Extract from: Kimber & Johnson - The Baronetage of England: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets Now Existing......, 1771 Edition, p. 372-375
[Transcribed by Keith Winters, 2007, with original spellings]
MEREDITH, of Ashley-Castle, Cheshire.
Created baronet, Jan. 2, 1639.
This is a family of great antiquity, being descended from Elystan, or Addlestan Gloddrydd, some time prince between Wey and Severn, who was godson of Addelstan, King of England, says Dr. Powell, in his history of Wales, and descended from Bellinus the Great, some time King of Great Britain, which Bellinus, or Bellyn, was the elder brother of Bren, or Brenus the Gaul, who sacked Rome.
Their descent from Elystan Gloddryd who died, and was buried at Hereford, appears by an old parchment writing now in the family, attested by Griffith Rice of Newton, Edward Herbert, of Montgomery, John Pryce, of New-town, Esqrs. and several other gentlemen of figure and fortune.
This Elystan, was son of Kelythy, alias Keyhelyn, by Reingar, daughter and heir of Grono, earl of Hereford, which Grono was one of the sons of Tudor Trevor, who was earl of Hereford, in right of his mother, Rheingar, grandaughter and heir of Cariadock Vraichsias, earl of Hereford, and lord of Whittington, Bromfield, Chirke, Maelor, &c. and married Angaret, daughter of Howell Dda, King of all Wales.
From these illustrious ancestors descended Howell ap Maddock Llangynlo, Esq; who married Guenlian, daughter to David ap Rees, ap Howell, in the county of Brecknock, and had issue, Lluellin ap Howell, of Llangynlo, Esq; who by Catharine, one of the daughters of Roger Vawr, of Llechrid, Esq; had issue, David ap Lluellin, of Llangynlo, Esq; who took to wife Guenlian, daughter and sole heir of Maddock ap Jerworth, Esq; and was father of Howell ap David, of Llangynlo, who, by Joned, one of the daughters and heirs of Jo. Tristan, had issue Howel Vain, of Llangynlo, who married Margaret, daughter of Lluellin ap Herast, Esq; and had issue, Merydith ap Howell, of Llangynlo, Esq; who married one of the daughters of Howell Clunne Esq; and had issue Jevan ap Merydith, of Llangynlo, whose wife was one of the daughters of Jem ap Gwylem Goch, Esq; by whom he had issue Thomas Amerydeth; of Llangynlo, who married Guenlian, daughter of David Dee, Esq; ( by Eva, daughter to Jevan ap Howell Blayney, Esq; ) by whom he had, Griffith Amerydeth, who went into England, and married Joan, daughter of Thomas Moore of the county of Devon, and had issue Edward Amerydith, of Slapton, in Devonshire*, who married Elizabeth, daughter to Lewis Fortescue, Esq; one of the barons of the exchequer, by whom he had Thomas Amerydeth, his son and heir, who married Elizabeth, daughter to Henry Champernon, of Modbury, in Devon, Esq; (by Catherine, daughter of Sir Richard Edgecombe, Knt.) by whom he had one son Edward, and two daughters, Elizabeth, married to Bennet Hunt, of Chudley ; and Judith to John Godolphin, Esq; second son of Sir Francis Godolphin, Knt.
Edward Amerydeth, of Marston, in Tamerton-Foliott, Esq; married Margaret, daughter of Edward Marter, of London, Gent. relict of Gamaliel Slanning, of Bickleigh, in Devon, Esq; son and heir to Nicholas Slanning, Esq; by whom he had three sons, Amos, Edward, and John ; and a daughter, Gertrude, wife of George Hall, D.D. and bishop of Chester.
Amos Meredyth, Esq; son and heir, was advanced to the dignity of a baronet of Nova Scotia, anno 1639. He had two wives, first, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Seymour, of Bury-Pomeroy, in the county of Devon, Bart, widow of Francis Courtenay, Esq; eldest son of Sir William Courtenay, of Powderham-castle, in Devonshire, Knt. by whom he had two daughters, Dorothy, who died unmarried. at Shenwell, in Essex ; and Mary, married to Richard Lowther, Esq; second son of Sir John Lowther, of Lowther in Westmoreland, Bart. His second wife was Anne, second daughter of Robert Tatton, of Whettenshaw, in Cheshire, Esq; and of Anne his wife, daughter of William Brereton, of Ashley, in Cheshire: Esq; (and Jane his wife, one of the daughters and coheirs of Peter Warburton, of Arley, in Cheshire, Esq;) and one of the sisters and coheirs of Thomas Brereton. of Ashley, Esq; by whom he had two sons, Sir William, his successor, born Dec. 6, 1665 ; and George, born June 7, 1667†,
This Sir Amos Meredith, of Powderham-castle, in Devonsire, Bart. in consideration of his loyalty and great sufferings, in the time of the rebellion, was made gentleman of the privy- chamber in extraordinary to King Charles II, and commissioner of the customs and excise, in Ireland. He was the first per- son. at the beginning of the civil wars, that was employed by the gentry of the county of Devon, to go to. King Charles I, then at York, for a commission of array, and presented his Majesty at that time with a considerable sum of his own money: he raised a troop of horde at his own expense, and was lieutenant- colonel of a regiment of horse till the end of the war. He built and maintained the fort at Exmouth, in Devon, which cost him £1200 and was governor of the same : he likewise paid £1600 more, for which he had engaged himself to the army under my lord Berkley's command. Several thousand pounds of his own money he sent to King Charles II, then at Jersey, for which Cromwell had resolved to put him to death. He was many years sequestered, suffered long imprisonment, and was at last driven out of England, after they had stripped him of all his estate, both with in-doors and without, to the value of twenty thousand pounds. He died in Ireland, Dec. 5, 1669, and was there buried; all the rest of the family before him, since their settlement in England, lie buried in Devonshire.
Sir William Meredith, Bart. his eldest son and heir, married Mary, daughter and heir of Henry Robinson, of Whopload, in the county of Lincoln, Esq; (by Elizabeth, his wife, eldest daughter of Christopher Thursby, of Dorwoods-Hall, in Essex, Esq; by whom he had eleven children : 1. Anna-Maria, who died the same day on which she was born and christened ; 2. Amos, of whom presently ; 3. William-Henry, who died at about two years old ; 4. Theodora, married to William Sheyne, Esq; captain of foot, who died, leaving a son and daughter ; 5. Mary, married to John Townshend, of Hemm, in the county of Denbigh, Esq; who died without leaving any surviving is- sue ; 6. George, who died about two months old ; 7. Frances who died young ; 8. Anne ; 9. Jane, who died about twelve years old ; 10. Elizabeth, who died at about a quarter old ; and, 11. Gertrude, married to William Huddlestone, of Millom- Castle, in the county of Cumberland, Esq; by whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth, and Isabella.
Amos above-mentioned, died May 6, 1744, in his father's lifetime, having marricd Johann, daughter of Thomas Cholmondely, of Valeroyal, in Cheshire, Esq; (by Anne his second wife, daughter of Sir Walter St. John, Bart. and sister of Henry Lord viscount St. John, whose son was the famous lord Bolin- broke) by whom the said Amos had nine children : 1 . Anna-Maria; 2. Mary, who both died in their infancy ; 2. Elizabeth, married to William Bankes, of Wynstanly, in the county of Lancaster, Esq; by whom he has one son, now living; 4. Martha; 5. Sir William, the present baronet ; 6. Henrietta, married to the Hon. Frederick Vane, second son of Henry earl of Darlington; 7. Theophilus, rector of Linton, in the county of Hereford; 8. Anna-Margaretta, married, in 1770, to the Right Hon. Barlow Trecothick, of Addington, in the county of Surry, lord mayors, and one of the representatives of the city of London ; Mary, married to the Right Hon. Lord Frederick Campbell second son of John duke of Argyle representative in parliament for Glasgow, lord register of Scotland, and a privy counsellor.
Sir William Meredith, the present baronet, succeeded to the title on the death of his grandfather. In the year 1755, he was elected a burgess to serve in parliament for Wigan, and, in 1762, was returned for Leverpoole ; in 1764, he was appoint- ed a lord commissioner of the admiralty, which he resigned the year following, on account of the dismission of the marquis of Rockingham, and his lordship's friends ; in 1768, he was again elected for Leverpoole, and now represents that borough.
ARMS : Gules a Lion rampant, reguardant, Or, being the Arms of lystan Gloddrydd : quartering, 2. Argent, three Boars Heads, couped, Sable, armed, Or, for Grono, earl of Hereford ; 3. Argent, a Dragon's Head, erased, Vert, bearing a man's Hand in his Mouth, couped, Gules, for Trehairne ap Brenyn Pelemaure ; 4. Azure, a Lion, rampant, per Fess, Or, and Argent, within a Bordure of the last, for Cariadoc Vraichfas, earl of Hereford ; 5. Azure, on a Fess, between three Lions, rampant, Or, as Many Crosses pattee, fitche, Sable, for Madock ap Jerworth ; 6. Argent, a Cheveron, Sable, between three Spears Heads, gored, and Points upwards, proper, for Tristan ; 7. Quarterly, Argent, and Gules, in the first and fourth Quarter, a Crescent, Sable, for Tat- ton ; and in the second and third, a Crescent of the first, and in an Escutcheon of Pretence, Argent, two Bars, Sable, and a Crescent, for a distinction of a second House, for Brereton ; 8. Vert, on a Cheveron, between three Bucks, trippant, Or, as many Trefoils, sliped, Gules, for Robinson.
CREST : On a Wreath, a Demi -Lion, rampant, Sable, Collar and Chain reflexing over his back, Or.
SEAT ; At Henbury, in Cheshire.
* Whereas this pedigree of the worshipful Edward Ameridith was drawn by Thomas Jones, of Treganon, a man studious in the British antiquities, and the truthe thereof confirmed by the subscriptions and seales of divers gentlemen of great worshippe and good credite, shewed unto us : wee, at the request of Joseph Holland gentleman, have caused the same to be exemplified and registered in the office of armes and thereunto, in respect of a late match, have adjoyned the discent of the auncient and |worshipfull familie of Champernon, oute of the rowles and records of the said office.
Willus Dethick, Garter, principal, Willm Camden, Clarenceux,
Kinge of arms. 1599. Kinge of armes.
Willm Segar, Norroy,
King of armes.
† On the other side of the pedigree is this wrote :
The truth of this descent from Adward Amerydeth, and Margaret, his wife, being sufficiently proved unto me William Dugdale, Norroy, King of armes, was, at the request of the lady Anne Amerideth, widow of Sir Amos Amerydeth, Bart. of Nova Scotia, here added to this ancient pedigree, 12o Junii, Ao 1673, by me,
William Dugdale,
Norroy, King of Armes.