LANGFORD, Richard (d.1580), of Ludlow, Salop and Bristol.

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

Constituency

Dates

1563

Family and Education

1st s. of Richard Langford of Shrewsbury by Anne, da. of Walter Rogers. m. Elizabeth, da. of John Roberts, 3s. 3da.

Offices Held

Bailiff, Ludlow 1544, 1549, 1560, churchwarden 1540.

Biography

The visitation description of Langford as a merchant, his connexion with Bristol and his father’s residence at Shrewsbury, together suggest that he was a wool merchant or clothier. It may have been he who leased some ex-monastic land in Oxfordshire before 1563. During the first part of his life he lived in Ludlow, paying 8s.8d. for his pew in the parish church. He died and was buried at Bristol. On 18 Nov. 1580, ‘being sick and weak in body’, he committed his soul to Christ, ‘most steadfastly believing to be saved by His merits and grace only’. He left £500 to his wife, and £1,000 to be equally divided between his five living children. There were numerous legacies to his brothers and their children, while the poor of Ludlow and Bristol received respectively 40s. and 20s. Provision was also made towards the ‘marriage of poor maids’ in the parish of St. Stephen, Bristol. Langford’s wife and eldest son were executors, and the mayor of Bristol, Thomas Slocombe, was one of the overseers. This will was proved 2 Dec. that year.

Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxix), 309; Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 2), vii. 16; T. Wright, Hist. Ludlow, 491 seq.; Ludlow Churchwarden’s Accounts (Cam. Soc. cii), 1, 6; CPR, 1560-3, p. 554; PCC 49 Arundel.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.J.C.

Notes