Family and Education

bap. 27 Oct. 1633, 3rd but 2nd surv. s. of Robert Trelawny†, merchant, of Ham by Anne Crooke of Mevagissey, Cornw., bro. of Samuel Trelawny†.  m. (1) by 1657, Eleanor, da. of Abraham Jennens, merchant, of Plymouth, 4s. 1da.; (2) 8 Apr. 1686, Amy Samways of Mary Tavy, Devon, 1s.  suc. bro. 1666.1

Offices Held

Freeman, W. Looe 1679; alderman, Plymouth 1684–Jan. 1688, mayor 1686–7.2

Biography

A distant cousin of the Trelawnys of Trelawne, Trelawny was, like his father, a Plymouth merchant. He had been a member of the corporation of Plymouth and was returned for the borough at a by-election in 1690. He was listed among those thought likely to defend Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) from parliamentary attack. In April 1691 Robert Harley* classed him as a Court supporter. Unfortunately, the presence of Jonathan Trelawny in the House makes it difficult to ascribe any important activity to him with any certainty. He made repeated attempts to recover the estates at Richmond Island and Cape Elizabeth in New England, granted to his father but lost during the Civil War, even obtaining the assistance of his more illustrious Trelawny relatives. However, he was hampered by ‘the long distance, the loss of many material papers, and above all the knavish combination of the inhabitants’. Neither his own efforts nor those of his son after Trelawny’s death in 1706 met with any success.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 480; Plymouth St. Andrew Reg. (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc.), 585; C 5/270/1; Trelawny Pprs. (Colls. Maine Hist. Soc. ser. 2, iii), 417.
• 2. L. F. W. Jewitt, Hist. Plymouth, 246, 266; PC 2/72/588; info. from Mr J. Derriman.
• 3. Trelawny Pprs. 385–406, 417, 433; Jewitt, 266.