Dafydd ap Rhys, of Rickeston

For a precis of the partners and children of Rhys ap Thomas, see Lawrence Buckley Thomas, The Thomas Book: Giving the Genealogies of Sir Rhys ap Thomas, K.G., the Thomas Family Descended From Him, and of Some Allied Families, Henry T. Thomas Company, New York, 1896, pp 19-20. (March 22, 2019; Anne Brannen, curator)

"About 1490, Alice [Martin] married David ap Rhys, a natural son of the illustrious Sir Rhys ap Thomas, K.G., of Dynevor, by a daughter of Gwilym ap Harry ap Gwilym Fychan, a landowner of Court Henry in Llangathen, Carmarthenshire. On his father's side Sir Rhys came from distinguished lineage tracing to the British prince Urien Rheged, and through his mother descended from the same stock as the Tudor dynasty. Henry VII owed much of his fortune at Bosworth to the partisanship of Sir Rhys whom he loaded with honours and appointments, while his son, Henry VIII continued to extend friendship and favour to "good father Rhys" as he termed him. Owing to his enthusiasm for unconventional dalliance, Sir Rhys became father of a considerable number of natural children most of whom found no difficulty in marrying aristocratic wives and founding families of their own. Among these was David ap Rhys. The Rickeston line adopted the name Rhys as their permanent patronymic, and in records the name appears as Rhys, Rees, Price, sometimes with and sometimes without the "ap". The family always used the form ap Rice which it had adopted before the end of Elizabeth's reign, and, in order to avoid confusion I have retained that nomenclature throughout this essay except when quoting directly from documents. They also bore the arms of the Carmarthenshire knight, argent a chevron sable between three ravens proper, with a cheerful disregard of the heraldic rule of differentiation. These arms, based upon the legend of the raven army of Owen ap Urien Rheged, were well-known throughout Wales, and the old genealogists referred to the families who bore them as "Gwaed y Fran" (Blood of the Raven).

"David ap Rhys settled at his wife's home, and does not appear to have taken an active part in public affairs. He had seven children, the youngest being born about 1500. He died, probably not long after this, and his widow remarried to Thomas Bateman of Honeyborough near Llanstadwell. Bateman was married four times, Alice being his third wife. She died before 1541.

"David ap Rhys and Alice (Martin) had seven children: -1. Thomas see later. 2. William, see later. 3. Lewis, died without issue. 4. Lewis the younger, died without issue. 5. Harry, died without issue. 6. Janet, married William Warren of Trewem near Newport, and died on 12 January 1569-70, leaving issue. 7. Alson, married John ap by whom she had a son Rhys ap John." (Jones, pp. 20-21)

Sources

• Major Francis Jones, T.D., D.L., M.A., F.S.A. Wales Herald Extraordinary, "Rickeston and Scotsborough: A Study in Family History" in The Pembrokeshire historian (No. 2 1966), pp. 19-47.