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                                        THE RADNORSHIRE SOCIETY TRANSACTIONS                          43

 

THE LOAN TO KING CHARLES I IN RADNOR-

SHIRE, 1625

 

 

(Crown-copyright material reproduced by permission of the Controller of

H. M. Stationery Office)

 

 

  The following document (B.M. Add. MSS. 11291 f. 107) is a transcript of  the original entries presented to the Court of Exchequer made in 1835. It contains the names of the persons in Radnorshire suggested as contributors to a Loan to King Charles I, and the amounts they were respectively invited to pay. In every case this was £10. The total amount Radnorshire raised was £570, the second highest of all the Welsh counties; Denbigh the highest, raising £605, with Brecon the lowest at £225.

 

James Price, Esq

John Bradshaw, Esq

James Price of Pilleth, Esq

Richard Jones, Esq

John Lloyd, Esq

Will. Vaughan, Esq

Evan Vaughan, Esq

James Phillips, Esq

Cha : Willms, Esq

Hugh Lloyd, Esq

Griffith Jones, Esq.

Phillip Taylor of Dolley

Hugh Lewis of Combe Evan Dee

Rich. Res of Burhope

Hugh Lewis of Hindwall

John Gittoes of Evengeob

John Miles of the same

David ap Rosser of Nantmelan

Oliver Colerick of the same

David Griffith Powell

Hugh Griffith ap Harry

James Dun of Llansantred

John ap Rees ap Robt of Rhulen

Edward ap John of Glascomb

James ap David of the same

Rich. Gwyn of the same

Tho : ap John Tho. of the same

Tho : Baskerville the elder, gent.

Evan ap Hugh of Llandilo

Hugh Griffith of the same

 

     Collected by Brian Crowther, Esq. And Robert Collis of Presteigne

(Hereford).

                                                                                                             A. D. POWELL

The James Family’s Loan to King Charles I in 1625

 

On March 27, 1625 King Charles I (1600-1649) ascended the thrown and became monarch over the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. After his succession, Charles quarreled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the divine right of kings and was determined to govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, and perceived his actions as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch. Shortly after ascending to the thrown, Charles I compelled the James family, landed gentry represented by James ap David of Glascwm and the other landed gentry of the counties in Wales to contribute money in the form of a “loan” to the king. In every case the amount each was “invited” to pay was £10. A total of £570 was collected from the landed gentry of Radnorshire. King Charles I ruled over the three kingdoms including occupied Wales until his execution in 1649. In 1835 a record of the loan made to King Charles I was presented to the Court of Exchequer. This report was published in 1965 in Radnorshire Society Transactions, Volume 35, Page 43. Note that £10 in 1630 was the equivalent of approximately £1,200 in 2017 or $1,500. This sum in 1625 represented a little more than four months wages for a tradesman, or the value of one horse. There is no record of this “loan” ever being repaid to the James family as the period preceding the execution of King Charles I on January 30, 1649 was marred by two civil wars (1642-1646) and 1648 and represented a very tumultuous period.

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From 1642 King Charles I fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War. After his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors' demands for a constitutional monarchy, and temporarily escaped captivity in November 1647. He was again apprehended and imprisoned on the Isle of Wight from where he forged an alliance with Scotland. By the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles I was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England was declared without the landed gentry of Radnorshire ever being repaid their loan to Charles I. The monarchy would eventually be restored to Charles's son, Charles II, in 1660 but apparently King Charles II was not beholden to the debts of his late father...

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Updated: February 23, 2026

Howell Prosser of Glasburie

John Watkin Phillip of the same

Evan John ap Hugh of Llowes

Xtopher Hanley of Knighton

William Carter of the same

John Ward of Llanbadarn Fynidd

John Jauncey of Llanbister

John ap Richard of the same

Robt. Ap Jenn of Llandewy

Will. Mantle of Llanbister

John Wilson of the same

Roger ap Oliver of Llanhangell

   rydithon

Ja. ap Edward of Blethvagh

Ja. Rees of Whitton

John ap Jenn Mredith of Llan-

    drindod

Phillip Kynwin of Llanbadarn

    Faur

David ap Howell Moris of St

   Harmon

Steph. Powell Goch of Comotither

Lewis ap Rees Tho of the same

Rees ap John Wyn of the same

Tho ap Meredith of the same

Lewis Morgan of the same

Hugh Gwin of the same

John Perce of Rayader hundred

David Morris of Llanire