Part 4

David Mathew, Esq., of Llandaff, the father of Dorothy Morgan, was likewise the father of Brigadier-General Edward Mathews, and the grand-father of the well known Admiral Mathews, who was thus the first cousin of David Morgan. Admiral Mathews contested the county of Glamorgan with Sir Charles Kemys Tynte, of Cefen Mabley, and was elected by a majority of 47. The election was held at Cardiff, and commenced on the 2nd of January, 1744, the poll extending over _nine days_.

Though possessed of no proof that such was the case, I strongly suspect that the father of David Morgan acquired Penygraig by his marriage to Dorothy Mathews. But I have not been able to learn whether he ever resided there, nor where his son was born, though the period of his birth must have been 1695, or 1696. His father, being the second son, would naturally have removed from Coed-y-gorres after his marriage; and it is probable that Penygraig became his residence. Where David was educated does not appear; but it is clear that he received a liberal education.

Having studied law, and passed through the prescribed formalities, he was, in regular course, called to the bar. But the author of the “Genuine Account,” whether truly or not cannot be clearly known, states that “not making a shining figure there, he retired into the country, and, after his father’s death, lived chiefly on his estate.” He was, however, well known in the Courts, and had frequently practised at Westminster, and elsewhere; though there is reason to suspect that he never devoted himself very assiduously to the law, and that his predilections, at one period, lay more in a military direction. In the speech which he made at his trial, when referring to the evidence that showed him to have been the confidential adviser of the Pretender, and his being designated the “Pretender’s Counsellor,” he remarked, “as to my capacity as one bred to the law, I confess that I never pretended to much knowledge that way, and therefore was a very improper person to counsel the chief of the rebels, for my advice could be of little value to him.” {37}

From the same source, combined with the fact of his readiness to join the army of the Pretender, I draw the inference of his military tendencies; for, he further observes, that he had “served the Crown of England in two campaigns with some reputation.” {38a} But no further information has been obtained with respect to his movements and proceedings, while engaged with the army, beyond the fact that he was frequently addressed as “Captain” Morgan.

He likewise appears to have taken rather an active share in the political discussions of the day, and to have been a prominent member of the club of independent electors of Westminster; for I learn that, after his execution, two pamphlets where published on the assumed appearance of his ghost at the club. Nor did he confine himself to political questions, for poetry and polemics were somewhat incongruously blended in his studies. Horace Walpole speaks of him as “Morgan, a poetical lawyer;” {38b} and it will be remembered that in the paper delivered to the sheriffs at the execution, he states, “this my faith I have fully set forth in a poem of two books, entitled, ‘THE CHRISTIAN TEST OR THE COALITION OF FAITH AND REASON,’ the first of which I have already published, and the latter I have bequeathed to the care of my unfortunate but dutiful daughter, Mistress Mary Morgan, to be published by her, since it has pleased God I shall not live to see it.”

In addition to his estate in Wales, he possessed some valuable leasehold property in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, which, most probably, was acquired by his marriage; for his wife, whose maiden name I have not succeeded in ascertaining, was a London lady. It is not clear whether he left more than one child living at his death; for though he refers to his daughter Mary Morgan only, in the pedigree of Mathews, of Llandaff, {38c} his daughter and heiress is designated “Jane,” which, most probably, was an error, and the name should have been “Mary.” This lady had died unmarried prior to the year 1798, (but how long previously I am unable to determine,) and her estates in the county of Glamorgan were, at that date, held in trust for John William, son of John Chittingden, of Tooting, Surrey, who was then only three years of age, as her heir-at-law, and co-heir with William Morgan Thomas, {39a} of Lanedern, in the county of Glamorgan, whose age was then twenty-two years. It thus appears probable that the property of Morgan either escaped confiscation, or was restored to his daughter on the passing of the act for the restoration of the forfeited estates.

It has already been stated that Penygraig {39b} is now an ordinary Welsh farm-house; and Coed-y-gorres {39c} has long been reduced to the same condition; while their connection with David Morgan, and the recollection of his tragical fate, are only retained in a few shadowy traditions that are rapidly fading out of remembrance.

Glanwern, Pontypool, Dec., 1861.

PEDIGREE OF DAVID MORGAN, ESQUIRE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.

[Picture: Pedigree of David Morgan] {40}

FOOTNOTES.

{7} The “Young Pretender,” as he was generally designated. He was the son of James Frederick Edward Stuart, usually called the “Old Pretender,” and grandson of James II.

{9} Williams’s History of Monmouthshire.

{10} Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, vol. i. pp. 212, 213. 1829.

{11} This shows the early hours that prevailed in those days.

{12} Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, vol. ii. 1830.

{14a} Referring to the exclusion of Welshmen from Welsh Bishoprics it is remarked in a pamphlet, published in 1831, that “this system is said to have originated in the resentment of King William against the Jacobite principles of the native Welsh Clergy.”—_Prize Essay on the Causes which have produced Dissent in Wales_, p. 26.

{14b} Chambers’s History of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 233.

{15a} Chambers’s History of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 309.

{15b} Lord Mahon’s History of England.

{15c} Forbes’s Jacobite Memoirs, p. 55.

{15d} Lord Mahon’s History of England.

{16} Lord Elcho’s MS. Account.

{17a} Jacobite Memoirs.

{17b} Howell’s State Trials, vol. xviii. p. 371.

{19} Howell’s State Trials, vol. xviii.

{20a} Few families have been greater sufferers through their loyalty and faithful adherence to their religion than the Towneleys. Francis Towneley was the fifth son of Richard Towneley, of Towneley, county of Lancaster, and was born in 1709. His eldest brother, Richard, participated in the Rebellion of 1715, but though tried for the offence, he had the good fortune to escape. The third brother, John, entered the French service; and became tutor to the young Pretender. John Towneley distinguished himself by translating _Hudibras_ into French, and exhibited therein a remarkable knowledge of the language. The grandson of Richard, the eldest brother, and the twenty-ninth possessor of Towneley from Spartingus, Dean of Whalley, _temp._ Alfred the Great, was Charles Towneley, to whose refined taste we owe the well known collection, the “Towneley Marbles,” which was purchased by the nation, for the British Museum, for the sum of £20,000.

{20b} The despicable Murray, of Broughton, who acted as the Pretender’s Secretary.

{21} Howell’s State Trials, vol. xviii.

{22} The Pretenders and their Adherents.

{23a} Scots Magazine, 1746.

{23b} Howell’s State Trials, vol. xviii.

{24a} Scots Magazine, 1760.

{24b} Authentic Account, 1760,

{24c} Howell’s State Trials, vol. xviii.

{25} Scots Magazine, 1760.

{26} Works of William Shenstone, vol. i. p. 179.

{27a} Thomson’s Memoirs of the Jacobites, vol. iii. p. 415.

{27b} Chambers’s History of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 233.

{27c} Authentic copies of the papers wrote by Arthur Lord Balmerino, and others, and delivered to the sheriffs at the places of execution, 1746.

{32} Tales of a Grandfather, vol. iii. p. 324.

{33} A Genuine Account, &c.

{34} In the reign of Edward IV., Morgan Jenkin Phillip was possessor of Pencoed. He married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Scudamore, of Kentchurch, and great-grand-daughter of Owen Glendower. Leland says, “Morgan the Knight of Low Wentlande, dwelling at Pencoite, a fair manor place, a mile from Bist, alias Bishopston, and two mile from Severn Sei. He is of a younger brother’s house.”

{35} Particulars privately printed for the House of Lords.

{37} Howell’s State Trials, vol. xviii.

{38a} Howell’s State Trials, vol. xviii.

{38b} Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford, to Sir Horace Mann, vol. ii. p. 166.

{38c} MSS. of Sir Isaac Heard, privately printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart.

{39a} Ann, the third daughter of William Morgan, Esq., of Coed-y-gorres, (who died in 1762,) married John Thomas, of Fyn Fynon, in the parish of Llanedern, Glamorganshire, and had one son, William Morgan Thomas. The representatives of this gentleman appear to have subsequently resided at a place called Llanarthan, in the parish of St. Mellon’s, Monmouthshire; and some of them were very recently living.

{39b} I have been informed that after Morgan’s death this place came into the possession of Mathews, of Llandaff, and was sold by a member of that family to an ancestor of the present Colonel William Mark Wood, who now owns it. And this seems very probable, as I find that Penycoed, in Monmouthshire, now the seat of the Morgans, having been purchased by Admiral Mathews, was sold, about the year 1800, by his grandson, John Mathews, Esq., to Colonel Wood of Piercefield; and Penygraig may have been disposed of at the same time.

{39c} Coed-y-gorres is now the property of the son of the late Rev. Windsor Richards, Rector of St. Andrew’s, and of St. Lythen’s, in the county of Glamorgan; but how acquired I am not able to show.

{40} For those unable to see the diagram it is given in text below.—DP.

Treharne Thomas ap Blethyn, of Lanedern, Gent.==Mallt, d. and h. of Morgan Jenkin Bevan Meirick, of Coed-y-gorres. They had issue Mallt, d. and h.

[1st Wife . . . ==Sir Thomas Morgan, of Pencoed, Knt.==. . . Widow of . . . Powell. The second marriage had issue James Morgan.]

James Morgan==Mallt, d. and h. The had issue Morgan James, of Coed-y-gorres.

Morgan James, of Coed-y-gorres, Gent.==Maud, d. to Watkin William David ap Gwylym Jenkin Herbert, of Gwern Ddu. They had issue William Morgan James.

William Morgan James, of Coed-y-gorres, Gent.==Catherine, d. and coheiress to Lewis ap Rees ap Morgan Prees Yychan, of Lancaiach Yssa. They had issue William, O. S. P. and Catherine, d. and h.

Catherine, d. and h.==John, great-grandson to Sir Thomas Gamage, of Coyty, Knt. They had issue Thomas Morgan.

Thomas Morgan, of Coed-y-gorres, Gent., baptised 1st Jan. 1609==Margaret, d. to Evan Thomas Bevan Meirick, of Eglwysilan, Gent.

William Morgan, Gent., heir of Coed-y-gorres in the year 1678==M. Elizabeth, d. to Watkin Thomas, Gent.

Thomas Morgan, of Coed-y-gorres, Gent., baptised 1st Jan. 1609==Margaret, d. to Evan Thomas Bevan Meirick, of Eglwysilan, Gent. They had issue William Morgan, Gent.

William Morgan, Gent., heir of Coed-y-gorres in the year 1678==M. Elizabeth, d. to Watkin Thomas, Gent. They had issue William Morgan of Coed-y-gorres; Thomas Morgan, second son, of Coed-y-gorres; and two other sons, and five daughters.

William Morgan of Coed-y-gorres==Elizabeth, d. to Henry Probert, of the Argoed, in Penalt, Esq.

[David Mathew, of Llandaff, Esq., 1678==Joan, d. of Sir Edmund Stradling, of St. Donat’s, Bart. They had issue Dorothy]

Thomas Morgan, second son, of Coed-y-gorres==Dorothy. They had issue David Morgan, Barrister

David Morgan, Barrister, executed on Kennington Common, 1746==. . . d. of . . . of London. They had issue Mary (?) d. and h. O. S. P.