HERBERT, Henry (c.1548-98), of Wonastow, Mon.

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

b. c.1548, 1st s. of Thomas Herbert of Wonastow by his 2nd w. Anne, da. of Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, Warws. m. 1577, Lucy (d.1604), da. of William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, 2s. d.v.p. 4da. suc. fa. 1588.

Offices Held

J.p. Mon. from c.1573, sheriff 1588-9, 1597-d.

Biography

Herbert’s mother was a puritan, his wife’s family recusant. His father, sheriff in 1572, procured his return for the county by a ‘blatant trick’ against the better-supported candidature of William Morgan II of Llantarnam. Herbert’s partner in that Parliament was his future wife’s uncle, Charles Somerset, a trustee for the marriage settlement. Herbert died 19 Jan. 1598, during his second term as sheriff and MP, and was buried in Monmouth parish church. As Parliament was dissolved on 9 Feb. 1598, there was presumably no time for a by-election. Herbert may have served on the following committees by virtue of his position as knight of the shire: enclosures (5 Nov.), the poor law (5, 22 Nov.), armour and weapons (8 Nov.), penal laws (8 Nov.), monopolies (10 Nov.), the subsidy (15 Nov.) and Newport bridge (29 Nov.). His two sons died young, leaving the four daughters as co-heiresses; the second, Christiana (eventually sole heiress), married into the family of Milborne, which continued the recusant traditions of Wonastow.

DWB, 916; Bradney, Mon. i. 38-9; Clark, Limbus, 290-1; C142/220/87, 253/67; Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, Marches of Wales, 137; PCC 10 Leicester, 2 Harte; S. Wales and Mon. Rec. Soc. Pub. i. 193; iv. 98; Neale, Commons 84-6; D’Ewes, 552, 553, 555, 557, 561, 565.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes

  • 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.