TUDOR family of Penmynydd, Anglesey - later members.

For the early history to 1412, see the article on Ednyfed Fychan.

The Penmynydd or senior branch of the family to which Owain Tudor and his royal descendants were related continued to be represented among the Anglesey squirearchy down to the beginning of the 18th century. From the time of Goronwy (died 1382) the family estate passed in direct male succession for a period of seven generations. It was Owain, grandson of Goronwy, who appears to have been the first of this branch of the family to adopt the surname Tudor, transformed into Theodore in the time of his son, RICHARD OWEN THEODORE I. This was the surname borne by all subsequent heirs with one break when a second son succeeded an older brother in the time of Elizabeth. The last of this name was RICHARD OWEN THEODORE V (fl. 1657), who was succeeded by a daughter, MARGARET, wife of Coningsby Williams of Glan-y-gors. There was no issue of this marriage, and the Penmynydd estates consequently passed to MARY OWEN THEODORE, sister of Richard Owen Theodore V, and wife of Rowland Bulkeley of Porthamel. Their son, FRANCIS BULKELEY, inherited the Penmyaydd property, which, owing to his prodigality, had before his death in 1722 passed into the hands of the Bulkeley family of Baron Hill.

The marriages contracted by successive generations of the family were in the main with small Anglesey gentry of the same class as themselves, such as Presaddfed, Penheskin, and Porthamel, although a marriage into the family of Bolde appears to have been advantageous enough to induce several of the younger children of that marriage to adopt the surname Bolde. There is no record that a single squire of Penmynydd between Goronwy and Coningsby Williams (he was Member of Parliament for Beaumaris) played a prominent part in even local affairs. The shrievalty came to them in their turn during the 17th century, but even in the Civil War they do not appear to have been in any way influential. One of their number, DAVID OWEN THEODORE, it is true, got himself unwittingly entangled in a slightly compromising matter of state in the time of Elizabeth (his role in the affair was a very minor and humble kind), and it was said that David's brother, JOHN, was a dissident exile serving the queen's enemies. The gulf between this remote country family and their royal kinsmen had become so wide by 1600 that an official writing to Cecil seemed to have doubts as to the genuineness of their genealogical link with the royal family. Indeed, judging from the almost complete lack of colour in this particular chapter of Tudor family history, all the later squires of the senior line may well have possessed some, if not all, the attributes ascribed to one of their number by his wealthiest and most influential neighbour - ' a poor gentleman of mean living, who giveth himself only to good fellowship, pleasure and hunting, without respect of his profit, and of a plain wit.'

Author

• Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, (1905 - 1964)

Sources

• Archaeologia Cambrensis, III, xv, 394
• Anglesey Antiquarian Society & Field Club Transactions, 1394-5
• [ J. E. Griffith, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families (1914), 106 - see also the articles on Perri, Henry and Maurice, Henry, 1647-91]

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Tudors of Penmynydd

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q7851349

Published date: 1959

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