England ^1530a

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information: ⁷⁴⁵
William de Radclyffe was called "The Great William," likely because of his physical strength. He was born at Radclyffe Tower about 1280, and in 1303 married Margaret, the daughter and heir of Adam de Peasurlong and Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Gilbert de Culcheth. By 1309, his father Richard had settled William and his heirs on the manors of Radclyffe, Oswaldtwistle, and Quarlton. William gained his inheritance while his father was still alive.

This era of British History was a troubled time with feuds and lawlessness rampant. William and his brothers played an active part in the lawlessness, and were keen supporters of the Earl of Lancaster. William and his brothers John and Roger, cousin Richard, and others, were charged with breaking into the manors of Richard de Hulton of Ordsall at Ordsall, Hulton and Flixton. They were also involved with assaulting William de Butterwyck.

These attacks were all part of the brutal feuds which were prevalent during this period. They all had connection with the political disturbances of the reign as well as being part of family rivalries, and the jealousy of one manor against another in the quest for power. As the riches of the Radclyffe Tower family rose, they had encountered interminable feuds as they fought for the right to have and to hold which sons and daughter brought to increase the patrimonial power. William Radclyffe married his family with a shrewd eye to the main chance, and when he died in 1333, the Radclyffes owned sway over a very considerable part of Lancaster's fair shire. His children were:

Richard, eldest son and heir, who married Isabel, daughter and heiress of Robert (Henry) de Pleasing, and co-heir of Michael de Harcla.

Adam, who married a daughter of Thomas de Arderne, and who in 1340, was holding lands in Wiswall, near Whalley.

William, who married Ellen, heiress of Henry de Langfield, and was the founder of the Radclyffes of Todmorden.

Alice, eldest daughter, was married to Henry de Worsley of Booths.

Agnes, second daughter, married to Henry de Shackerley, lord of a mesne manor of Tyldesley

Elizabeth, third daughter, married Richard de Ince of Ince.

Margaret, fourth daughter, married John de Banastre of Bank.

Joan, fifth daughter, married Ralph de Langton of Walton.

Maud, sixth daughter, was married to John de Harrington of Cartmel.

~The Book of the Radclyffes, pages 18-19

• Background Information: ^1530a
The parish of Radcliffe, in Salford hundred, doubtless gave name to the family of Radcliffe before that lace was in the possession of the Earls of Chester. In the record of fees held in the reigns of John and Henry III., as exhibited in the Testa de Nevvill, William de Radeclive occurs in the Inquisicio Comitatus Lancastr', [fo. 401-405], where he is said to hold by 6s. a carucate of land of the fee of Ranulf Fitz-Roger's heir, a ward in the custody of Eustace Fitz-Moreton, for the king, besides twelve bovates of land in Edgworth.

In 30 Henry III. (1246), Adam, son of the William de Radeclive above named, petitioned a against Roger de Oswaldtwisel for the lands demised in Radclive, for a term of years, by his grandfather, of whom he was the heir. In 4 Edward I. (1276) Richard, son of Robert and great grandson of William de Radclyve, had a writ of novel disseisin, and held lands, &c., in Tottington, of the fee of Roger de Montebegon. This Richard accompanied the king in his wars in Scotland, and obtained from him a charter for free warren in his manors of Radcliffe and Querndone, dated from Strevelin, 32 Edward I. (1304). [Rot. Chart., 32 Edward I, mem. 17]

Sir John Radclyve of Ordsal, a younger son of this Sir Richard, who married Johanna, daughter of Sir Robert, and sister to Thomas de Holland, Earl of Kent, accompanied Edward III. In his wars in France; he introduced the honor of knighthood into the family in 1347, and was founder of the line of Radcliffe of Ordsal and of Foxdenton. The Radcliffles enjoyed the privilege of free
warren and free chase in the territories of the duchy, and held at various times the offices of seneschal and minister of the forests of Bowland an Blackburnshire; and the stewardship of Rossendale also devolved upon them. The chiefs of the family, as well as several collateral branches, filled the station of high-sheriff in the county in successive reigns; a rank which, in the early period of history, was equal to that of lord-lieutenant.

Ralph de Radclyffe, grandson of Richard above named, dying without issue before 5 Edward III. (1331), bequeathed his manors of Radcliffe, 850., to his uncle William, son of Richard de Radclyffe, of Radcliffe Tower, and brother of John, the founder of the line of Ordsal, called the "Great William," lord of Edgeworth and Oswaldtwistle, who became seized of Culcheth in 20 Edward I. (1292), in right of his wife Margaret, one of the two (Grand) daughters and co-heirs of Gilbert de Culcheth. From this "Great William" ennobled successively by the titles of Baron Fitzwalter and Earl of Sussex, now extinct, descended the Radcliffes, Earls of Derwentwater who suffered such a fatal eclipse on the execution of the unfortunate James, Earl of Derwentwater, for his share in the rebellion of 1715, and his no less unfortunate brother Charles who had assumed the title, and who was father of another Charles who became Earl of Newburgh. Robert Radcliffe, the eldest brother of the "Great William," was the father of William, 316 founder of the line of Smithells; and also of William, rector of Bury, 16 Edward III. (1342), who became lord of Chadderton and from whom descended the Radcliffes of Chadderton. William de Radcliffe-the "Great William," was succeeded by his son Richard, the grandfather of James Radclyffe.

"Radcliffe Parish," The History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, Volume II, pp. 421 & 426

William married Margaret de Peasfurlong, daughter of Adam Peasfurlong and Elizabeth de Culcheth, in 1306 in Radcliffe, Lancashire, England. (Margaret de Peasfurlong was born in 1288 in Warrington, Lancashire, England.)