HERBERT, Matthew I (by 1537-1603), of Coldbrook, Mon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1537, 1st s. of William Herbert of Coldbrook by his 1st w. Denise, da. of John Agmondesham of Leatherhead, Surr.; half-bro of Charles. ?educ. G. Inn 1543. m. Anne, da. of Matthew Herbert of Cogan Pill, Glam., gd.-da. of Sir George Herbert of Ewyas, Herefs. and Swansea, Glam., 3s. 4da. suc. fa. 1579 or later.

Offices Held

Receiver, duchy of Lancaster, Monmouth by 1580-d.; j.p. Mon. 1575-83, q. 1584-d.; sheriff 1583-4, 1594-5; dep. lt. Oct. 1595.

Biography

The Herberts of Coldbrook were descended from a brother of the 1st Earl of Pembroke of the first creation. Herbert himself inherited from his mother the manor of Leatherhead and other properties in Surrey, some of which were disposed of by licence from the hanaper in 1560. At the time of his election for the county, Herbert’s father was sheriff of Monmouthshire. Herbert’s name does not occur in the journals of the 1563 Parliament. He was a violent man who kept ‘a very great store of unlawful weapons’ in his house at Abergavenny, where he attempted to pack the town council ‘by all ways and means practising to place in office such persons as either were his retainers or pleased him best’. His conduct on at least one occasion was the subject of inquiry by the Privy Council and the council in the marches of Wales. Herbert died in 1603.

Bradney, Mon. i(2), 189; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xv), 376; Vis. Surr. (Harl. Soc. xliii), 54; CPR, 1558-60, pp. 259-60; Clark, Limbus, 286, 293; Somerville, Duchy, i. 651; APC, xiii. 115; xxv. 18; St. Ch. 5/P3/14, P49/27, P55/9; CSP Dom.1581-90, p. 250.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes