Family and Education

b. 1558, 1st s. of John Trevor of Trevalyn by Mary, da. of Sir George Brydges of London: bro. of John and Thomas. m. Katherine, da. of Roger Puleston of Emral, 4da. suc. fa. 1589. Kntd. 1597.2

Offices Held

Capt. Denb. musters in Ireland 1595-8; dep. lt. Denb. 1595-1601, 1603; v.-adm. N. Wales c.1596-1626; member, council in the marches of Wales 1601; gov. Newry c.1634.3

Biography

Trevor inherited the substantial estate of Trevalyn and an influential connexion from his father, a servant of the Sackvilles. His marriage linked him with the Pulestons of Emral and together they constituted a powerful interest in east Denbighshire opposed to the Salusburys of Lleweni and their allies. The rivalry between the two factions came to a head in the contested county election of 1588. Trevor wished to stand for election in opposition to William Almer of Pant Iocyn, who stood with Lleweni backing. However, Trevor’s faction had another candidate in John Edwards II of Chirk, and in the event Trevor, who had not yet succeeded to his estates, stood down in favour of Edwards.

For much of the period 1595-8 Trevor was on active service in Ireland, where he was knighted by the lord deputy. At home, the 2nd Earl of Pembroke recommended him for the deputy lieutenancy of his county, an appointment which lapsed on the Earl’s death. He owed his appointment as vice-admiral of North Wales in 1596 to his brother John’s connexions with Charles Howard I, the lord admiral. In 1597 he was brought in at a by-election for Howard’s borough of Bletchingley, where John already had a seat. Meanwhile another brother, Sackville, was serving in Ireland with the Earl of Essex, who had a large following in Denbighshire, including many of the anti-Salusbury faction. It is not known how involved Sir Richard Trevor became with the group of malcontents surrounding Essex—although he had been engaged in pressing men for Essex in Ireland, he was certainly not implicated in the rising of 1601—but in the contested election of that year in which he was a candidate, he represented Essex’s followers against the rising star of Lleweni, Sir John Salusbury.

In the Star Chamber cases which followed the turbulent 1601 county election at Wrexham, Trevor was charged with rigging the latest musters for Ireland for electioneering purposes, and encouraging his supporters, the Lloyds of Bodidris, the Breretons of Borras, the Salesburys of Rûg, to come to the election with bands of armed men. Owing to the disorder, the election was postponed until three days before Parliament ended, when Salusbury was elected.

With his rival Sir John Salusbury in ascendancy in Denbighshire, Trevor returned to Ireland in 1603 where he commanded a Newry garrison until 1606, retiring with testimonials from Ellesmere, the lord chancellor (‘a gentleman whom I love and respect’) and an annuity of £50. Although he retained his interest in Ireland—he returned in 1634 to assume his short-lived governorship of Newry and the counties of Down and Armagh—most of his remaining life was taken up with county administration in Denbighshire and the consolidation of his estates there, which involved him in frequent litigation in the Exchequer and Star Chamber courts. His will, drawn up two years before his death, made his nephew, Sir John Trevor, the heir to Trevalyn and the bulk of his estates. The executrix was Trevor’s daughter Magdalene, who had married into the Bagnall family of Plas Newydd, Anglesey.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: H.G.O.

Notes

• 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
• 2. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, ii. 354; EHR, lix. 349; PCC 64 Leicester, 8 Coventry.
• 3. DWB; SP14 1/22; Cardiff Lib. ms 4, 609; CSP Ire. 1592-6, pp. 313, 318; Cal. Carew Pprs. iii. 231, 252, 259; APC, xxv. 17.
• 4. Neale, Commons, 119-28; P. H. Williams, Council in the Marches of Wales, 122, 285, 288, 297; Lansd. 133, f. 25; APC, xxviii. 524, 617; xxx. 216; xxxii. 342, 374; 1613-14, p. 274; EHR, lxxv. 708; HMC Hatfield, vi. 559; xi. 445, 460, 489; CSP Ire. 1603-6, pp. 90, 196, 454, 541; 1606-8, p. 11; 1615-25, p. 12; CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 441; Exchequer Proc. Jas. I, ed. T. I. J. Jones (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. xv), 64, 77, 79, 148, 161; Cal. Wynn Pprs. nos. 541, 543, 553, 638; PCC 8 Coventry.