VAUGHAN, Sir Roger (d.1571), of Porthaml, Talgarth, Brec.

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

Constituency

Dates

Mar. 1553
Oct. 1553
Apr. 1554

Family and Education

1st s. of Sir William Vaughan of Porthaml by Catherine, da. of Jenkin Harvard of Brec. m. (1) Catherine, da. of (Sir) George Herbert of Swansea, Glam., 5s. inc. Rowland; (2) Eleanor, da. of Henry, 2nd Earl of Worcester. suc. fa. 1546 or later. Kntd. 1551.1

Offices Held

J.p. Brec. from 1543, q. by 1559, sheriff 1551-2, custos rot. by 1559; commr. armour 1569, musters 1570, church goods, Brec. and Herefs. 1553; steward of castles and lordships and keeper of parks, Huntington and Kington, Herefs. from May 1554.2

Biography

The Vaughans of Porthaml were a junior branch of the Vaughans of Tretower, Breconshire; both, with many other branches, were descended from Roger Vaughan of Bredwardine, Herefordshire, who fell at Agincourt. His son Sir Roger, founder of the Tretower Vaughans, owed his pre-eminence in Breconshire to the favour of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Sir Roger’s younger son settled at Porthaml and acquired the stewardship of the lordship of Dinas, and his grandson Sir William (the MP’s father) further advanced the family fortune and prestige by securing the wardship of the coheiresses of New Court, Herefordshire, and the office of chancellor and receiver of the lordship of Brecknock. He was the first sheriff of the newly formed shire.3

In 1546 Sir William handed over his offices in the lordship of Brecon to his son Roger, and probably died soon afterwards. Roger took up his father’s leases of crown land in Breconshire, and as justice of the peace in the 1560s he was involved in the investigation of the ‘miraculous apparition’ in the grounds of St. Donats, Glamorganshire, and its supposed exploitation in Catholic interests by the owner, Sir Thomas Stradling. Ten years after that he was accused in Star Chamber of ‘maintaining’ a Herefordshire murderer, and that in association with a priest suspected of popish practices.4

He died on 16 June 1571; complications over the inheritance postponed administration of the estate until 31 Mar. 1585. His widow married Sir Henry Jones.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes

  • 1. Wards 7/14/91; DWB, 999; T. Jones, Brec. iii. 43; Dwnn, Vis. Wales, i. 189.
  • 2. CPR, 1550-3, p. 394; 1553, App. Edw. VI, pp. 364, 409, 414; 1560-3, p. 445; 1563-6, p. 29; DWB; Exchequer, ed. E. G. Jones (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. iv), 34; Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, Marches of Wales, 60, 69.
  • 3. DWB, 996-7, 1000-1; Tretower Court (Min. of Works), 4.
  • 4. CPR, 1555-7, p. 518; 1558-60, p. 207; 1563-6, p. 412; Augmentations, ed. Lewis and Davies (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xiii), 199, 206, 218-19; Star Chamber, ed. Edwards (same ser. i), 27; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 176; Welsh Rev. 1947, pp. 33 seq.
  • 5. Wards 7/14/91; PCC admon. act bk. 1585, f. 134.