![]() ![]() In response to Byron's urgent plea for co-operation after the fall of Chester (1 February 1646) Williams wrote a conciliatory letter to Owen on 24 April but it was under Byron's orders that the latter precipitated a final breach by impounding stores and cattle from Gwydir and so placing Williams's favourite niece and her husband, Sir Owen Wynne, at the mercy of the advancing Roundheads. Increasing Roundhead pressure took Owen into Merioneth in August but the day after Charles's defeat at Rowton Heath (25 September) he sent for him to Denbigh to confirm his commission, including custody of the castle. Byron sought a compromise, but in May (with authority from Rupert) Owen forcibly entered the castle, appropriating its contents, and denounced the archbishop in terms which drew a rebuke from the king himself. Supplies were sparse and the local gentry slow to co-operate, partly from that fear of alien military rule and occupation that found a spokesman in archbishop John Williams who, after lavishing his resources in organising local effort and equipping his native Conway as a depot, protested (January 1645) against his supersession by an interloper from the wilds of Eifionydd. Rhual MSS., letter 95), but after a diversion in Lancashire had drawn the invaders off in May he was able to attend to the defences of Gwynedd. His first task was to meet threats to Denbighshire and Flintshire which had developed during the winter (N.L.W. On 17 February 1645 he was commissioned as sergeant major general of foot under lord Byron (governor of Chester). After the successful invasion of Wales by Sir Thomas Myddelton he was summoned to Oxford, where the king made him governor of what became the 'ffrontiere garrison' of Conway (10 December 1644), and a week later, a knight. He was back in Caernarvonshire by April 1644, and in the autumn he was reappointed as sheriff of Caernarvonshire, remaining in office until the king's authority there ceased. Hampered by opposition from a few neighbouring families, he was not able to put his recruits into the field till the following summer, first in operations round Oxford (May 1643), then at the siege of Bristol, where in command of the 6th brigade under Rupert he was wounded in the face (18 July), and at the first battle of Newbury (20 September). He was sheriff of Caernarvonshire in 1630-31 and of Merioneth next year, and when the Civil War broke out he was put on the commission of array for Caernarvonshire (10 August 1642) and commissioned by Charles to raise and equip from county funds a regiment from the three shires of Gwynedd. ![]() He was born in 1600 at Clenennau, near Dolbenmaen, Caernarfonshire, his mother's home married Janet, daughter of Griffith Vaughan of Cors-y-gedol, Meirionethshire, and had some military experience before succeeding to Clenennau on his mother's death in 1626 (N.L.W. The eldest son of John Owen of Bodsilin, Walsingham's secretary, and of Elin (later lady Eure), granddaughter of Sir William Maurice. Area of activity: Military Politics, Government and Political Movements ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |