Memorial to the Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain signed by Sir Arthur Owen of Orielton, co. Pemb., bart, and ...,

Memorial to the Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain signed by Sir Arthur Owen of Orielton, co. Pemb., bart, and Lloyd Bodfel of Bodfan, co. Caern., at the instance of a great number of the gentry of co. Ang., that [Richard Bulkeley, fourth] viscount Bulkeley is custos rotulorum of co. Ang., constable of Beaumaris Castle, chamberlain of the north Wales circuit, and vice-admiral of north Wales, that Lord Bulkeley's agents and tenants have taken great quantities of lead, timber and stone from Beaumaris castle in the last three years to use on his estate, that his answers to this accusation are false, that his grandfather had caused the guns of Beaumaris Castle to be put aboard his ship, the Bull of Beaumaris, for his private use and they were never returned, that the corporation consists of Lord Bulkeley's relations, friends, servants, tenants and dependants only, that he has started vexacious suits against Humphrey Roberts, who has proved some of the allegations, that he has censured Mr Justice Hooke for his report of Lord Bulkeley's irregular proceedings, that a privateer took a merchant ship of great value near Beaumaris in 1707, and another anchored within the bar near the castle for a week in 1708 and did considerable damage on the coast, that no orders have ever been given for the demolition of Beaumaris Castle, that Lord Bulkeley's power has grown so great that no enquiry was made into the death of a ferryman who was beaten by him and who died soon after laying his death on Lord Bulkeley, that Lord Bulkeley and his family have encroached on almost all the lands given by Queen Elizabeth for the upkeep of the town walls, that as chamberlain of the north Wales circuit he compounds small fines for his friends and harasses those who are not in his interest with heavy and exorbitant fines, that as vice-admiral of north Wales he converts the profits of wrecks to his own use, particularly the man-of-war Fox which was lost near Holyhead about two years ago and no account of which has been given to the Admiralty, that he and others in his interest acted illegally last year by easing the Land Tax paid by him and his friends, overcharging others, and industriously preventing the aggrieved any opportunity of appeal, and that as long as Lord Bulkeley continues in the said posts they must expect nothing but oppression. Extracted from a volume and numbered 647, pp. 61-4.

Preferred citation: 19.

Published