Montgomeryshire

County

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Elections

DateCandidate
28 Jan. 1559EDWARD HERBERT I
1562/3EDWARD HERBERT I
1571EDWARD HERBERT I
1572JOHN PRICE II
31 Oct. 1584RICHARD HERBERT I
1 Oct. 1586OLIVER LLOYD
26 Oct. 1588EDWARD HERBERT I
 Arthur Price
1593REGINALD WILLIAMS
17 Sept. 1597WILLIAM HERBERT III
10 Oct. 1601EDWARD HERBERT III

Main Article

Edward Herbert I of Montgomery castle was unquestionably the most powerful figure in the county at the beginning of the reign and the representation of the shire was entirely in his hands. He himself monopolized the county seat in the first three Parliaments and then nominated his fellow deputy lieutenant and brother-in-law, John Price II, in 1572, his son and heir, Richard Herbert I, in 1584 and a close associate, Oliver Lloyd of Leighton, in 1586.

By 1588 Edward Herbert I was 75 years of age and nobody can have expected him to stand again for election. Indeed, at first he did not intend to do so. The original candidate was Arthur Price, younger brother of John Price II of Newtown, who had enjoyed Herbert support in earlier years. However, the ties between the two houses had been loosened by the death of Edward Herbert I’s wife, Elizabeth née Price, and new alliances which were bound to alienate the Herberts had been formed between the Prices and the Vaughans of Llwydiarth. In addition, Arthur Price, as younger brother, was thought ‘not so fit’ to be knight of the shire. Another candidate, Rowland Pugh, was consequently put up to contest the election. As nephew of Edward Herbert I he obviously considered that he could count on the support of the Herbert followers, but he found that Price had already secured the allegiance of many, including the newly emerged magnate, Edward Herbert II, lord of Powis castle. Jenkin Lloyd, the sheriff, and the rest of the anti-Price faction revised their tactics, persuaded Pugh to step down and Edward Herbert I to put himself forward, thus hoping to rally the Herbert defectors. After many scandalous incidents including a display of gross partisanship by the sheriff, Edward Herbert I was returned.

The remaining elections passed off quietly. In Reginald Williams, who lived at Plas y Court on the border between Shropshire and Montgomeryshire, the 1593 election produced a Member who owed allegiance to neither the Herberts nor the Prices. The Herberts reasserted their hold on the county seat in the last two Parliaments of the reign, one election favouring the Herberts of Powis castle, the other those of Montgomery castle.

Neale, Commons, 99-110.

Author: M.A.P.

Notes