SALESBURY, John (1533-80), of Rûg, Corwen, Merion. and Bachymbyd, Denb.

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

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1553

Family and Education

b. 1533, 1st s. of Robert Salesbury of Rûg and Bachymbyd by Catherine, da. of John ap Madog of Bodvel, Llanor, Caern. m. by 1566, Elizabeth, da. of Sir John Salusbury of Lleweni, Denb., 3s. inc. Robert 2da. suc. fa. 1551.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Merion. 1558-9, 1577-8; commr. eisteddfod, Caerwys, Flints. 1568, musters, Denb. 1570, 1580, tanneries, Denb. 1574, felons, Merion., Mont. 1575; j.p. Denb., Merion. 1577, q.1579.

Biography

The Salesburys of Rûg were a junior branch of the Salusburys of Lleweni. John Salesbury was a minor when his father died, and the cost of his wardship, his father’s debts to the Exchequer and various penalties imposed upon him by the court of wards for offences against feudal law, constituted a drain on family finances and delayed him entering upon his lands. When he eventually came into his estates in 1557, Salesbury was in possession of the former royal manors of Rûg and Glyndyfrdwy, Merioneth, and Dinmael and Bachymbyd, Denbighshire. He consolidated his position in the latter county by renewing a lease on the demesne lands of Ruthin and purchasing two parks near Ruthin, Clocaenog and Pool, and he was elected for Denbighshire when his relatives at Lleweni could not put up a candidate from their own ranks. That he did not represent Merioneth in this period was due to his long-standing feud with Ellis Price, the Earl of Leicester’s land agent in north Wales, whose interference in Merioneth Salesbury naturally resented. He unsuccessfully contested the county in 1571.

In 1577 Salesbury considered buying further estates which would have extended his lordship of Glyndyfrdwy to the whole commote of Edeyrnion, but nothing came of it. He made his will on 14 Nov. 1580 and it was proved by his widow the following 6 Feb. He committed his heir to the care of ‘my singular good lord and lady the Earl and Countess of Warwick’, expressing the wish that he should be educated in the Bromley household and that he should eventually marry the daughter of Sir George Bromley.

Salusbury Corresp. ed. Smith (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xiv), passim; CPR, 1547-8, p. 374; 1553-4, p. 12; 1555-7, p. 243; 1557-8, p. 31; J. Hurstfield, Queen’s Wards, 179; NLW, Chirk castle mss F 12540, 1, 5, 13, 22-3, 219; HMC Welsh, i(1), 291; Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, Marches of Wales, 69, 127, 146, 205, 220-1; PCC 5 Darcy.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes