Family and Education

b. by 1523, s. of Thomas ap Gruffydd. m. Anne, da. of Gruffydd Lewis of Pwllheli.1

Offices Held

Jt. (with John Wyn ap Hugh) bailiff of Pwllheli and constable, commote of Gafflogion, Caern. in 1546; porter, Caernarvon, Caern. by 1552-3; j.p. Caern. 1557-64; escheator 1560 1.2

Biography

David Lloyd ap Thomas owed his prosperity largely to his marriage to the daughter of a former bailiff of Pwllheli which brought him burgages in the town. In 1544 he leased the manor of Pwllheli and four neighbouring vills at a combined rent of £21 10s., and in 1546 he joined with John Wynn ap Meredydd in taking a 21-year lease of the lordship of Nevin in the Llyn peninsula. The lease of Pwllheli was to bring him into conflict with the authorities there. It was probably in the reign of Edward VI that he sued the mayor and bailiffs in the court of augmentations over the right to hear pleas and to take the profits of justice: this he claimed as lord of the manor against the town’s claim as a corporate borough. The outcome is unknown.3

Lloyd ap Thomas presumably owed his return to Parliament to his links with John Wyn ap Hugh and John Wynn ap Meredydd. Although he did not bring disfavour upon himself by quitting the Parliament without leave before its dissolution, it was not he, but the Member for the Boroughs, Sir Rhys Gruffydd, whom the president of the council in the marches recommended for election as knight of the shire to the next Parliament. It was perhaps to compensate him for this rebuff that he was named to the local bench, on which he continued to sit until 1564. No later trace of him has been found.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: P. S. Edwards

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Cal. Caern. Q. Sess. Recs. ed. Williams, 96, 249.
• 2. Cal. Caern. Q. Sess. Recs. 32-252 passim; Stowe 571, f. 75; CPR, 1560-3, p. 446; 1563-6, p. 31.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, xix; Cal. Caern. Q. Sess. Recs. 32, 38, 249; CPR, 1563-6, p. 524; 1566-9, pp. 267-8, 344; Augmentations (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xiii), 59.
• 4. Cal. Wynn (of Gwydir) Pprs. 1515-1690, p. 3.