Sir Rhys Griffith of Penrhyn, High Sheriff for Caernarvon

  Research Notes:

Source: The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd by J. Y. W. Lloyd, Vol. IV, London, 1884, p. 342.
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From Welsh Biography Online (http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s1-GRIF-PEN-1300.html) :
"His eldest son, William, d. young and he was succeeded by his second son, EDWARD GRIFFITH, b. 18 May 1511 (P.R.O. Min. Acc., 4948), he was a correspondent of Thomas Cromwell, mainly in connection with his feud with Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris (see under Bulkeley family ); he paid Cromwell an annuity of ten marks for some years and attempted, unsuccessfully, to gain possession of the Dominican friary at Bangor after its dissolution. He was probably the Edward Griffith who, as yeoman of the guard, was granted a water-mill in the lordship of Denbigh in 1537. He was acting on a number of commissions in North Wales until April of 1539, but in Oct. of that year he was sent with Sir William Brereton (D.N.B. Suppt., i, 264) to Ireland; his command (two grand captains, three petty captains, 250 archers, three priests, and two minstrels) was equivalent to that of Brereton and he was a member of the Irish privy council. He d. of 'the flux' at Dublin 11 March 1540. He m. Jane, daughter of Sir John Puleston of Bersham . (L. and P. Henry VIII, viii, 122, 644, 925, xii, part i, 539 (14), 655, 1154, xiii, part i, 384 (91), 1289, xiv, part i, 732, 802, 803, 816, part ii, 40, 616, 759, 782, 1539; xv, 74, 82, 199, 327, 342, 355.) His death precipitated a long dispute between RHYS GRIFFITH his younger brother, who claimed the estates as heir male, and John Puleston, Edward Griffith's father-in-law, acting for his daughter and her three children (Jane, Catherine, and Ellen). Puleston asked Cromwell for the wardship of the children, and offered him £40 for his good offices; Rhys Griffith complained that during his absence in Ireland 'on the king's service,' his sister-in-law and her father had ransacked Penrhyn, leaving 'nothing but the bare walls.' The lord chancellor and the master of the court of wards made an arbitration in 1542, but the problems involved were still unsettled in 1559. Even after the death of Rhys Griffith in 1580, Sir Edward Bagnall, who had m. one of Edward Griffith's daughters, was still pursuing his wife's claims in the court of wards. (Penrhyn MSS. 50, 2197; N.L.W. Jnl., iii, 40; Lewis , Early Chancery Procs., 21, 22, 288, 290; Lewis and Davies, Augmentation Recs., 51; L. and P. Henry VIII, v, no. 724 (10), xv, 433, 661, xvii, 466, xix 812 (16), Addenda, i, part ii, 1462; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward VI, iv, 36; Acts Privy Council, 1580-1, 289; P.R.O., Court of Requests Procs., bundle iv, no. 258; bundle vi, no 210.)

"Poems by William Cynwal and Siôn Brwynog (qq.v.) refer to the prowess of Rhys Griffith (d. 1580) in the Irish wars, while Siôn Tudur (q.v.) implies that he had spent much of his earlier life in London. (Mostyn MSS. 1, 159; Llên Cymru, ii, 88-9.) He m. (1) c. 1526, Margaret, daughter of Morris ap John of Clenennau (see under Maurice and Owen of Clenennau ); by this marriage there were five sons and two daughters. (2) c. 1551, Jane, daughter of Dafydd ap William ap Griffith of Cochwillan . (3) c. 1566, Catherine, daughter of Piers Mostyn of Talacre (see under Mostyn of Talacre ); by this marriage there were two sons, Piers and William (Griffith , Pedigrees, 185 is inaccurate on these marriages; for the second marriage, see Penrhyn MSS. 58-61.) He was knighted at the coronation of Edward VI (1547) and on the accession of Mary was recommended by Nicholas Heath, archbishop of York and president of Wales, as a suitable member of parliament for Caernarvonshire. He was not elected, but was Member of Parliament for the borough of Caernarvon in 1555 and high sheriff of Caernarvonshire in 1566-7. (Cal. Wynn Papers, 19; Williams , Parl. Hist. Wales, 65; Breeze , Kalendars, 52.) He d. 30 July 1580 (Penrhyn MSS: 78-82) and was succeeded by Pirs Griffith (q.v.) , his eldest son by the third marriage. During his lifetime the estate passed by purchase into the possession of John Williams (1582-1650) (q.v.) of the kindred house of Williams of Cochwillan (see Williams family of Cochwillan )."

Rhys married Catherine of Talacre, daughter of Pyers Mostyn of Talacre and Unknown, about 1566.