Family and Education

1st s. of John Morgan of Tredegar by Lettice, da. of George Herbert of St. Julian’s. m. Catherine, da. of Sir Thomas Bodenham of Rotherwas, Herefs., s.p.; at least 1s. illegit.1

Offices Held

J.p. Mon. from c.1543-4, sheriff 1549-50, 1564-5.

Biography

Morgan’s ancestors had been territorial magnates in south-eastern Wales since before the Norman penetration. Nearly all the many Morgan families of this area were offshoots of Tredegar stock, the equally important Machen branch being founded by William Morgan’s great-uncle Thomas Morgan. William Morgan may have been one of several of that name (not all identifiable) who entered the personal service of the first two Tudors. His father was alive in 1520, but had evidently died by about 1545, when a dispute arose with the Caerleon branch of the clan over the tithes of a group of parishes lying west and north-west of Tredegar, which had been leased by the bishop of Llandaff in 1492 to William Morgan’s father, but were counter-claimed by virtue of a lease from the abbots of Llantarnam, in whom (it was alleged) they had long been vested; the case was fought, and apparently won, not by Morgan, but by his widow.2

In an Exchequer case of 1559, the sheriff of Monmouthshire was accused by the attorney-general of making a false return in respect of William Morgan’s fellow-Member Thomas Herbert. Lacking legitimate heirs, Morgan, in his will (dated 8 Aug. 1568, and proved 27 June following) bequeathed the estate to Miles Morgan, son of his illegitimate child John. Miles perished at sea in the service of Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1578, leaving Tredegar to his cousin Thomas Morgan II.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes

• 1. Clark, Limbus, 311.
• 2. Augmentations, ed. Lewis and Davies (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xiii), 134-5; Exchequer, ed. E. G. Jones (same ser. iv), 212-13, 246-7.
• 3. E159/340/8; Clark, Limbus, 311; G. B. Morgan, Mems. Morgan Fam. i. 112-21; ii. 65-7; W. Coxe, Hist. Tour Mon. i. 66-7; DWB, 635-6.