THELWALL, Simon II (b.c.1561), of Bathafarn Park, Llanrhudd, Denb.; later of Woodford, Essex.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1561, 7th s. of John Wyn Thelwall (d.1586), of Bathafarn Park by Jane (d.1586), da. of Thomas Griffith of Pant y llongdu (or llawndy), Llanasa, Flints. educ. Balliol, Oxf. 1581, aged 20; St. Mary Hall, Oxf. BA 1584; L. Inn (from Furnival’s) 1591. m. Ann Biggs of Woodford, 2s. 2da.

Offices Held

Chief clerk of Sir Daniel Dunne; proctor, ct. of arches; registrar, diocese of Bangor.

Biography

The Thelwalls of Bathafarn were founded by this MP’s grandfather John Thelwall, a younger son of the parent house of Plas-y-ward and lessee of Bathafarn Park in the crown lordship of Ruthin. This property was later bought by his grandson, the MP’s eldest brother, another John Thelwall. The family had no great landed estate, but the ten sons of John Wyn Thelwall (depicted on a monument in Llanrhudd church, kneeling with their four sisters on either side of the parents) brought prominence to this hitherto obscure branch by their prowess in the law and at court, where three of them held positions of trust in three reigns. The most famous was Sir Eubule, the eminent civilian who became principal of Jesus College, Oxford, and thrice represented his shire in Parliament. ‘There were in our time in that house’, wrote Bishop Goodman in 1652, ‘many brethren, all of them wise, able, provident men, they did help to raise the house, but they did not share in a foot of the lands’. It was not till 1608 that John, the eldest, obtained a grant of arms.

Simon, like his brother Eubule, followed the law, and from the time of his admission to Lincoln’s Inn he lived either in chambers or on his wife’s property at Woodford. It was natural that a rising lawyer from the district should be chosen for the Boroughs, but the county seat and the shrievalty called for land. It is likely, therefore, that the sheriff in 1612 and MP in 1614 was his namesake of Play-y-ward. The date of the death of Simon Thelwall of Bathafarn Park has not been ascertained.

J. Y. W. Lloyd, Powys Fadog, iv. 311-16; Griffith, Peds. 369; DWB, 932-3; Al. Ox. i(2), p. 1469; Exchequer, ed. E. G. Jones (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. iv), 158-9; Pennant, Tours (1883), ii. 187-90; NLW, Bagot 47; Egerton 2586, f. 124; Add. 14295, f. 69; Trans. Denb. Hist. Soc. iii. 87-8.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

Notes