Family and Education

b. by 1526, 1st surv. s. of (Sir) John Puleston of Caernarvon and Bersham by 1st w. m. Ellen, da. of William Williams of Cochwillan, Caern., 6s. 2da. suc. fa. Jan./Feb. 1551.1

Offices Held

Commr. goods of churches and fraternities, Denb. 1553, for the Exchequer, Merion. 1561, piracy Denb. 1565, Caerwys eisteddfod, Flints. 1568, victuals 1574, musters, Denb. 1580; j.p. Denb. 1555-61, q. 1562-d.; sheriff, Denb. 1558-9, 1569-70, Mont. 1571-2; j.p. Caern. 1573/74-d.2

Biography

Of Robert Puleston’s life little has been discovered before his father’s death early in 1551. He had then been for upwards of three years a Member of Edward VI’s first Parliament for Caernarvon Boroughs, an apprenticeship clearly arranged by his father, constable of Caernarvon castle and knight of the shire in the same Parliament.

Under Sir John Puleston’s will Robert Puleston inherited most of the family’s lands in Denbighshire and with them the ancestral home at Bersham; the bulk of the Caernarvonshire land went to a younger brother, but Puleston received some property there, including a house in Caernarvon. It was, however, with Denbighshire that Puleston was to be chiefly concerned and at Bersham that he was to settle. (The Robert Puleston, ‘gentleman’, appearing in the Caernarvonshire quarter sessions records in 1552 both as a plaintiff and as a juryman need not have been Puleston of Bersham, for Sir John Puleston had left an illegitimate son of the same christian who was then living in Caernarvon.) He was to be a justice in Denbighshire for nearly 30 years, was to serve twice as sheriff and was to represent the shire in two Parliaments. On both occasions on which Puleston was returned for Denbighshire, to the Parliaments of March 1553 and 1571, the sheriff making the return was his ally Edward Almer: his elections there were perhaps also assisted by his cousin Sir John Salusbury who was one of the leading figures in the county. Puleston died on 15 Aug. 1583 and was succeeded by his son John.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: P. S. Edwards

Notes

• 1. Presumed to be of age at election. Griffith, Peds. 275; A. N. Palmer, Country Townships of Wrexham, app. p. 63; Dwnn, Vis. Wales, ii. 359; PCC 7 Bucke.
• 2. CPR, 1553, p. 419; 1560-3, p. 446; APC, vii. 286; HMC Welsh, i(1), 291; R. Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, the Marches of Wales, 109, 133, 200-1, 205, 212.
• 3. PCC 7 Bucke; Cal. Caern. Q. Sess. Recs. ed. Williams, 66, 88, 91, 110, 237; Dwnn, ii. 359.