Family and Education

1st s. of William Hope of Broughton by Margaret, da. of Sir Richard Puleston of Emral, Worthenbury. m. Maud, da. of Thomas Ravenscroft of Bretton, Hawarden, 4s. 2da.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Flints. 1585-6, j.p.q. by 1593.

Biography

The Hopes were relative newcomers to Hawarden, their rise to county status being largely due to prudent marriages. Hope was related through his mother to the Pulestons of Emral, and his cousin Roger Puleston II represented the county in 1589 and became one of its dominant figures. Hope himself married Maud Ravenscroft of Bretton, whose mother was a Grosvenor of Eaton, Cheshire, whose brother George Ravenscroft had represented Flintshire in 1563, and whose lawyer nephew William Ravenscroft was to be knight of the shire in 1586, 1597 and 1601. The marriage also made Hope brother-in-law to Thomas Egerton I, the solicitor-general. In the Commons, Hope, as a knight of the shire, could have attended the subsidy committee, 24 Feb. 1585. His own rating for the subsidy in 1582 was only a quarter that of the Ravenscrofts; 12 years later both estates were rated at £5—the two highest in the extensive parish. He remained on close terms with the Ravenscrofts: in 1581 and again in 1594 he is found leasing lands to a less eminent brother of William Ravenscroft. His name appeared on the subsidy rolls in 1598, being replaced in the following year by that of his eldest son George, who succeeded to the shrievalty but not to the county seat—which indeed was never again held by a Hope.

Dwnn, Vis. Wales, ii. 310, 316; Lloyed, Powys Fadog, v. 266; Lansd. 43, anon. jnl. f. 171; E179/221/218, 219, 221, 223; NLW, Deeds and Documents, iii. 117, 155.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes