PARRY (AP HARRY), John (1517/18-84), of Carmarthen.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. 1517/18. m. Cecily, da. of Hugh Vaughan of Kidwelly, 1s.1

Offices Held

Comptroller of customs, Milford Haven, Pemb. 10 May 1559-84 or later; subsidy collector, Carmarthen 1562; bailiff, Carmarthen 1563-4.2

Biography

John Parry may have been a kinsman of William Parry, his precursor both as bailiff of Carmarthen and as its Member. It appears that in 1547 he and William Parry acquired the former Franciscan friary in Lammas Street, Carmarthen. The property had earlier been granted to Thomas Lloyd, preceptor of St. David’s cathedral, for use as a grammar school. When Lloyd died in 1547 he left lands for the staffing and upkeep of the school and the town promoted a bill for its foundation, but this failed and in February 1550 the two Parrys were granted a 21-year lease of the property. They were to be sued in Chancery by the town in 1562 for failing to establish the school. John Parry then denied some of the allegations but with what result is unknown.3

Parry was first returned to Parliament when John Vaughan II, whose sister he had probably already married, was mayor of Carmarthen, and his election accorded with the Queen’s request for resident Members. He was not among those who quitted the Parliament without leave before its dissolution. His career was to be closely linked with Vaughan’s, the two being fellow-officers in the customs at Milford Haven. It is in this capacity that Parry is last heard of in 1584.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: P. S. Edwards

Notes

  • 1. Aged 55 in October 1573, E178/3345, m. 9v. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, i. 214.
  • 2. E159/340, recognizances Easter 45; 179/264/10; Welsh Port Bks. (Cymmrod. rec. ser. xii), 329; NLW ms 5586B, p. 10.
  • 3. E178/3345, m. 9v; CPR, 1550-3, p. 201; 1553-4, p. 367; Trans. Carm. Antiq. Soc. vii. 52-53; viii. 23-24; xiii. 51 seq.; LJ, i. 309; C3/33/51
  • 4. E159/340, recognizances Easter 45; 178/3345; Welsh Port Bks. 329