MANSEL, BUSSY (1623 - 1699), of Briton Ferry, Glamorganshire, parliamentary commander and Member of Parliament

Born in 1623, the younger but only surviving son of Arthur Mansel of Briton Ferry (third son of Sir Thomas Mansel, baronet, of Margam, who died 1631) and Jane, daughter and heiress of William Price of Briton Ferry. At the early age of 22 Bussy Mansel was appointed, 17 November 1645, commander-in-chief of the parliamentary forces in Glamorgan. He was added to the High Court of Justice, 25 June 1651, received a commission, 13 July 1659, as colonel 'to command the Militia Troop in cos. Pembroke, Carmarthen, and Cardigan,' and on 30 July in the same year, to command 'the whole militia forces in South Wales, horse and foot, to lead them against the enemy if need be.' He had previously (14 March 1654) been appointed a militia commissioner for South Wales. Among other appointments held by him was that of membership of the County Committee for Glamorgan, 1645, commissioner to raise money in Glamorgan (February 1647), an assessment commissioner for Glamorgan (1657), commissioner for providing for the safety of Oliver Cromwell (4 May 1658), and a commissioner under the Act for ejecting insufficient ministers and schoolmasters. Document 1137 amongst the Penrice and Margam muniments in N.L.W. is a warrant of justices in the county of Glamorgan to the governor of Chepstowcastle, authorising the release of Bussy Mansell and others who had been arrested as 'disaffected and suspitious persons.' The warrant is dated 25 July 1685, one of the signatories being Sir Edward Mansell, bart., of Margam.

Mansel was elected Member of Parliament for Glamorgan in 1679 (twice) and again in 1689, 1690, 1695, and 1698. He had married 17 April 1646, Catherine, daughter of Hugh Perry and widow of Sir Edward Stradling of S. Donat's castle, Glamorgan. (Catherine must have been his first wife).

Some of Bussy's correspondence for the period 1670-95 is preserved among the Penrice and Margam muniments; the references are L 104a and b, 126, 149, 190, 206, 224, 228-9, 232-5, 238, 240-2, 244, 260, 263, 293-5. L 104 (14 and 15 February 1669/70) refers to the working of a coal mine. L 149 shows that Bussy had married, as his second wife, an Anne, to whom he writes on 5 May 1678, requesting her to pay Sir Edward Mansell the sum of £62 ls. 6d., 'Sir Edward haveing allready disbursed soe much for me to my souldiers …' L 190 (16 August 1687) is a letter to him about timber bought of Sir Humphrey Mackworth, L 224, dated 5 April 1691, refers to the impressment of seamen. In some of the letters, many of which are addressed to his kinsman, Sir Edward Mansel, bart., Bussy gives parliamentary and other news from London.

Bussy Mansel died in May 1699 (buried at Briton Ferry 25 May 1699 - his will is dated 30 March 1699), leaving as his heir his grandson THOMAS MANSEL (Clark, Cartae, vi, 2250), who, on his death in 1706, was succeeded in the ownership of the Briton Ferry estate by BUSSY, 4th baron Mansel, who married (2) lady Barbara, daughter of William, 2nd earl of Jersey.

Author

• Sir William Llewelyn Davies, (1887 - 1952)

Sources

• G. T. Clark, Cartae et Alia Munimenta quae ad Dominium de Glamorgan pertinent (1910)
• W. R. Williams, The parliamentary history of the principality of Wales, from the earliest times to the present day, 1541-1895 (Brecknock 1895)
• Archaeologia Cambrensis, II, ii, 238
• The Journals of the House of Lords viii, 52
• Memorials of the English Affairs (1709, 1853), 180
• Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1645-7 (136), 1651 (266-7), 1658-9 (325), 1659-60 (24, 56)
• Richard Symonds, Diary of the marches of the Royal Army during the great Civil War (London 1859)
• Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Rep. Portland MSS., i, 345, 351-2
• Calendar of the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, etc., 1643–1660, i, 747
• W. de Gray Birch, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Penrice and Margam Abbey Manuscripts in the possession of Miss Talbot of Margam (London 1893-1905), iii, no. 1137
• C. A. Maunsell and E. P. Statham, History of the family of Maunsell (Mansell, Mansel) (London 1920)
• N.L.W., A Schedule of Penrice and Margam Muniments deposited by the trustees of the Margam Estate (Aberystwyth 1942), ii

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Bussy Mansell

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q5002050

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/