William de Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk

Early life William's father Robert, the first Ufford Earl of Suffolk, was a close associate of King Edward III and a trusted military commander in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. His military career included the Battle of Crécy, the siege of Calais and the Battle of Poitiers, where he greatly distinguished himself. In 1324, Robert married Margaret, daughter of Walter Norwich, Treasurer of the Exchequer, expanding his already substantial territorial holdings in East Anglia.

Little is known of William's early years. He was the fourth son of the family, and up until three years before his father died, he still had two surviving older brothers. For this reason, his early biography is based largely on conjecture. It is known that he managed to establish an independent position for himself through a fortunate marriage. By 1361 he was married to Joan Montagu, the daughter of Alice of Norfolk, and – through Alice – a granddaughter of Thomas of Brotherton, a younger son of Edward I.

Service to Edward III In the autumn of 1367, William Ufford and Thomas Beauchamp were going overseas, probably on a crusade to Prussia.

As earl of Suffolk he participated in several campaigns in the rather unsuccessful stage of the Hundred Years' War in the 1370s, along with Beauchamp, who had recently become Earl of Warwick. They escorted King Charles II of Navarre to and from Cherbourg for his visit to England in 1370. Also around this time, the relationship between the earls of Suffolk and Warwick was strengthened further. Suffolk's first wife Joan must have died at some unknown point before 1376, when he married Isabel, Warwick's sister.

At the Good Parliament in 1376, Suffolk was elected to a committee that would discuss the parliament's grievances concerning the failed fiscal and military policies of Gaunt, who was the de facto ruler of England. In spite of his association with Gaunt, the parliament trusted Suffolk's neutrality and equality in such a position.

Service to Richard II

Edward III died in 1377 and was succeeded by his ten-year-old grandson, Richard II. At Richard's coronation, Suffolk carried the new king's sceptre, and he was later appointed to Richard's minority council. Even after the council was disbanded in January 1380, he remained a central figure at court, participating in the negotiations for the king's marriage to Anne of Bohemia, and mediating in a conflict between John of Gaunt and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland.

Suffolk was the dominant magnate in the East Anglia region. When the region's peasants revolted in 1381, he became a central figure in their repression. While in Bury St Edmunds, he was taken by surprise by the rebels while eating dinner. The rebel leader, Geoffrey Litster, attempted to force Suffolk to join the rebellion, hoping to lend legitimacy to the cause. When this failed, Litster turned to other prominent men. Suffolk then fled disguised as a groom, reaching London by way of St Albans. He soon returned to Bury with a force of 500 lances, and met little resistance. Much of the work suppressing the rebellion had been undertaken by Henry Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, leaving Suffolk to apprehend the remaining rebels for trial. In the rebellion Suffolk suffered financially: the peasants plundered property worth £1,000 from his castle at Mettingham. Politically, he was a conciliatory person, and this quality had facilitated reconciliation in situations such as Gaunt's conflict with parliament or the quarrel between Gaunt and Percy. In 1385, the earldom of Suffolk was restored for Michael de la Pole, who received a great portion of Ufford's lands to support his title.