PRICE, Cadwaladr (b.c.1561), of Rhiwlas, Merion.

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. c.1561, 1st s. of John Wyn ap Cadwaladr of Rhiwlas by Jane, da. and h. of Thomas ap Robert of Llwyn Dedwydd, Llangwm. educ. Hart Hall, Oxf. 1581. m. Catherine, da. of Sir John Lloyd of Bodidris, Denb., 2s. 2da. suc. fa. by Nov. 1589.1

Offices Held

J.p. Merion., sheriff 1592-3, dep. lt. bef. 1592, rem. 1600.2

Biography

An early Tudor family, the Prices of Rhiwlas were well established in Merioneth by the Elizabethan period. John Wyn ap Cadwaladr represented the county in the 1559 Parliament, and groomed his son for a public careeer. This son, Cadwaladr, with one of his brothers, abandoned his father’s soubriquet of Wyn for the cognomen Price. An important influence behind his election for the county was that of his great-uncle, Dr. Ellis Price. As knight of the shire in 1584 Price could have served on the subsidy committee (24 Feb. 1585).3

In 1592 Price was strongly recommended for the office of sheriff by Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, lord president in the marches of Wales. His nomination was opposed, however, by an old enemy of Price’s family, Robert Salesbury of Rûg, who got the job. At this, Pembroke wrote to Burghley complaining that his recommendation had been ignored, as a result of which the decision was changed and the office given to Price. However, Salesbury had his revenge at the contested county election in 1597, when he backed the successful candidate, Thomas Myddelton, an outsider from Denbighshire, against Price’s nominee and kinsman, John Vaughan of Caergai. Price’s supporters included the Owens of Llwyn and Cae’rberllan. Alleged misdemeanours committed during the election by Price and John Lewis Owen, both of whom were deputy lieutenants of the shire, led to a prosecution in Star Chamber. A petition complaining of their misappropriation of armour and munition levies in the county was also sent in 1598 to the Privy Council, who instructed the 2nd Earl of Pembroke to examine the matter and meanwhile to suspend both of them from their lieutenancies. Two years later the Council advised Pembroke not to renew their appointments.

Price was again involved in a Star Chamber case in 1600, when the attorney-general prosecuted a number of his followers alleged to have rescued him at Llanfor (another family property) while he was under arrest upon a commission of rebellion.4

The Rhiwlas estate was substantial enough to place Price on the highest subsidy rating in the shire (£5 in 1598, £10 in 1600), and to support a family bard, leuan Tew Brydydd, who was one of several Gwynedd bards to sing his praise. Price was dead by November 1608, when his eldest son John was chosen sheriff.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: H.G.O.

Notes

  • 1. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, ii. 228-9; Griffith, Peds. 247; APC, xviii. 206.
  • 2. HMC Hatfield, vii. 485-6; Lansd. 71, f. 197.
  • 3. DWB; E179/222/315-16, 321a; Lansd. 43, anon. jnl. f. 171.
  • 4. NLW, Clennenau Letters, 17; Lansd. 71, f. 197; Harl. 6997; HMC Hatfield, vii. 485-6; St. Ch. 5L/45/36, 5A/45/19; APC, xxviii. 448, 464; xxx. 180-1.
  • 5. E179/222/325-7; HMC Welsh, i. 166; ii. 199, 401, 928.