William Thomas (politician)

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William Thomas (* 1551 ; † September 22, 1586 near Zutphen ) was a Welsh nobleman, politician and military. He was elected twice to the House of Commons .

Origin and advancement

William Thomas came from the old Welsh Thomas family . He was the eldest son of Rhys Thomas and his wife Jane. William grew up in the household of Anne , the widow of the former Lord Protector Edward Seymour . There he should have learned Latin as well as Italian and French. When he came of age, he returned to Wales, where he soon held important offices in both Carmarthenshire and North Wales. From about 1575 he was Justice of the Peace for Caernarvonshire and from 1578 for Anglesey and 1579 for Merionethshire . In 1576 and 1582 he served as sheriff of Carmarthenshire, from 1578 to 1579 he was sheriff of Anglesey and from 1580 to 1581 sheriff of Caernarvonshire. After his father's death in 1577, he inherited his extensive estates in Caernarvonshire and the Isle of Anglesey and the lands of Aberglasney in Carmarthenshire .

Prior to 1578, he was accused of having illegally acquired property in Llanwnda , Dinas Binlle and other locations. The lawsuit was believed to have been brought by the Earl of Leicester , from whom his father leased land. An investigation showed, however, that the allegations were baseless, because there was no trial. As a result, the allegations were brought before the Star Chamber again in 1580 . The outcome of this lawsuit is unknown.

Election to the House of Commons and military service

As a leading member of the gentry of North Wales and with the help of his influential relatives, Thomas was elected in 1576 in a by-election to succeed the late John Gwynne and in the subsequent general election in 1584 as Knight of the Shire for Caernarvonshire. In the House of Commons, however, he apparently hardly appeared at all, instead serving primarily as the military. After initially fighting during the Desmond Rebellion in Ireland , he led 200 Welsh foot soldiers in the army of the Earl of Leicester in Flanders in 1585 , who supported the Netherlands in the War of Independence against Spain . He fell in the battle of Zutphen .

Marriage and offspring

Thomas had married Ellen Griffith, daughter of the influential William Griffith of Plas Mawr in Caernarvon . With her he had five sons and four daughters. His heir became his eldest son of the same name, William Thomas .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Francis Jones: Aberglasney and its Families. In: National Library of Wales Journal, 1979, p. 5
personal data
SURNAME Thomas, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh nobleman, politician and military
DATE OF BIRTH 1551
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 1586
Place of death at Zutphen