The
Trevalun
Trevors
were founded by
RICHARD
, sometimes called
Sir
RICHARD
TREVOR
(
fl.
1500
), 4th son of
John
Trevor
‘
hên
’
and sixteenth in descent ‘o dad i dad’ from
Tudur Trevor
(see under
Trevor
of
Brynkynallt
), who acquired the estate by marriage with
Mallt
, heiress of
David ap Gruffydd
of
Allington
(d.
1476
).
Richard
's great-grandson
JOHN
TREVOR
(d.
1589
) fought in the
French wars
of
Henry
VIII
as a protégé of the powerful
Sackvilles
, and was claimed as an
adherent of Rome
as late as
1574
. He built
Trevalun
in
1576
and spent his later years there, dying in
London
(his wife's home) but charging his heir that his bones should rest with those of his ancestors; the heir erected to his memory in
Gresford church
an alabaster tomb with effigy and
Welsh
inscription (quoted
Palmer
,
Gresford
, 101). A portrait believed to be of this
John
Trevor
still hangs at
Trevalun
.
RICHARD
TREVOR
(d.
1614
), of
Doctors' Commons
(
18 Feb. 1598
), a
judge of admiralty
, was probably
John
Trevor
's brother (
Coote
,
Civilians
, 65,
McClure
,
Letters of J. Chamberlain
, i, 544-5).
Sir
RICHARD
TREVOR
(
1558
-
1638
),
soldier, politician, and Irish administrator
,
was the eldest son of the above
John
Trevor
. Even before inheriting he was involved in
Star Chamber
suits to defend his title, and in the county election of
1588
he aligned himself with the faction (largely recusant in composition) that challenged the dominance of the
Salusbury
s
of
Lleweni
and the
Almer
s
of
Almer
, first as their prospective candidate and then as backer of the victorious
John
Edwards
(see under
Edwards
of
Chirkland
), in association with his father-in-law
Roger
Puleston
of
Emral
. He spent most of
1595-8
campaigning (as
captain of Denbighshire levies
) in
Ireland
, where he was
knighted
by the
lord-deputy
in
May 1597
. He now shared with his three
brothers (below) the patronage of
lord admiral
Howard
of
Effingham
, who made him his
vice-admiral
in
North Wales
(
c. 1596
) and introduced him to parliament for one of his pocket boroughs (
1597
), in return for services rendered by
Trevor
as
deputy-lieutenant
for
Denbighshire
(
1596
) over the county musters for the
Cadiz expedition
of
Howard
and
Essex
, in collusion with
Essex
's
captains
,
John
Salusbury
of
Rûg
and
John
Lloyd
of
Bodidris
, whose son married
Trevor
's daughter. In
1598
he led the whole
North Wales
contingent to
Chester
for embarkation to
Ireland
, but arrived with his own
Denbighshire
quota under strength through his rejection of recruits mustered by adherents of
Lleweni
, whose later attempts to obstruct
Lloyd
's recruiting for
Essex
in
Ireland
drew
Trevor
into a bloody affray at
Ruthin
(
1600
). After
Essex
's execution (
1601
)
Trevor
rallied local sympathisers in a last bid for the county seat at the September election in
Wrexham
, which by coinciding with another
Irish muster
gave cover for carrying arms and provoked a situation so ugly that polling had to be called off till after
Parliament
met, when
Lleweni
carried the day.
Trevor
was dismissed from his deputy-lieutenancy, and for two years involved in
Star Chamber
suits arising out of the
1596
and
1600
musters and the
1601
election, and although this was offset by his appointment to the
Council of Wales
(
1602
), he returned to
Ireland
from
1603-6
, with a command in the
Newry
garrison.
Home on a pension of £50 a year in
1606
, he made his peace with the government, recovered his
deputy-lieutenancy
and served as
sheriff
of
Denbighshire
(
1610
) and
Flintshire
(
1613
), but resigned his
vice-admiralty
in
1626
to his son-in-law
John
Griffith
(see under
Griffith
of
Cefnamwlch
). Meanwhile he was engaged in renewed
Star Chamber
suits with his neighbours (
c. 1610
) and in replying in absentia to charges in the
High Commission Court
(dismissed by
Laud
as ‘
of noe such moment
’) connected with his monument to his wife in
Gresford church
(
1634-5
). He also took out small allotments in the
Ulster
plantation (
1609-11
), but seems to have spent little, if any, time there till at nearly 80 he went out as
governor
of
Newry
and of
Cos. Down
and
Armagh
(
c. 1634-5
). He d. in
1638
, and was buried at
Gresford
, where he is commemorated in a mural monument of his own device. His portrait still hangs at
Trevalun
, which passed (in the absence of male heirs) to his nephew
Sir
John
Trevor
II
(below).
Sir
JOHN
TREVOR
I
(
1563
-
1630
),
naval administrator and politician
,
second son of the elder
John
Trevor
, inherited some of the family lands in
Denbighshire
, to which he defended his title in
Star Chamber
in
1594
, when already residing in
London
in the service of
Howard
of
Effingham
, who had made him his
secretary
c.
1596
and (
21 Dec. 1598
)
surveyor of the queen's ships
at a salary of £40 with a
share of the admiral's farm on sweet wines
, to which
Trevor
added as a further profitable investment the farm of the duty on
Newcastle
coals. He used the income to enlarge the old family mansion of
Plas Têg
,
Flints
, which came to him from a collateral branch, and where he sometimes resided. He
sat in Parliament
from
1592 to 1614
for boroughs under
Howard
control, intent chiefly on
naval and mercantile measures
and the interests of his patron, but also active in
Welsh
concerns like those of the jurisdiction of
Ludlow
(
1606
) and the
Glamorgan floods
of
1607
. He stoutly resisted, in
1613
, a proposed enquiry into naval administration and was named in the impeachment of
Bacon
(
1621
) as one of those who had bribed him. After his patron's death (
1624
)
Trevor
turned to the
3rd earl of Pembroke
, who provided him with
Cornish boroughs
for the next two Parliaments. He was
knighted
13 May 1603
, d. at
Plas Têg
20 Feb. 1630
, and was buried in the neighbouring church of
Hope
.
Bishop
Godfrey
Goodman
calls him ‘
wise, mild, temperate
.’
Sir
SACKVILLE
TREVOR
(d.
c.
1633
),
seaman
,
was the younger brother of
Sir
John
Trevor
I
, named after his father's patron, and himself sharing the patronage of
Howard
of
Effingham
, through whose influence he
commanded successive vessels in the naval campaigns
of
1596-1603
, capturing four
Spanish
ships with valuable cargoes.
James
I
knighted
him at
Chatham
in
1604 (4 July)
and in
1623
sent him on
naval escort duty
to
Spain
with
prince
Charles
, whom he rescued from drowning in
Cadiz
harbour. Having married the widow of
Sir
Henry
Bagenall
(the
marshal
of
Ireland
slain at
Blackwater
,
1598
, whose son married
Sir
Richard
Trevor
's daughter),
Sir
Sackville
lived with her at
Plas Newydd
, the
Anglesey
property that came to the
Bagenall
s
by marriage with the
Griffiths
of
Penrhyn
, and was elected for the island in
Charles
I
's first Parliament, where he was
one of the deputation that took to the king the Puritan petition
of
8 July 1625
. Next year the counties of
Anglesey
,
Denbigh
, and
Flint
were charged to supply him with a 30-ton barque in preparation for renewed naval war with
Spain
. Nothing came of this, but in
June 1627
he was among the few to win distinction in the expedition sent to relieve the
Huguenots
of
La Rochelle
, and in Sept.
led the flotilla
that blockaded the
Elbe
mouth in support of the land force sent under
Sir
Charles
Morgan
to the aid of the
king
of
Denmark
. Till
1634
he was often
consulted on questions of naval man-power and shipbuilding
. He was a kinsman and correspondent of
James
Howell
.
Sir
THOMAS
TREVOR
(
1572
-
1656
),
judge
,
is generally called the youngest of
John
Trevor
's four sons, but
D.N.B.
post-dates his birth by fourteen years. Born in
London
, educated at the
Middle Temple
(
Nov. 1592
), and
called to the Bar
in
1603
, he became, like his brothers, a client of the
Howards
and
sat for pocket boroughs
(most of them newly enfranchised) in the
Parliaments
of
1601-25
, where he was a
frequent and critical speaker, and
sat on many committees
(including the
Committee for Privileges
in
1624
), with a
special interest in juristic and puritanical measures
and in questions affecting
Wales
, such as the authority of
Ludlow
(
1606
), the amendment of the
Act of Union
(
1621
and
1624
) — of which he was the chief protagonist — and the
adjustment of Welsh subsidies
(
1621
and
1624
). On the fall of the
Howards
(
1618
) he attached himself to the
3rd earl of Pembroke
, and the earl's influence, with that of the later
archbishop
John
Williams
, procured him the post of
solicitor
to
Charles
,
prince of Wales
(at whose investment in
1616
Trevor
had represented his Inn) in
May 1619
; this brought him a
knighthood
(
18 May 1619
) and in
1625 (12 May)
judicial promotion
(though he was reputed ‘
no great lawier
’) as a
baron of the exchequer
. As one of the four commissioners entrusted in
Jan. 1625
with the
sale of crown lands
in the lordship of
Bromfield
and
Yale
he was enabled to secure and extend the holdings of himself and other crown tenants, transactions which after searching enquiry were confirmed by
Parliament
in
1628
(3 Chas. I, chap. 6) and again in
1647
.
His concurrence in the judges' pronouncement in favour of ship money (
Feb. 1637
) and their condemnation of
Hampden
in Dec., as well as his membership of the
High Commission Court
(
Dec. 1633
), aroused the wrath of the
Long Parliament
, where attacks begun
Dec. 1640
, issued in an impeachment the following July and (after interruption by the war) a fine of £6,000 in
Oct. 1643
.
Trevor
meanwhile continued to sit as
judge
, declining the royal summons to
Oxford
in the month of his sentence but resigning his judgeship on the king's execution to retire to his
Warwickshire
estate till his death on
21 Dec. 1656
. He had had little contact with
Wales
for thirty years, but his son,
Sir
THOMAS
TREVOR
(
1612
-
1676
),
auditor of the duchy of Lancaster
,
though born on the paternal manor of
Enfield
, was elected for
Monmouthshire
to the
Long Parliament
on a disputed return which was finally quashed, and despite a
baronetcy
conferred by the king on
11 Aug. 1641
he came back as ‘recruiter’ for his father's first constituency in
1647
, but was excluded in
Dec. 1648
; he was on the
militia committee
for
Denbighshire
in
1648
and for
North Wales
(as well as three
English
counties) in
March 1660
, and the
Warwickshire
assessment committee in
1657
. He still ranked as a
Denbighshire
freeholder
in
1675
(
N.L.W. MS. 12406
,
Chirk Castle MS. E.6090
), but died without male heirs the following Feb., the baronetcy thereupon becoming extinct.
Sir
JOHN
TREVOR
II
(d.
1673
),
parliamentarian
,
was the eldest son of
Sir
John
Trevor
I
, from whom he inherited
Plas Têg
and who tried unsuccessfully to find him a
Welsh
wife at
Gwydir
(
1615
). In
1619
he m. a daughter of
Sir
Edmund
Hampden
(later one of the Five Knights and a martyr to his opposition to
Charles
I
), and was
knighted
(
7 July
). He sat for
Denbighshire
in
1621
and
Flintshire
in the
next two Parliaments, but subsequently for boroughs under
Howard
or
Pembroke
control; apart from membership of the
Committee for Privileges
and promotion of a
Welsh
measure in
1628
he made little mark there, but was high in court favour, amassing wealth from the
keepership of several royal forests
as well as his father's farm of the coal tax (said to bring in £1,500) and the inheritance of
Trevalun
(
1638
) from his uncle
Sir
Richard
. He was
on several royal commissions
during
Charles
I
's personal rule; yet he sat in the
Long Parliament
to the end and was accepted as
spokesman for North Wales on the chief organs of parliamentary government
, such as the
Committee of Both Kingdoms
(from
2 June 1648
), the
Commission for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales
(
22 Feb. 1649/50
), and two of the
Commonwealth Councils of State
(
1651
and
1652-3
), as well as on local committees like those for militia and taxation in
Middlesex
(
1644-60
),
Westminster
(
1645-60
),
Denbighshire
(
1647-60
), and
Flintshire
(
1648-60
). He also sat in
Cromwell
's second Parliament (
1656
) and supported the offer of the crown to him (
Parl. Hist.
(
1762
), xxi, 16). He retained (against some opposition) his
farm of the coal tax
, and was believed to be one of the beneficiaries of the confiscated
Raglan estate
; but his joint purchase from that of the
7th earl of Derby
of the manors of
Hope
,
Mold
, and
Hawarden
(
12 Dec. 1646
) was nullified by the conveyance made by the
8th earl
, after his father's execution, to
John
Glynne
, and the post-Restoration judical verdict that
Hope
was inalienable. He took no part in the
Restoration
, but was granted a royal pardon on
24 July 1660
. He lived mainly in
London
, allowing the deprived
Puritan minister
of
Denbigh
,
William
Jones
(d.
1679
)
, to take refuge in
Plas Têg
as his pensioner (
1661
) and to license it for a conventicle under the Indulgence of
1672
, while
Trevalun
was occupied by successive estate agents till
1835
.
Sir
JOHN
TREVOR
III
(
1626
-
1672
),
secretary of state
,
was the second (but eldest surviving) son of
Sir
John
Trevor
II
. He m.
Ruth
, daughter of
John
Hampden
, related to his mother's family and second cousin to
Oliver
Cromwell
, but best known for his condemnation over ship money by
Trevor
's great-uncle
Sir
Thomas
(above) and his fellow judges. She remained a
Presbyterian
after the
Restoration
and attended
Thomas
Manton
's church in
London
(
1676
) after her husband's death (
Hist. MSS. Comm., 11
th R.
, vii, 15).
Trevor
entered
Parliament
as ‘recruiter’ member for
Flintshire
(
2 Dec. 1646
), but was expelled as an opponent of the king's trial in
Dec. 1648
. He sat on
Flintshire parliamentary committees
and on that for the associated
North Wales
counties in
1647-8
, but (unlike his father) retired from public life on the king's execution, returning as member for
Flintshire
in the
Protectorate Parliaments
(where he spoke frequently and effectively in support of stable government and constitutional safeguards and supported the offer of the crown to
Cromwell
), and on several county
committees from
1657
. He supported
Richard
Cromwell
, but on his abdication backed up
Monck
and sat on his
Council of State
(
21 Feb. 1660
); in the Convention elections, however,
Flintshire
turned him down (despite his father's efforts on his behalf) for an uncompromising royalist, and to ‘
avoid a contest with many great friends
’ he retired to one of
Sir
John
's old boroughs (
N.L.W. Rhual MS. 98
).
The
earl of Pembroke
supplied him with a borough seat in the
Cavalier Parliament
, where — although commonly ranked with the ‘court party’ — he contributed a ‘smart and severe’ speech to the
Commons
’ attack of
Oct. 1667
on
Clarendon
(who as
Hyde
had led the impeachment of
Sir
Thomas
in
1641
). In the reaction against
Clarendon
's Anglican policy,
Trevor
's continued credit with the
Dissenters
was useful to
Charles
II
, who early next year
knighted
him and sent him with his namesake of
Brynkynallt
(see p. 979)
on an embassy to
France
(where he did well), admitted him to the
privy council
, and on
22 Sept.
made him
junior secretary of state
, though without influence on policy. In council he supported the
Declaration of Indulgence
of
15 Mar. 1672
, which he had some share in administering till his sudden death (in his father's lifetime) on
28 May
. His younger brother,
RICHARD
TREVOR
(d.
1676
)
,
Fellow
of
Merton
and
M.D.
of
Padua
, was an
antiquary
of repute who corresponded with
Anthony
Wood
(
Athen Oxon.
, ii, 529; iii, 479). The estates passed on the death of
Sir
John
Trevor
II
to his grandson
JOHN
TREVOR
(b.
c.
1652
),
who also inherited from a cousin the
Sussex
estate of
Glynde
— henceforth the chief residence of the family. On the death of his grandson,
JOHN
TREVOR
,
commissioner of the admiralty
, in
1743
, the male line came to an end, and his eight sisters became co-heiresses. The
Sussex
estates were devised by will to descendants of
Thomas
Trevor
,
1st baron Trevor
(see below); the
Welsh
estates passed to descendants of two of the co-heiresses. Of these, one married into the
Cornish
family of
Boscawen
and her grand-daughter into the
Carmarthenshire
family of
Griffith
. It was the
Griffith-Boscawen
s
who eventually inherited
Trevalun
and lived there from
1835
. From another of the co-heiresses sprang the
Trevor-Ropers
, who took
Plas Têg
as their share.
THOMAS
TREVOR
(
1658
-
1750
),
1st baron Trevor of Bromham
,
judge
,
was the second son of
Sir
John
Trevor
III
. Educated at the
Inner Temple
(
1672
), he became successively
solicitor-general
(
1692
) and
attorney-general
(
1695
) to
William
III
,
chief justice of Common Pleas
(
1701
) and a
privy councillor
(
1702
). His elevation to the
peerage
(
1 Jan. 1712
) was part of the plan to ensure the passage of the
Treaty of Utrecht
through the
Lords
by swamping the hostile
Whig
majority. His
Tory
leanings lost him his offices under the
Hanoverians
till he was made
lord privy seal
in
1726
and
lord president of the council
in
1730
. His second son,
RICHARD
TREVOR
(
1701
-
1771
),
bishop
of
S. Davids
and of
Durham
,
was born at
Glynde
and educated at
Westminster
and at
Queen's
,
Oxford
(
1724-7
), becoming a
Fellow
of
All Souls
in
1727
, a
D.C.L.
in
1736
, and a
canon
of
Christ Church
,
1735-52
. As
bishop of S. Davids
from
1 April 1744
till his translation to
Durham
on
9 Nov. 1752
, he bore a
high reputation for learning and benevolence
and was distinguished among early
18th cent.
occupants of the see by the conscientiousness with which he discharged his episcopal duties and the length of his stay. He inherited
Glynde
from his cousin
John
Trevor
(d.
1743
) (see above) and bequeathed it to his brother,
Robert
Hampden-Trevor
(
1706
-
1783
),
1st viscount Hampden
, a
diplomat
of some distinction, as was also the
3rd viscount Hampden
(
John
Hampden-Trevor
,
1749
-
1824
), the last of his line.
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor
