Cylchgronau Cymru

OCTOBER, 1879. THE CAMBRIAN REMEMBRANCER. 125 Archbishop of York; 7, Thomas, who married Catherine, sole daughter arid heiress of Morgan ap Ivan, Lord of Aber, descendant of Jestyn, Prince of Glamorgan. Their daughter Janet manned the cele¬ brated Syr Rhys ap Thomas, Knight of the Garter, ancestor of the noble families of Pembroke and Powys, and the chief man who set Henry VII. upon the throne. Jenkyn Mathewe, son or the above David Mathewe of Lleweny, married Lucia, heiress of Wm. Starkey, brother to Sir Humphrey Starkey, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Their son John was, probably, bailiff and alderman of Denbigh, and not his son John, who removed to Cornwall, being seated at Pennytenny by marriage. Antony Mathew was alderman of Denbigh in 1613, 1617, and 1621. John Mathew was bailiff in 1615, and Thomas Mathew alderman in 1663. The same year that Sir John Mathew rebuilt Tregungher Castle, which had been totally destroyed during the Civil Wars, in which he took a prominent part in the West of England, in conjunction with his relatives Sir Richard and Sir Bevil Grenville. Alderman Mathew of Denbigh, was probably of the same political creed, the Cromwellite party, once headed by the belligerant Alderman Twistleton, having for a long time a " rump "leftin the town council of that town. This party sought to effect some salutary reforms, particularly in the financial department of the cor¬ porate affairs. Colonel Mathew was governor of St. Christopher's in the West Indies, in which island, as well as Antigua, he had grants of land? as compen¬ sation for the great losses which the family had sustained in the Civil Wars. William Mathew, third son of Colonel Mathew, was raised to a high post in the army by his relative, General Monk, and dis¬ tinguished himself in several actions during the Dutch War, and, ingratiating himself into royal favour, he was made equerry to the Queen, and com¬ manded a brigade of the Guards in Spain in 1702. In 1703, he was made Knight of the Bath, and the following year appointed Captain General and Lord High Admiral of the Windward and Leeward Islands. His son, General Mathew, died in the same Government in 1753. But to prove that the "best wheat has its chaff, and the purest blood its scum," we note the following order in council:—" That Tho. Mathewe, Cryer, be required and summoned by ye sergt, from ye Alderman to appointeand finde one to keep the High-street and abt ye Hall cleane, accord inge to his office." W. R. E. OCTOBER 4th, 1879. The Representation of Flintshire in Par¬ liament.—The following very interesting document from the pen of Mr Henry Taylor, town clerk of Flint, is deserving of preservation in the 'Remem¬ brancer.' It shows how members were first given to the county and boroughs of Flint, and who have sat for these places in Parliament from 1547 to the present time. Mr Taylor says:— The statute by which the elective franchise was first granted is the 27th Henry VIII., cap, 26, the 29th section of which provides that one knight shall be chosen and elected to Parliament for every shire within the " Country or Dominion of Wales," and for every borough being a shire-town within the said country or dominion of Wales, except the shire- town of the county of Merioneth, one burgess; and it further enacts that " the Knight's fees be levied and gathered of the Commons of the Shire that they be elected in, and the Burgesses Fees be levied and gathered, as well ot the Boroughs and shire-towns,as they be Burgesses of, as of all other aneient Boroughs within the same shire." The ancient boroughs in Flintshire are Flint, Rhuddlan, Caergwrle, Caerwys, and Overton, all of which have royal charters, and the inhabitants in those boroughs paying scot and lot (previous to the passing of the Reform Act) returned the borough members. By the last mentioned Act Holywell, St. Asaph, and Mold were made contributory. In 1877, when giving evidence at Westminster before the Unreformcd Municipal Corporations Com¬ mission, Sir John Karslake asked me how those ancient towns became contributory with the shire- town Flint. I replied that I believed they had be¬ come so by long custom; however, on my return home, on searching the Statute Book, I found an Act of Parliament which explained the matter. It is 11th chap, of 35th Henry VIII, and is entitled " The Bill for Knights and Burgesses in Wales, con¬ cerning the Payment of their Fees and Wages." The preamble of this Act is very curious and quaint. It runs thus : " Where the Knights of all and every shire of this Realm of England and Wales, and the Burgesses of all Cities, Towns, and Boroughs of the same, be named, elected, and chosen for their As¬ sembly in the King's High Court of Parliament, as by ancient laudable Laws and Customs of this Realm hath been used and accustomed, at and by the King's Majesty's High Commandments, unto the which Knights and Burgesses their Fees and Wag»s be as¬ signed certainly; that is to say, to every Knight by the day IVs., and to every citizen and Burgess by the day lis, or more, as heretofore hath been accus¬ tomed, accounting for the same so many days as the said High Court of Parliament endureth, with addi¬ tion thereunto of so many days as every such knight and burgess may reasonably journey and resorffrom their habitations or dwelling-places to the said High Court of Parliament, and from the said High Court to return to their habitations or dwelling- places, together with their costs of writ and other ordinary Fees and charges," &c. I imagine that our respected Knight of the Shire, Lord Richard Grosvenor, estimatas his services as worth more than four shillings a-day, ^ind our worthy borough member, Mr John Roberts, would, I think, set a higher value than 2s on his day's work; at the same time, doubtless, both he and our friend, Captain Pennant, would have made no objection, had rate¬ payers defrayed "their costs of writ and ether ordinary fees and charges" at the last election. Section! and 2 of this Act provide that the sheriff