Family and Education

s. of William Gwillim of Monmouth by Joan, o. da. of Thomas Powell of Whitchurch. m. Jane, da. of Christopher Hall of High Meadow, wid. of Christopher Perkins of Pilson, 1da.

Offices Held

Mayor, Monmouth 1586.

Biography

Gwillim, a wealthy man, was connected with several Monmouthshire families, and owned a number of burgages in Monmouth itself. He had property in Dixton parish and also in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. He was a nephew of Moore Powell. His daughter and heiress, Jane, married William Jones of Llanarth, Monmouthshire, a nephew of Philip Jones. Gwillim was an executor of Philip Jones’s will in 1603, and of that of Walter ap John of Dingestow in the preceding year. In association with Charles Somerset of Trellech and Valentine Prichard of Llanthewy, Gwillim in 1609 secured from the widow of Sir Walter Waller, at ‘a great price and a great yearly rent’, the prisage and butlerage of wines landed on the Welsh coast, and in the following two years defended his claims in five actions in the Exchequer. One was against Richard Bulkeley I, the other against litigants in Monmouthshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. Gwillim made his will 1 June 1611, and it was proved in the following October. Among the charitable bequests were 3s.4d. to Hereford cathedral, and 40s. for the repair of the Wye bridge in Monmouth. The name Gwillim frequently occurs in recusancy lists during the Elizabethan period, and Gwillim’s father was ‘not counted favourable’ in 1564.

Williams, Parl. Hist. Wales, 134; Bradney, Mon. i. 302-6; ii. 53, 209; C219/30/58; Exchequer, ed. T. I. J. Jones (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xv), ii. 120, 246, 249, 251; Duchy of Lancaster Lordships, ed. W. Rees, 7-24; PCC 78 Wood; S. Wales and Mon. Rec. Soc. iv. 87, 90, 94.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A.H.D.

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