PRICE, John II (d.1602), of Newtown, Mont.

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

1st s. of Matthew Price of Newtown by his 2nd w. Joan or Joyce and bro. of Arthur. m. Elizabeth, da. of Rhys ap Morris ap Owain, of Aberbechan, nr. Newtown, 4s. 4da. suc. fa. c.1556.1

Offices Held

J.p. Mont. from c.1564, sheriff 1565-6, 1585-6, custodian of arms 1569, commr. on victualling for Ireland, and for tanneries 1574, dep. lt. Mont. 1588; sheriff, Card. 1569-70; prothonotary of Mont., commr. subsidy 1577, 1582.2

Biography

Price was great-grandson of Rhys ap David, who had been squire of the body to Edward IV and was slain at Banbury in 1469, and through him he claimed descent (in common with other Price families of Montgomery and Radnor shires) from the pre-conquest Welsh lords of the land between Wye and Severn. The family position was enhanced by the spoils from the abbey of Strata Florida, and by the marriage of John Price’s sister Elizabeth to Edward Herbert I. Herbert’s and Price’s names are next to each other on a list of 1574 drawn up in the interests of Mary Queen of Scots. At the musters of 1570 Price was one of a dozen Montgomeryshire gentlemen rated at ‘one light horseman furnished’, only Herbert being rated higher. On his mother’s side he was descended from the important Radnorshire family of Price of Monaughty, and the marriage of his wife’s niece into that of Price of Gogerddan extended his influence into Cardiganshire. On the other hand, his eldest son Edward married a daughter of John Owen Vaughan of Llwydiarth, the lifelong foe of the Herberts of Montgomery. This may help to account for the bitter electoral struggle in 1588 between Edward Herbert and John Price’s younger brother Arthur (who had married the Earl of Bath’s daughter and represented Montgomery Boroughs in 1571), in which John lent all his weight as deputy lieutenant to his brother’s cause.3

Price made his will 4 May 1602 when ‘somewhat sick in body ... knowing nothing to be more certain than death, nor anything more uncertain than the hour thereof’. The will was proved on 8 Jan. following. His widow inherited the livestock and movables, while the lands, mainly in the neighbourhood of Newtown, were divided between the three sons, of whom the second, Matthew, founded the family of Price of Parke, while the third, vicar of Kerry, was allotted the tolls of Newtown fair, leased by the family since 1521. It was this third son who built the family mansion of Newtown Hall, which survives as municipal offices. John Price’s eldest grandson John (the future baronet) inherited the profits of the manorial court of Kerry. The Prices retained their importance in Montgomeryshire till the eighteenth century, towards the close of which the family, much reduced in wealth through extravagance, died out.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes

  • 1. C3/140/50; Dwnn, Vis. Wales, i. 313-15; Arch. Camb. 1887, pp. 62-63; Mont. Colls. iii. 158, 306, 400-1; Star Chamber, ed. Edwards (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. i), 129.
  • 2. CPR, 1563-6, p. 30; Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, Marches of Wales, 60, 109, 127, 141, 212; Neale, Commons, 100.
  • 3. Dwnn; Mont. Colls. xxxi. 68-70; Cath. Rec. Soc. Misc. viii. 110; Neale, 100-10; Flenley, 74.
  • 4. PCC 7 Bolein; RCAM Mont. 162 n.; DWB, 802.