Sir William Griffith of Penrhyn, Chamberlain of North Wales ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

   Other names for William were William Griffith Fychan, Gwilym Fychan ap Gwilym ap Gruffydd, William Fychan ap Gwilym of Penrhyn, 1st Chamberlain of North Wales, William Vaughan ab Gwilym Chamberlain of North Wales, Gwilym Fychan ap Gwilym ap Gruffydd of Penrhyn, 1st Chamberlain of North Wales and William Vaughan 1st Chamberlain of North Wales.

  Research Notes:

From The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd, Vol. IV, p. 342:
"William Fychan of Penrhyn, Chamberlain of North Wales. He was made a denizen of England, 18 Henry VI, upon the condition of his not marrying a Welshwoman. He was living 10th August 1466."

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From Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales, Vol. I, p. 362:
"William Gruffydd, or Gwilym Vychan, ancestor of the Griffiths of Penrhyn, Plasnewydd, Carreglwyd, Pencraig, and Carnarvon."

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From Reifsnyder-Gillam Ancestry, pp. 57-58:

"VII. LADY JANE TROUTBECK, daughter of Sir William Troutbeck, married Sir William Griffith, Knight, of Penrhyn, in the county of Caernarvon, as appear of record in the Visitations of Lewis Dwnn, II, 154-5, Harl. MSS. No. 1424, fo. 135b., also MS. of the celebrated antiquary, Robert Vaughan, of Hengwrt, Known as the Hengwrt MS. 96, p. 603 (vide Montgomeryshire Collections, by the Powysland Club), vol XXV., page 98. The translation of this MS. is as follows:

'Wm. Vaughan (Vychan) Chamberlain of No. Wales (son of Gwilym ab Gruffydd ab Gullym ab Gruffydd ab Heilen, by his 2d wife Sioned (Jonet) D. of Sir W. Stanley of Hooton, Chamberlain of No. Wales and Chester), and had all the land of his father, and the lands also of Paris, (from whom Paris Mountain), by his mother's influence, and in the 18th year of Henry VI. (1440) he got himself made a denizen of England, under covenant that he should not marry any Welsh woman, so he married Alice, dau. and heir of Sir Richard Dalton, kt., by a daughter of Lord Clifford, his wife. Their son, Sir william Griffith, Hael (the Liberal), m. Jane, dau. of Sir Wm. Troutbeck, Kt., by his wife, a sister to Sir Thomas Stanley.'

"Sir William Griffith must, therefore, have been born subsequent to the year 1440, and succeeded his father as Chamberlain of North Wales, some time after 10th of August , 1466, for his said father was alive upon the last mentioned day."

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From Welsh Biography Online (http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s1-GRIF-PEN-1300.html) :
"Some time after 1405 he m. Joan, daughter of Sir William Stanley of Hooton, Ches., thus beginning a long and profitable connexion with the rising star of that family. His son by his first wife inherited only his mother's property at Penmynydd, and he was the ancestor of the later Theodores of that place (see Tudor family, of Penmynydd ). Gwilym ap Griffith d. in 1431, leaving his great possessions in Anglesey and Caernarvonshire to his son by the second marriage. (Penrhyn manuscripts, passim; Trans. Angl. Antiq. Soc., 1951, 34-72; J. R. Jones, 'The development of the Penrhyn estate to 1431', University of Wales M.A. thesis, unpublished.)

"From 1431 to 1531 the son, grandson, and great-grandson of Gwilym ap Griffith (each named Gwilym) held the estate and added to it. (During the 15th cent. the surname 'Griffith' became established and 'Gwilym' became 'William' in non-Welsh records.) All three showed outstanding skill in steering a safe and profitable course through the dangerous waters of 15th cent. politics; in particular, they allied themselves with prominent English houses, especially the pliant Stanleys - a process which began with the marriage of Gwilym ap Griffith to Joan Stanley of Hooton. The son of that marriage, GWILYM FYCHAN (c. 1420-1483), was under the tutelage of his Stanley kinsmen until he came of age (Penrhyn MSS. 17-18). In 1440 he received letters of denization, freeing him from the operation of the penal laws passed against Welshmen during the Glynd revolt, on condition that he did not marry a Welsh-woman or hold office; the ban on holding office was raised in 1443 on the ground that his mother was a Stanley (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1436-41 (416), 1441-6 (164). He m., before 1447, Ales, daughter and heiress of Sir Richard Dalton of Apthorp, Northants.; the marriage almost certainly reflects the Stanley connection, for Ales Dalton was grand-daughter by her second marriage of Isabel de Pilkington whose daughter by Thomas de Lathom, her first husband, brought Lathom and Knowsley to the Stanleys. (Dwnn, Visitations, ii, 155; Penrhyn MSS. 1-4, 7-9, 13; G.E.C., Complete Peerage, iv, 205 n. c.; D.N.B., liv., 75.) He m. (2) Gwenllian, daughter of Iorwerth ap David; ROBERT, his eldest son by this marriage, was the ancestor of the family of Griffith of Plasnewydd, Anglesey, and Llanfairis-gaer, Caerns.; EDMUND, the second son, founded the estate of Carreg-lwyd, Anglesey . See Griffith , Pedigrees, 47, 56, 57, and articles Griffith of Carreg-lwyd and Griffith, George, 1601-1666 . In 1451 he was member of a commission appointed to examine the reasons why the revenues of Merioneth were in arrear (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1446-52, 480) and between 1457 and 1463 he was deputy to various chamberlains of North Wales (Davies, Conway and Menai Ferries, 47; P.R.O. Min. Acc., 1154/3, 1180/3). He does not appear to have held the office of chamberlain. He was probably the William Griffith who, as 'marshall of the King's Hall,' received grants from Edward IV in 1462 and 1464, and he served on a number of North Wales commissions during Edward's reign (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-7 (117, 293, 329), 1467-77 (54, 490), 1476-85 (121)). He was d. by 13 Sept. 1483 (Penrhyn MSS. 38-9). A number of contemporary poets (qq.v.) sang his praises - Cynwrig ap Dafydd Goch , Dafydd ab Edmwnd , Guto'r Glyn , Rhys Goch Eryri , and Robin Ddu (Mostyn MSS. 148, 493, 495, 498, 542; Llanst. MSS. 118, 78; Gwaith Dafydd ab Edmwnd (ed. T. Roberts ), 107; Gwaith Guto'r Glyn (ed. J. Ll. Williams and I. Williams ), 52, 55; Iolo Goch ac Eraill (ed. H. Lewis , T. Roberts and I. Williams ), 307; H. T. Evans , Wales and the Wars of the Roses, 14)."

  Birth Notes:

Glenda Turcks http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=nanatea&id=I33919 has b. abt 1420, as does Welsh Biography Online. Another source has 1415.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Appointed: Chamberlain of North Wales, 1439.

William married Alice Dalton, daughter of Sir Richard Dalton of Apthorp, Northants. and Isabel Stanley, in 1444 in Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, England. (Alice Dalton was born about 1425 in Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, England and died in 1483.)

William next married Gwenllian verch Iorwerth ap David about 1483.