BRADSHAW, John II (by 1519-88), of Presteigne, Rad. and St. Dogmael's, Pemb.

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

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1554

Family and Education

b. by 1519, 1st s. of John Bradshaw I. m. (1) by 1539, Margaret, da. of Roger Vaughan of Clyro, Rad., 1s.; (2) Elizabeth, da. of William Gerard II of Chester, Cheshire, 6s. suc. fa. 30 Sept. 1567.1

Offices Held

Escheator, Rad. 1548-9, 1550-1; sheriff, Rad. 1551-2, 1585-6, Pemb. 1570-1; commr. goods of churches and fraternities, Rad. 1553, piracy, Pemb. 1565, armour, Rad. 1569, musters 1570, victuals 1574, tanneries 1574; j.p. Pemb. 1561-4, 1575, q. Rad. 1573-d.2

Biography

For much of his life John Bradshaw was overshadowed by his father and namesake, to whose influence he doubtless owed his initiation, from about the age of 30, into local government as successively escheator and sheriff, as well as his single election to Parliament, made when his father was sheriff. Earlier, the birth of his son James in 1539 had been the occasion of a bid by his father to acquire the abbey of Wigmore, of which the elder Bradshaw was lessee; despite the help of Bishop Rowland Lee, the attempt failed, but four years later the solicitous grandfather bought St. Dogmael’s abbey and the manor of Caldy in Pembrokeshire, as well as Presteigne in Radnorshire. It is likely that until the elder Bradshaw’s death his son was chiefly concerned with the Pembrokeshire properties and he may have settled there: it was in Pembrokeshire that he first became a justice and that he served his next shrievalty, whereas during his last 20 years he was active mainly in Radnorshire. At the muster of 1570 in that county he furnished one light horseman, being in this respect on a par with other leading gentlemen. In 1575 his sphere of activity as a justice was given as the hundred of Radnor, where he lived, and that of Painscastle; he remained a justice in Pembrokeshire although not resident there. Of his private affairs the only glimpse which has been caught is of his being pardoned in November 1557 after he had been put in exigent in the husting of London and then outlawed for failure to appear in the common pleas to answer a plea of debt brought by one David Apowel of London.3

Bradshaw made his will on 28 Mar. 1588, five days before he died. He asked to be buried not in Radnorshire but at St. Dogmael’s, Pembrokeshire. Among his bequests was one of 20s. to the poor of St. Dogmael’s and another of £3 for rebuilding the church steeple there. He left a widow and six sons, but his eldest son James had died in the previous December and his heir was his grandson John, aged 14. His lands in Radnorshire, including the manor of Presteigne and the advowson of the parish church, were worth £17 a year, and St. Dogmael’s and his other lands in Pembrokeshire £9 10s. a year; he had inherited all of them from his father.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Harding

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s i.p.m., C142/148/48. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, i. 257; Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxviii), 190; PCC 49 Rutland.
  • 2. CPR, 1553, p. 419; APC, vii. 285; R. Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, Marches of Wales, 60, 69, 109, 127, 136, 140, 213; SP12/93/9.
  • 3. T. Wright, Ludlow, 490-1; LP Hen. VIII, xiii; SP1/132, f. 68, 152, f. 171; CPR, 1557-8, p. 348; 1566-9, pp. 88, 150; APC, vii. 285; Flenley, 74, 136, 213.
  • 4. PCC 49 Rutland; Wards 7/23/41.