BROUGHTON family of Marchwiel, Denbighshire
The Broughton family probably originated in and took their name from the township of that name in Cheshire; they first appear on the western side of the Dee in the 16th century, when RALPH BROUGHTON was in possession of Plas Isa, Is-y-coed, Denbighshire. His third son VALENTINE BROUGHTON (died 1603), alderman of Chester, was an early benefactor if not founder of Wrexham grammar school. MORGAN BROUGHTON (c. 1544 - c. 1614), Ralph Broughton's grandson (and heir to the Plas Isa estate), added to it that of Marchwiel Hall by his marriage to the daughter of Henry Parry of Basingwerk and Marchwiel, and was sheriff of Denbighshire in 1608. His eldest son Sir EDWARD BROUGHTON was knighted in 1618 (18 March). In 1639 (22 January) he was pardoned (on the petition of his wife and the certificate of judge Sir Wm. Jones and Sir Thomas Trevor) for abetting murder. On the outbreak of the second bishops' war he tried to get some mitigation of the burdens imposed on Denbighshire (May 1639); and as a commissioner of array for Denbighshire (September 1642) and major in the forces raised in North Wales (November 1643), he was seized in his house by Myddelton's forces (November 1643) on their first invasion of North Wales. His younger brother ROBERT BROUGHTON of Stryt-yr-hwch, Marchwiel, fourth son of Morgan Broughton, was captain of the 150 men raised in Denbighshire for the second bishops' war and led them in the northern campaign. He was a colonel in the forces sent to quell the Irish rebellion of 1641, but brought his regiment back to Chester in January 1644 to serve against the Roundheads, and was made Royalist governor of Shrewsbury (18 August 1644). He was captured in the battle of Montgomery (17 September 1644), but was released and did further service in the Royalist cause in North Wales in 1645. WILLIAM BROUGHTON, third son of Morgan Broughton, was also a captain in the Royal army.
Sir EDWARD BROUGHTON (died 1665), heir of the above Sir Edward, fought as a lieutenant on the king's side in the Civil War, commanded the foot at Winnington Bridge in Booth's rebellion, and as one of the garrison which held Chirk castle against Lambert (August 1659) was specifically excluded from the articles of surrender granted by Lambert when the castle was taken. He was imprisoned in the Gatehouse, Westminster, and on release married as his second wife the recently widowed wife of the keeper, Mary Wyke, after settling on her all his estates (6-7 April 1660) and binding himself to good behaviour in a famous written imprecation (printed in Pennant, Tours, 1883 ed., iii, 286-8), being thereupon admitted to the lucrative leasehold interest of the Wykes in the Gatehouse and its precincts. He lived on this property till he was killed at sea in the Dutch war (26 June 1665) and buried at Westminster abbey - before the award of a baronetcy could be formally completed, though the title is sometimes used in legal documents and was assumed by his son EDWARD (or Sir EDWARD) BROUGHTON (1661 - 1718), sheriff of Denbighshire in 1698 and the last of his line. ROBERT BROUGHTON, third son of the first Sir Edward and brother of the naval hero, was a major in the Royalist forces in the Civil War, was wounded at Wem (17-18 October 1643), and was one of the envoys sent by Thomas Myddelton (later 1st baronet,) to negotiate the surrender of Chirk castle on the collapse of Booth's revolt (24 August 1659). Another brother, FRANCIS BROUGHTON, is said to have fought for Parliament. When the Broughton s died out, the Marchwiel estates passed to AQUILA WYKE, of Llwynegryn, Mold, sheriff of Denbighshire in 1743 (died 1772), grandson of lady (Mary) Broughton by her first husband the keeper of the Gatehouse, and eventually to his nephew CHARLES BROWN (sheriff of Denbighshire 1789, Flintshire 1790), on whose death in 1795 the estates were sold.
Author
- Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, (1891 - 1975)
Sources
- Y Cymmrodor, xiv, 42-85
- A. N. Palmer, History of the town of Wrexham its houses, streets, fields, and old families. being the fourth part of "A history of the town and parish of Wrexham" (Wrexham 1893), 105
- A. N. Palmer, History of the thirteen country townships of the old parish of Wrexham, and of the townships of Burras Riffri, Erlas, & Erddig Being the fifth and last part of "A history of the town and parish of Wrexham" (1903), 105
- A. N. Palmer, The town of Holt, in County Denbigh its castle, church, franchise, demesne, fields, etc., together with the parish of Isycoed adjoining (London 1910), 149
- John Roland Phillips, Memoirs of the Civil War in Wales and the Marches, 1642–1649 (London 1874), ii, 88, 125, 137, 202
- Historical Manuscripts Commission, The manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Portland, [formerly] preserved at Welbeck Abbey, i, 684
- Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1637-8, 271, 1638-9, 343, 1659-60, 170
- The Journals of the House of Commons, vii, 791
- N.L.W., Chirk Castle Manuscripts at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, letters E 6104, 6108, 6110
- N.L.W., Brogyntyn MSS. at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, unscheduled, warrant of Charles I, 31 December 1645
- N.L.W., Llewenny Manuscripts at the National Library of Wales 3, 59
- N.L.W., Llanfair and Brynodol MSS. at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, bundle 94
- George Edward Cokayne, Complete baronetage (1611-1800) (Exeter 1900-09), iii, 302-3
- Thomas Carte, A Collection of Original Letters and Papers concerning the Affairs of England, from the year 1641 to 1660 (London 1739), 199
- Denbighshire Historical Society Transactions, 1953
Published date: 1959
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