BULKELEY, William II (by 1505-75/76), of Beaumaris, Anglesey.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Nov. 1554

Family and Education

b. by 1505, s. of Edmund Bulkeley of Conway, Caern. m. (1) Jane, da. of Nicholas Elcock, 2s. 2da.; (2) Margaret Thickness of Beaumaris.2

Offices Held

Bailiff, Beaumaris 1526-7, 1536-7, 1562-3, capital burgess 1562, coroner 1564.3

Biography

William Bulkeley hailed from Conway; his father was an elder brother of Rowland Bulkeley of Beaumaris, father of Sir Richard Bulkeley, chamberlain of North Wales. He seems to have been customarily styled ‘merchant’ or ‘merchant of Beaumaris’ to distinguish him from his several namesakes, although when returned to the Parliament of 1571 he was called ‘gentleman’. He is found dealing in a variety of goods, in 1530 as an importer of wine, canvas and Spanish iron, in 1536 as a provider of parchment for the exchequer at Caernarvon. He was one of the wealthiest residents at Beaumaris, where in 1545 his goods were assessed for subsidy at £45. In 1550 he was co-defendant with his cousin Sir Richard Bulkeley and five others in a case before the court of augmentations about former chantry lands in the town. Between 1553 and 1555 he was sued in Chancery by another Beaumaris merchant, Richard Galley, for defamation, and it is possible that his election in the autumn of 1554 had some connexion with this affair. Of his part in the Parliament it is known only that he was not among the Members who were informed against for leaving it early. In 1558, when the crown wanted an assessment of some cloth seized at Beaumaris, Bulkeley was one of those assigned to the task. He continued to cut a figure in the town until his death during 1575/76.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: P. S. Edwards

Notes

  • 1. Huntington Lib. Hastings mss Parl. pprs.
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, ii. 136; Griffith, Peds. 42; NLW ms Wales 20/2, m. 31v.
  • 3. C. E. M. Evans, ‘Medieval Beaumaris and the commote of Dindaethwy’ (Univ. of Wales M.A. thesis, 1949), iii. 113; CPR, 1560-3, p. 347; 1563-6, p. 78.
  • 4. Y Cymmrodor, xxiv. 180; SC6/Hen. VIII, 5478, m. 7v; E159/339, Mich. 20; 179/219/4; Evans, i. 163; Augmentations (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xiii), 16, 177; C1/1354/2; PCC 7 Carew.