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PHILIPPS family, of Picton, Pembrokeshire

Sometime before 17 October 1491 Sir THOMAS PHILIPPS of Kilsant, Carmarthenshire, married Joan Dwnn, daughter and heiress of Harry Dwnn (son of Owen Dwnn of Muddlescomb in Kidwelly and Katherine Wogan, second daughter of John Wogan and widow of Sir Henry Wogan) and Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Wogan of Wiston. The Kilsant (Cilsant) family claimed descent from Cadifor Fawr of Blaen Cych and Sir Aaron ap Rhys, crusader. Sir Thomas Philipps was the son of Phillip Philipps, son of Meredith Philipps of Cilsant. He was esquire to the body of Henry VII and was appointed one of the stewards and receiver of the lordships of Llanstephan and Oysterlowe on 16 May 1509. On 7 September 1509 he was appointed coroner and escheator of Pembrokeshire and the lordship of Haverfordwest. In the French war of 1513 he was captain of a retinue of a hundred men and in that year he was knighted. On 16 October 1516 he became sheriff of Pembrokeshire and bailiff in eyre in the lordship of Haverfordwest. He was a patron of the bard Lewis Glyn Cothi. He died before 8 December 1520 when his son, JOHN PHILIPPS, server of the chamber, succeeded him in the offices of steward of Llanstephan and Oysterlowe and coroner and escheator of Pembrokeshire and the lordship of Haverfordwest. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Griffith of Penrhyn.

At the time of his appointment on 10 April 1532 as one of the stewards and receivers of the manors of Rice Griffith (see Rice family), he was a steward of the king's chamber. He was sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1542. His son RICHARD (born 1535) interested himself in Welsh literature (see Peniarth MS 155 ). He died on the Thursday after the feast of S. Meugan 1551 (see Peniarth MS 176 (397); W. Wales Hist. Records, vii, 161-4) and was succeeded by his young son WILLIAM PHILIPPS whose wife was Janet Perrot, sister of Sir John Perrot. His daughters married Alban Stepney and George Owen of Henllys. Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire in 1559 and 1572, he was the leader of a political faction in Pembrokeshire in opposition to the party of Sir John Perrot. He died 14 March 1573 and his brother, MORGAN PHILIPPS (died c. 1585), succeeded to his estates in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. After the dissolution of his marriage to the wife of William Scourfield, Morgan Philipps married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Fletcher, registrar of Bangor. He was sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1576. His son, Sir JOHN PHILIPPS, who was created a baronet on 8 November 1621, married (1) Anne, daughter of Sir John Perrot, who was the mother of all his children, (2) Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Dennys of Bicton, Devon. He was Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire in 1597 and 1601 and promoted the Bill for including the lordship of Llandovery in Carmarthenshire (The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1942, 13). He was sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1595 and 1611 and of Carmarthenshire in 1623. He sponsored the literary work of Robert Holland who dedicated his first book to his wife, Anne Philipps. He was captain of the trained bands of Dungleddy. He died at Clog-y-fran, his Carmarthenshire home, on 27 March 1629 and was buried at Slebech. His son, Sir RICHARD PHILIPPS, married (1) Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Erasmus Dryden, bart., grandfather of the poet, and (2) Catherine, daughter of Daniel Oxenbridge, M.D. He took the side of Parliament in the Civil War and garrisoned Picton castle, which was taken by the Royalists on 30 April 1644, when his children were imprisoned. He died 1648. The third baronet was his son, Sir ERAMUS PHILIPPS, who married (1) lady Cicely Finch, daughter of Thomas, earl of Winchilsea, (2) Catherine, daughter and co-heir of Edward d'Arcy of Newhall, Derbyshire; their daughter Margaret married Griffith Jones of Llanddowror and another daughter, Elizabeth, married John Shorter, a London merchant, whose daughter Katherine married Sir Robert Walpole. His son, EDWARD (died 1694), was sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1691. In politics Sir Erasmus followed in his father's footsteps and was Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire in 1654-5, and January-April 1659. He was sheriff for Pembrokeshire in 1656, and was appointed a militia commissioner for South Wales 14 March 1654. He died 18 January 1697 and was succeeded by Sir John Philipps. The 5th baronet, the latter's son, was Sir ERASMUS PHILIPPS, economic writer (see D.N.B.). He matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford, 4 August 1720, aged 20, and entered Lincoln's Inn on 7 August 1721. He was a member of the common council of Haverfordwest and represented the town in Parliament, 1726-43. He was sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1727. His four treatises on economics were published 1720-51. He was drowned near Bath in October 1743. His brother, Sir JOHN PHILIPPS, the Jacobite, succeeded him. He matriculated from Pembroke College, Oxford, on 4 August 1720, aged 19, and was created D.C.L. on 12 April 1749. Later he studied for the law. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Shepherd of London, on 22 September 1725. He was a staunch Tory, 'a notorious Jacobite ' (said Horace Walpole), and a member of the Society of the Sea Serjeants. He was Member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire 1741-7, Petersfield 1754-61, and Pembrokeshire 1761-4, and was made a privy councillor on 10 January 1763. In 1736 he became mayor of Haverfordwest where he was a councilman. He was also councilman and recorder of Carmarthen. He supported local education and founded scholarships at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1749. He died 22 June 1764. His brother, Sir RICHARD PHILIPPS, the 7th baronet, was created lord Milford in the Irish peerage on 22 July 1776. He entered Pembroke College, Oxford, on 3 February 1761. He married Elizabeth, daughter of James Philipps of Pentypark in 1764. In politics a Tory, he was Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire 1765-70, 1786-1812, Plymton 1774-9, and Haverfordwest 1784-6. He was appointed custos rotulorum for Haverfordwest in 1764 and lord-lieutenant in 1770; custos rotulorum and lord-lieutenant of Pembrokeshire in 1786. He died 28 November 1823 without issue and the estate devolved on his cousin RICHARD BULKELEY PHILLIPPS GRANT (1801 - 1857) who assumed the surname Philipps and was created baron Milford of Picton castle in 1847. He died without issue and his estates devolved upon his half-brother the Rev. JAMES HENRY ALEXANDER PHILIPPS (formerly Gwyther) (died 1875). He was succeeded by his son-in-law Sir CHARLES EDWARD GREGG PHILIPPS (formerly Fisher) who was created a baronet in 1887. This baronetcy and the Picton estate descended to his son Sir HENRY ERASMUS EDWARD PHILIPPS (1871 - 1938) and then to his son Sir JOHN ERASMUS GWYNNE ALEXANDER PHILIPPS (1915 - 1948). On the death of lord Milford in 1823, the first baronetcy devolved upon his kinsman Sir Rowland Henry Philipps-Laugharne-Philipps.

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Published date: 1959

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