Sir Richard Bulkeley, Kt., MP

Family and Education 1st s. of Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris by his 1st w. and bro. of Thomas. educ. L. Inn 1558. m. (1) 1558, Catherine (d.1573), da. of Sir William Davenport of Bramhall, Cheshire, 1s. 1da.; (2) 1577, Mary, da. of William Burgh, 4th Baron Burgh of Gainsborough, 2s. 5da. suc. fa. 1572. Kntd. 1577.1

Offices Held Constable, Beaumaris castle; ex officio mayor Beaumaris 1561-2, mayor 1562-3; j.p.q. Anglesey from c.1574; j.p. Caern. by 1591, Cheshire, rem. c.1587; gent. pens. 1568-c.81; v.-adm. N. Wales 1577; dep. lt. Anglesey 1587; member, council in marches of Wales by 1602; commr. for Scottish union 1604.2

Biography Bulkeley, who sat for Anglesey in 1563 through the influence of his father, was educated in the household of Bishop Bonner. Little is recorded about him outside Anglesey during the early years of Elizabeth’s reign, but after his father’s death he became a courtier, entertaining the Queen at least once at Lewisham. He received his knighthood on the eve of his second marriage, to one of the Queen’s maids of honour. Bulkeley used his influence at court to strengthen his position in Wales, often at the expense of his neighbours. In Caernarvonshire, he consolidated the Arllechwedd settlements of his fifteenth-century ancestors and, by extending his sphere of influence in the Conway hinterland, curbed the territorial ambitions of the Wynns of Gwydir in that area. His litigiousness over land disputes in Anglesey was notorious, and the one important opposition faction in the island, led by the Woods of Thosmor and Lewis Owen of Brondeg, proved unable to withstand him. So powerful was he by 1580 that he took the leading part in the opposition of the Gwynedd gentry to the Earl of Leicester’s attempts to extend his rights in the forest of Snowdon into adjoining counties. Through his court position, Bulkeley managed to secure the revocation of a commission of inquiry dominated by Leicester’s agents. Naturally his quarrel with Leicester afforded Welsh opponents an opportunity to impugn his character. Owen Wood of Rhosmor accused him of oppressing the townspeople of Beaumaris, and claimed that he had been implicated in the Babington plot. Bulkeley, who detected Leicester’s influence behind these charges, was exonerated by the Privy Council, but some years later was censured in the Star Chamber for molesting Wood. These troubles, together with a quarrel with the Earl of Essex over the impost on sweet wines, may explain why his admission to the council in the marches, recommended by the Earl of Pembroke about 1590, was deferred until ten years later.3

Bulkeley’s lands in Cheshire, Caernarvonshire and Anglesey brought him £4,300 a year: the Anglesey estates alone were said to be worth £2,500. As customer of Beaumaris he enjoyed the prisage of all wine cargoes there. In Chester he was farmer of fuels and wines brought into the town. In 1691 he became a shareholder in the Virginia Company (of which his nephew Sir Edwin Sandys was treasurer), acquiring lands in the colony and undertaking to ‘plant’ a hundred persons.4

He is not mentioned in the known records of the House of Commons in 1563, and did not sit again until some 40 years later. He died 28 June 1621, disinheriting his spendthrift son for marrying a cottager’s daughter. The heir was his grandson Richard.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: H.G.O. Notes 1. Wards 7/15/53; Trans. Anglesey Antiq. Soc. 1933, p. 100; 1940, pp. 51, 53, 57; 1948, p. 83; Shaw, Knights, ii. 78. 2.CPR, 1560-3, pp. 130, 347; Egerton 2345, f. 46; 2882, f. 20; Lansd. 53, f. 180; APC, viii. 137; Trans. Anglesey Antiq. Soc. 1940, p. 52; 1947, p. 33; Parl. Hist. v. 96. 3.Trans. Anglesey Antiq. Soc. 1948, pp. 20-37; Chamberlain Letters ed. McClure, i. 145; Trans. Caern. Hist. Soc. 1940, pp. 87-8; St. Ch. 6/61/23; 6/6W/34; J. I. Jones, Stuart Exchequer, 7-8, 12; Harl. 1059, f. 129; HMC Hatfield, ii. 312; A. Llwyd, Anglesey, 148-56; Sidney State Pprs. ed. Collins, i. 276-9; T. Pennant, Tours in Wales, iii. 388, 390; APC, xvi. 23-4; xxi. 137; Lansd. 63, f. 95; 74, f. 50. 4.Trans. Anglesey Antiq. Soc. 1933, p. 99; 1940, p. 52; 1948, pp. 113-14; E58/5; Cal. Wynn Pprs. 27. 5.CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 132; 1619-23, pp. 21, 22, 87-8, 115, 349; PCC 65 Dale.

Knight of Beaumaris.

Sir Richard Bulkeley (1533 – 28 June 1621) of Beaumaris, Anglesey and Lewisham, was a Welsh politician and courtier of Elizabeth Tudor, who sat in the House of Commons of England in 1563 and from 1604 to 1614.
Bulkeley was the eldest son of Sir Richard Bulkeley, of Beaumaris and Anglesey by his first wife, Margaret (née Savage).

Husband of (1) Katherine, daughter of Sir William Davenport of Bramhall, and (2) Mary, daughter of William, Lord Burgh.

He was appointed Constable of Beaumaris Castle in 1561 and elected the first Mayor of Beaumaris in 1562. In 1563, he was elected Member of Parliament for Anglesey, a position he obtained through the influence of his father. He was appointed High Sheriff of Anglesey for 1570. His father's sudden death gave rise to much scandal: he was on very bad terms with his stepmother Agnes Needham and accused her of poisoning his father. While Agnes had undoubtedly been unfaithful to her husband, there is no evidence that she was guilty of murder, and the jury acquitted her.

Bulkeley was knighted in Whitehall, London in 1577, and became embroiled in various power struggles in Wales including with the Earl of Leicester and Owen Wood of Rhosmor. Wood accused him of oppressing the townspeople of Beaumaris, and being involved with the 1586 Babington plot. Bulkeley was exonerated by the Privy Council on these charges, but was censured in the Star Chamber for molesting Wood. He is known for being a courtier of Queen Elizabeth, and entertained her in Lewisham – see Honor Oak. She appointed him one of the Council of the Marches of Wales in 1602.

In 1604 Bulkeley was elected MP for Anglesey again and was re-elected in 1614. He was one of the Council of the Marches of Wales again in 1617. In 1618, he founded the family seat at Baron Hill.

Bulkeley was buried at Beaumaris on 28 June 1621, aged 88 and was succeeded by his son Richard.

Family

Bulkeley married twice: firstly Catherine (who died 1573), the daughter of Sir William Davenport Kt. of Bramhall Hall, Cheshire, and secondly on 18 February 1576 Mary, the daughter of William Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh of Gainsborough, de jure 6th Baron Strabolgi and his wife Lady Katherine Clinton, daughter of Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln.

His son, Thomas, was created Viscount Bulkeley in 1644, in recognition of his support for the Royalist cause. Three successive viscounts carried the forename Richard.

Bulkeley's younger half-brother was Lancelot Bulkeley, later Archbishop of Dublin.

Of his daughters, Catherine married Sir Edwin Sandys (1561–1629) and Penelope married Sir Edwin Sandys (1591–1623), Catherine's husband being the uncle of Penelope's husband.

Bulkeley Constables of Beaumaris Castle

"The church (St. Mary's) also contains the tomb of William Bulkeley, (died c. 1490), deputy constable of the castle, and of his wife. The chancel north wall contains a medieval brass plaque and a monument to an eighteenth century Viscount Bulkeley."

Edward I, saw the need fo reinforce Wales, and built a stronghold, Beaumaris Castle, to control the peasants and any other commoners that had reason to rebel. Beaumaris Castle was taken by Welsh forces in 1403 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, but recaptured by royal forces in 1405.The ancient village of Llanfaes, a mile to the north of Beaumaris, had been occupied by Anglo-Saxons in 818 but had been regained by Merfyn Frych, King of Gwynedd, and remained a vital strategic settlement. To counter further Welsh uprisings, and to ensure control of the Menai Strait, Edward I chose the flat coastal plain as the place to build Beaumaris Castle. The castle was designed by the Savoyard mason Master James of Saint George and is considered the most perfect example of a concentric castle. The 'troublesome' residents of Llanfaes were removed en bloc to Rhosyr in the west of Anglesey, a new settlement King Edward entitled "Newborough"

The castle was ill-maintained and fell into disrepair and by 1534, when Roland de Velville was the castle constable, rain was leaking into most of the rooms. In 1539 a report complained that it was protected by an arsenal of only eight or ten small guns and forty bows, which the castle's new constable, Richard Bulkeley, considered to be completely inadequate for protecting the fortress against a potential Scottish attack. Matters worsened and by 1609 the castle was classed as "utterlie decayed".

In March 1592, the Welsh Roman Catholic priest and martyr William Davies was imprisoned in the castle, and was eventually hanged, drawn and quartered there on 27 July 1593.
From 1562 until the Reform Act 1832, Beaumaris was a "Rotten Borough" with the member of parliament elected by the Corporation of the town which was in the control of the Bulkeley family.

Thomas Bulkeley

The English Civil War broke out in 1642 between the Royalist supporters of Charles I and the supporters of Parliament. Beaumaris Castle was a strategic location in the war, as it controlled part of the route between the king's bases in Ireland and his operations in England. Thomas Bulkeley, whose family had been involved in the management of the castle for several centuries, held Beaumaris for the king and may have spent around £3,000 improving its defences. By 1646, however, Parliament had defeated the royal armies and the castle was surrendered by Colonel Richard Bulkeley in June. Anglesey revolted against Parliament again in 1648, and Beaumaris was briefly reoccupied by royalist forces, surrendering for a second time in October that year.

In 1925 Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 12th Baronet retained the freehold and placed the castle into the care of the Commissioners of Works, who then carried out a large scale restoration programme, stripping back the vegetation, digging out the moat and repairing the stonework.In 1950 the castle, considered by the authorities to be "one of the outstanding Edwardian medieval castles of Wales", was designated as a Grade I listed building – the highest grade of listing, protecting buildings of "exceptional, usually national, interest".

Beaumaris was declared part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site in 1986, UNESCO considering it one of "the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe". In the 21st century Beaumaris Castle is managed by Cadw, the Welsh Assembly Government's agency for historic monuments, as a tourist attraction, with 75,000 visitors during the 2007–08 financial year. The castle requires ongoing maintenance and repairs cost £58,000 over the 2002–03 financial year.

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Sources:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150355813/richard_bulkeley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary%27s_and_St_Nicholas%27s_Churc...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumaris_Castle

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04646a.htm

Challoner, Missionary Priests (London, 1741); Gillow, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., II, s v.; Douay Diaries (London, 1878); Yepes, Hist. de la Persecucion en Inglaterra; Camm, In the Brave Days of Old (London, 1899).