Family and Education

s. of Owen Morgan of Iscoed, St. Ishmael’s, Carm. by Anne, da. of Thomas Phillips, wid. of Lewis Sutton of Haverfordwest. m. (1) Eva, da. of David ap Ieuan, 1da. d.v.p.; (2) 1576, Mary, da. of ?Ludovic Phillipps, 1da.1

Offices Held

J.p. Pemb. and Haverfordwest from c.1559; escheator, Pemb. and Carm. 1576-7.2

Biography

Morgan came of the Morgans of Muddlescombe, Kidwelly, a collateral branch of the Monmouthshire Morgans. His Pembrokeshire lands may have come from his mother, a grand-daughter of the redoubtable Sir Rhys ap Thomas, or from her first husband, and Morgan himself bought property in the county. He also owned property in various towns of Pembrokeshire and in Cardigan. He held the rectory of the Pembrokeshire St. Ishmael’s (part of the estate of the dissolved priory of Haverfordwest) from 1561, but it was granted to another in 1575. At the musters of 1570 Rice Morgan was one of the Pembrokeshire gentlemen assessed at ‘one light horseman furnished’.3

Returned to Parliament through the influence of Sir John Perrot, and paid £1 18s. by the borough for his services, Morgan had, by 1569 gone over to the anti-Perrot faction. In consequence he was deprived of a seat on the town council, and a contemporary account believed him to have been impoverished by Perrot to the tune of £500. At the time of the 1571 election a supporter of the Perrot group ‘railed upon Rhys ap Morgan esq. [saying] that if the Lord had right he should have been hanged 20 years ago’. Still, Morgan’s vote was not challenged and he remained a justice of the peace.4

Morgan died 3 Oct. 1577, leaving a three month-old daughter.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes

• 1. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, i. 198; C142/182/46(1).
• 2. CPR, 1560-3, p. 447; 1563-6, pp. 30, 31; Lansd. 1218, f. 98.
• 3. Dwnn, loc. cit.; C142/182/46(1); Augmentations, ed. Lewis and Davies (Univ. Wales. Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xiii), 476; Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, Marches of Wales, 73-4.
• 4. Haverfordwest corp. recs. 2139, f. 1; Star Chamber, ed. Edwards (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. i), 135; EHR, lxi. 25; Lansd. 72, f. 4.
• 5. Wards 7/19/66.