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Colonel Prichard
It is not certain exactly when Edward Prichard was born but we believe it to have been fairly early in the 17th century, possibly about 1610. Nor do we know where he was born for it is thought that the Prichard family had more than one house, although it is most likely that his birthplace was Llancaiach Fawr. Unfortunately little is known of his early life. He really came to prominence during the Civil War period. By this time he would have already married Mary Mansel (possibly in the 1630’s), and his children probably would have been born – his two sons having “died young”. Much of this is supposition, as thus far few records for this period of his life have come to light. What is certain is that he held the position of Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1638 and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1640, a post he held throughout the Civil War until his death in 1655. Edward Prichard supported the Royalist cause until the second half of 1645, when, like most of the Welsh gentry, he changed his allegiance to the Parliamentarian side. It was late in this year that he was appointed Governor of Cardiff Castle. In February of 1646 he staunchly held the Castle for the Parliamentarians against a siege headed by Edward Carne. He was also commended “for his constancy in that affray” after the battle of St Fagans (1648), by Colonel Horton, the Parliamentary victor. It is known that Edward Prichard had also been appointed as one of the County Commissioners for the administration of the Act of Propagation (of the Gospel in Wales), and that he was therefore able to examine clergymen for “delinquency, malignancy and non-residence”. He is known to have been a Baptist, and a member of a group that met at Graig-yr-Allt, Eglwysilan. He is thought to have had Puritan sympathies. Sadly it was at the end of 1649 that his wife died. In the October before her death she wrote a letter to her brother, asking that he should make arrangements for the upbringing of their two daughters, there being no gentlewomen locally who could attend to their education. The loss of his wife and likely separation from his daughters must have been a bitter blow, for he never married again. He survived his wife by only six years. |
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