The History of Oswestry: Comprising the British, Saxon, Norman, and English eras; the topography of the borough; and its ecclesiastical and civic history; with notices of botany, geology, statistics, angling, and biography: to which are added sketches of the environsCathrall, William
History
The History of Oswestry: Comprising the British, Saxon, Norman, and English eras; the topography of the borough; and its ecclesiastical and civic history; with notices of botany, geology, statistics, angling, and biography: to which are added sketches of the environs
Cathrall, William
Natural history -- England -- Shropshire; Oswestry (England) -- History
glover, Edward Evans, apothecary, John Jones, glover, John Muckleston,
shoemaker, Thomas Edwards, gentleman, Thomas Edwards, baker, Nathaniel
Jones, brewer, Hugh Edwards, shoemaker, Timothy George, mercer, Thomas
Vaughan, chandler, William Price, butcher, and Thomas Felton, brazier,
were _the first Common-Councilmen_. Morgan Wynne, Esq., was _the first
Recorder_ of the town, and John Worral, Esq., first Common Clerk of the
Borough, and Clerk of the Court. It may be mentioned as a fact worth
knowing, that Sir John Trevor was the _second_ Mayor of Oswestry, under
the charter of Charles II. Sir John was an eminent man, and his history,
connected as he was with the borough of Oswestry, is worthy of brief
record in these pages. He was the second son of John Trevor, Esq., of
Brynkinalt, in the county of Denbigh, by an aunt of Sir George Jeffreys.
He was born about the year 1637, and it is supposed never received
educational advantages beyond those furnished by a village school. He
was sent to London to his uncle, Arthur Trevor, a leading barrister, who
employed him as his clerk in his chambers in the Inner Temple. The Rev.
Robert Williams, in his careful and elaborate “_Biographical Dictionary
of Eminent Welshmen_,” says of him, that—
“On his first arrival he displayed very lively parts, although his
manners were rather uncouth, and he could not speak a sentence of
correct English. His diligence, however, was so great, that being
entered a student of the Inner Temple, he rendered himself well
versed in all branches of his profession, and soon acquired extensive
practice. Through the interest of his cousin, Sir George Jeffreys,
he was made a king’s counsel, in 1678, and he obtained a seat in the
House of Commons. Here he acquired considerable influence among the
members, and such was his reputation as a high prerogative lawyer,
that at the meeting of James II’s. parliament in May, 1685, he was
elected Speaker. In October of the same year he was appointed Master
of the Rolls, and in July, 1688, he was sworn a Privy Councillor. On
the accession of William and Mary, Sir John Trevor was dismissed from
the office of Master of the Rolls. In the Convention Parliament he
sat for Beraldstone, and opposed by every means in his power the
measures of the Government. In the next Parliament, called in 1690,
he made his peace with the Court, and was unanimously elected
Speaker. In May, 1691, he was made first Lord Commissioner of the
Great Seal, which office he held until May 2nd, 1693, and in January,
1693 he was restored to his office of Master of the Rolls. Such was
his talent for managing party, and of recommending himself to the
Government by his bold and dexterous measures, that had it not been
for his great indiscretion, he would probably have reached the great
object of his ambition, which was to become Lord Chancellor, and to
be created a peer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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