Richard Nash Biography

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Richard Nash (abt 1530 - aft 1597)

 
One of our most interesting early x-great-grandfathers was Richard Nash, younger son in an important gentry family in Pembrokeshire (Nash Ancestry). Called an "important Carmarthen mercer" in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography (article on "Beau" Nash), he was part of the new merchant class in the Renaissance period of Queen Elizabeth I. The most prominent of these men were called "merchant adventurers" because they founded businesses and supporting colonies in far-off places such as the East India Company and the Levant Company. The name "merchant adventurer" was also given to Sir Walter Raleigh when he founded the earliest English settlement on Roanoke Island in 1585. Our Richard Nash was only on the fringes of that adventurous world, but he helped enlarge the trading markets of Wales and England both domestically and with the European continent.

Fortunately, from the unpublished studies of Derek Williams we learned of a wide range of Nash's activities, both professional and personal. Besides being a Carmarthen magistrate in several functions, Nash successfully imported and exported a variety of goods, sailed with the famous "seadog" Sir Francis Drake, studied as a lawyer and argued several cases in the London Court of Chancery, and on a personal level suffered estrangement from his wife and her family. Almost all of this information comes from the work of Derek Williams, and his original sources are cited here for those who want to pursue the life and times of Richard Nash.

Civic Life in Carmarthen

Like most of our early Leighs and like his father David Nash, Richard Nash was active in the municipal government of Carmarthen. He was bailiff in 1572 and 1573, and also a member of the borough council in 1573. His signature in the Order Book (Carmarthen Record Office, MUS 156A) shows that he was on the council again in October 1581, all or most of 1582, and March 1585. Unlike his father he was not elected mayor or alderman.

Legal Training and Activities in Richard's Career

There is no evidence that Richard finished his training in the law by receiving a law degree (as did his father with a degree in Civil Law from Oxford University on 11 February 1528). But he was able to plead his own cases in Chancery Court, and in one of them he refers to himself and his study: "mynding and entending to applie himself to the studie of the comyne lawes of this realme [he] did repaire up to London and did macke his abode here in an Inne of chauncery" (C3/133/94). This reference and a total of four cases in the period 1558-79 were found by Derek Williams in Chancery Proceedings Series 2 at the Public Record Office. Unfortunately only Richard's pleas and charges were preserved, and we know neither the opponents' positions nor the judicial outcome of the cases. But they give us considerable information about Richard and even his family. [Note: these cases are given in the original Elizabethan legal language and spelling, which may seem less exotic and confusing if sounded out phonetically, not just read silently.]

 
Two of the cases concerned Richard's claims to property wrongfully taken by others. One described the actions of the Carmarthen bailiff in showing a "writ of execusion ... as surety or pleage for another" which Richard knew to be false. Then in his absence the bailiff forcibly entered Richard's premises and took a horse worth three pounds, a bridle, and other equipment, goods, and chattels. The bailiff refused to return them, and his brother the then mayor also did nothing: "promissed to see redreas therof divers and sondry tymes and as yeat herin nothing done" (C3/131/110). The names of the bailiff and the mayor helped Derek Williams to date the case in 1565.

The second case concerns real property in north Carmarthenshire which was bequeathed to Richard by a man named Morgan ap Jevan ap Rhydderch (who is otherwise unknown in the family). Morgan's daughter also received the property, but she relinquished her claim and Richard alone administered the will. Richard "had befor that tyme dosborsed great sommes of money for the said Morgan" and thus claimed a right to the property, but three other men had taken it over claiming "soundry secret estats of inheritance of the premisses to persons unknowen" but refusing to show them or deliver up the lands (C3/132/33).

The earliest case shows Richard's life as a merchant. He stated that about three years earlier he had sold six "tonnes" of Bastoyne (Spanish) wine (a tun of wine=6 barrels) and twenty "tonnes" of salt (a tun of salt=10 barrels) to Lewes Hopkyn of Carmarthen town, who had failed to sign a bond for the payment. Richard said that he "ys well able to prove the sayd contract by dyvers good wytnesses that dwell farre off whych yet otherwyse then by remyssion your orator shall not well be able to have the benefytt of these testymonyes" (C3/131/89). "Remission" seems to be a legal remedy he is asking for, presumably submitted affidavits. As with all of Richard's cases we do not know the outcome.

Several other references help show Richard's career. In Elizabethan times cloth was the main export from Carmarthen, and salt and wine were common imports. The Welsh Port Books show import of salt from France by Hugh Williams and Richard Nash on 25 August 1567, on the ship Catherine of Carmarthen with master Thomas Kempster. On 5 March 1572 Richard was merchant for the export of 20 quarters of wheat to France on the Mary of Poole with master John Corall. Trade was also conducted with Spain and Portugal despite the increasingly tense political situation in the decades before the famous battle of the English against the great invading forces of the Spanish Armada in 1588. In January 1571 Richard was one of several Carmarthen merchants who complained to the Privy Council that "diverse goods and merchaundises of thiers have been staied in Portugal by commandement of the Kinge there" (Acts of the Privy Council, 1571-5,p.6). Attempts to recover these goods proved in vain, and compensation of 1185 pounds was paid in April 1578 (Cal. State Papers, Domestic. 1566-79 Addenda, Vol.XXV, no.92). In this enterprise Richard was associated with Richard Holland, conceivably a relative through Richard's mother Alice Meilir and her father John Meilir.

Not all of Richard's trade was international. Coastal trade occurred with Bristol and the Severn River ports as far as Tewkesbury, and elsewhere. Carmarthenshire at times had to import foodstuffs, even though agriculture was the main industry, because it frequently suffered from poor weather that resulted in famine for the too rapidly increasing population (Lloyd II,283). On these occasions the Government had to intervene to allow merchants to infringe the law against the transportation of cereals from one shire to another, which was otherwise enforced to prevent artificial distortion of prices and to encourage local self-sufficiency in basic foods. Richard Nash apparently saw opportunities in this fact. For example, in 1586 he undertook to purchase malt and corn from Gloucestershire, Bristol, London, Southampton and Hampshire, and to give securities that he would convey this produce directly to the county and not dispose of it elsewhere (Acts of the Privy Council, 1586-7, pp. 110,159, 165, 387).

Land trade also occurred, particularly with wool sent to Oswestry and eventually to London. Richard Nash's trade, however, seems to have been mainly by sea, which is not surprising since Carmarthen was a primary port for South Wales and also had the Custom House. Interestingly, Richard became responsible for the physical upkeep of the quay or dock at Carmarthen port, as shown in a lease recorded in the "Booke of Ordinaunces," the Order Book in which the Carmarthen council registered its business between 1575 and 1606 (See John Davies' article in The Carmarthenshire Antiquary. Vol. XXIX, 1993). The council Rent Roll for 1584 includes the following item: 

A lease demised & graunted in the tyme of William Philip, maior, [i.e. in 1578-79] to Richard Nash uppon the keye by a comon meter ------ ijs iii.jd And the sayd Richard Nash doth covenant to keepe the key in reparacions both with lyme and stone and beames of tymber bounde aboute in the number of 30, and there is in the leasse but 27 beames.

Surprisingly, we found no indication of Richard Nash's wealth, though he appears as a successful merchant despite his complaints in his Chancery cases. He was not taxed in the Lay Subsidies of 1573-98, though his son-in-law Ralph Leigh appeared in the returns of 1598. We do know that Richard owned or leased certain lands across the river Tywi from Carmarthen which were traditionally used in common. Like many others he illegally encroached upon the traditional common lands and enclosed part for his own use. According to A Survey of the Duchy of Lancaster Lordships in Wales 1609-13 (published in 1953), before 1592 Richard Nash "enclosed one greate close and since divided [it] into two closes" and he made "the first ditche and inclosure out of the lower mountayne". The survey showed that others later continued the enclosure and prevented tenants of the manor from pasturing their cattle there.

Sea Expedition with Sir Francis Drake

 
Perhaps the single most interesting event we know about Richard Nash's life was his sea voyage with Sir Francis Drake. It seems surprising to us now that the famous British sea adventurers and explorers like Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake Photo credit: The Sea Dogs, Neville Williams, London: Weidenfeld and McOlson, 1975

were often financed by wealthy merchants looking to secure trade routes and colonies for their developing international trade. Both adventurers and royal ships were often accompanied by merchant ships (Andrews pp.8-12). This close relation of business with the English navy may explain how our Richard Nash was a "Captain in the Portugal voyage" with Sir Francis Drake, as related by Lewys Dwnn in 1597 from information given by Richard Nash himself (II,202). We have not found Richard's name in the naval histories, but a John Nash was master of a merchant ship named the Margaret and John which participated in the great sea battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588 (Clowes I,592). This ship was listed as a London vessel owned by John Watts (later Lord Mayor of London), but the John Nash in London may have been an untraced relative of our Richard Nash. In fact, a John Nash (otherwise unidentified) signed the Carmarthen Order Book on 26 October 1581 along with our Richard Nash.

The "Portugal voyage" is sometimes taken to mean Drake's attack on Cadiz in 1587, but Nash's voyage was much more likely Drake's attempted invasion of Portugal in 1589. This was a disastrous voyage, and the article on Drake in the Dictionary of National Biography gives a moving account of its tragic mistakes and loss of up to 16,000 seamen and soldiers.

After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in the English Channel at the end of July in 1588, fear of invasion by Spain diminished and England felt able to seek reprisals by attacking Spanish ports as well as ships bringing gold and silver from the New World. Portugal was also a target as it was effectively taken over by Spain, and the English had the additional hope that an invasion could return the exiled claimant to the throne in place of the ruler installed by King Philip of Spain. According to the DNB,

In the following spring an expedition against the coasts of Spain and Portugal, of such magnitude that it amounted to an invasion, was placed under the joint command of Drake and Sir John Norreys. It consisted of six of the queen's capital ships, with a great many private ships of war and transports, numbering in all about 150, and carrying, what with seamen and soldiers, 23,375 men (Cal. State Papers, Dom., 8 April 1589). So far as mere numbers went, it was most formidable, but it suffered from the three terrible mistakes of being victualled with the same parsimony that had threatened to ruin the fleet the year before, of being under a divided command, and of leaving the sea, where we had proved our superiority, to fight on land, where our soldiers had but scant experience. After being detained a whole month at Plymouth by adverse winds, it was already short of provisions when it put to sea on 18 April. The first attempt was made on Corunna, where, on the 24th, the shipping was burnt and the lower town was taken arid plundered, from the upper town, however, the attack was repulsed. (DNB, p.1344)

Delays occurred and the terrible decision was taken not to attack the port of Lisbon directly by sea or the Tagus river, but by land 45 miles north.

Port of Lisbon Photo credit: The Sea Dogs, Neville Williams, London: Weidenfeld and McOlson, 1975

The long slow foot march south gave Lisbon plenty of time to prepare for attack, the foot soldiers were ill supplied and suffered disease, and the Portuguese did not arise in favor of Don Antonio's claim to the throne. The land attack upon Lisbon in late May was joined by Drake's sea attack, but the English had too little and were too late (Edwards pp.135-46). The foot soldiers had to march south to reembark on the ships again:

The soldiers, having failed in their attempt on Lisbon, came down to Cascaes and there embarked, though riot without some little loss. On the return voyage they met with very bad weather, were seventeen days before they could reach Vigo, and then in the greatest distress, their men dying fast from sickness and want. Nor could they obtain any relief at Vigo, the town having been cleared out in expectation of their coming. They vented their angry disappointment by setting it on fire, and re-embarkead. Their effective force was reduced to two thousand men, and it was agreed that Drake should fill up the complements of twenty of the best ships and take them to the Azores [to try to capture Spanish ships laden with silver and gold from the New World].... But a violent storm scattered their squadrons. The queen's ships alone held with Drake, who determined to make the best of his way to Plymouth, where he anchored in the end of June. The booty brought home was considerable, but the loss of life was appalling. Strenuous efforts were made to conceal this by misstating the numbers which originally started, and possibly exaggerating the numbers which had deserted .... The real advantage was that the vast destruction of shipping and stores put an end to all proposals of an invasion from Spain. (DNB, p.1344)

Historians still argue over the blame due Drake, Norreys, or Queen Elizabeth herself (Wernham 1-26, 194-218), but otherwise the misconceived and disastrous voyage to Portugal is little remembered, understandably, compared to the great warmth and praise that surrounds the great English victory against the Spanish Armada.

Our Richard Nash survived, and probably escaped the worst rigors by staying aboard ship. We find him next signing his pedigree for Dwnn in 1597, and have no other references. We do not know when Richard died. Richard's wife Elizabeth Bowen must have lived as a widow in Carmarthen, or at least she paid the yearly rent on a piece of Commons land near the Castle. The note "Elizabeth Nash wyd' payeth" was written but undated when the 1584 Carmarthen Rent Roll was brought up to date (apparently after 1597). If she moved to her family's home in Haverfordwest, she may be the Elizabeth Nashe who was buried at St Mary's church on 21 December 1599 (Film no. 105104).

Legal Case About Richard's Wife: Elizabeth Bowen

 
Richard Nash's personal life was revealed with unusual frankness in his Chancery speech about his wife. He began by explaining that he had a family and household in Carmarthen which he customarily left in his wife's care during his absences, and at the past Christmas feast he had also left a sum of money there when he had gone to London for the "defence & presenting of certen suits dependinge in divers of the quenes majesties courts here at Westminster" and also for his study of the law while living in one of the Inns of Court, as already said. But during his absence his wife's brother, Thomas ap Bowen, had influenced his wife against him, stolen his goods and money, and "most ungodly" persuaded his wife to move to her brother's house in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, where Richard was not allowed even to approach her. In the following speech, he refers to himself in the third person as "your said orator." Since the speech is a single long sentence I have broken it into paragraphs and added several commas:

One Thomas ap bowen of harfordwest in the countey pembroc, natural brothere unto the said Elizabeth your said orators wyfe, being a man overmoche enclyned to optaine and gett by unlawful means the goods & substance of other men, & to enriche himself therby.
and hoping to find a pray for his purpose in prefering the long absence of your said orator from his wyfe & famyly, hathe by sinistre & craftie meanes practised with your said orators wife to geete & obtaine into his unlawful possession all such goods, chattels, money, implements & furniture of houshold. all the said things, by the deling, as your orator supposeth, & suffrance of your said orators wyfe.
and doth not only contrary to all order of lawe geet retein kepe & withhold the same from your orator, but also hath most ungodly dissuaded your said orators wife from the company of your said orator, and doth kepe & maintein her in this --? kind of lyf in his own dwelling house.
in such sorte that he will not suffer your said orator to approch ner his wyfe without daunger of lyf, to the intent that your said orator may not seek to geet againe into his possession his said goods & chattels.

Richard repeated the charges then added his brother-in-law's threat of murder:

And doth contryve with himselfe to --? kill & dispache your said orator by some craftie means, to the end they may enjoy the said goods betwin them. (C3/133/94)

What a sorry marital situation! We don't know now what Richard hoped to gain by taking the matter to court, perhaps something like a modern restraining order and court judgment against the brother of his wife, as well as the return of his property and presumably his wife. We know even less of the outcome, because the extant references give only the charge and accusation, not the defense or judicial decision. Elizabethan gentry and merchants were notoriously eager to go to court for even trivial quarrels, so perhaps the family break was less serious than it appeared to be. As said earlier, the widow Elizabeth Bowen Nash paid rent on a piece of Commons near Carmarthen castle, so we can hope that they reconciled and she returned to her husband.

Only one child of their marriage was given in any of the pedigrees, our Elizabeth. Richard's reference to having a family at the time of his speech would place her birth about 1565, according to Derek Williams' calculations. This date also fits her marriage to Ralph Leigh and their family of five children as listed by Lewys Dwnn dated 1608 (II,201).

Historical Relation of RICHARD NASH

 
Our Nash family and all of their spouses belonged to classic gentry families of either English or ancient Welsh ancestry. The Nash estate was called Great Nash in Llangwm parish in Pembrokeshire, but the male heirs of this main Nash line died out with the burial of Richard III Nash (not our ancestor) in 1582. The estate of Great Nash went to Richard's son-in-law Alban Philipps of Picton Castle by marriage to Richard's daughter Janet, the last Great Nash heiress. This Janet was a cousin of our Richard Nash, who as the younger son of a younger son was never an heir to the estate. Our Richard's wife Elizabeth Bowen also descended from the younger son of a gentry family. Her father Henry Bowen was never the heir of the Bowen estate called Lochmeyler, and he lived by commerce and civic service in the city of Haverfordwest. In this economic respect the Nash and Bowen families paralleled the Leighs and Oakleys in Carmarthen. For details of the Nash and Bowen families, see the Ancestry Chart of Richard's daughter ELIZABETH NASH.

For me at least, it is not this gentry ancestry that makes Richard Nash especially interesting so much as his personal career. He was one of our most historic ancestors because of the considerable documentation about him, and because of the history-making actions he participated in. He worked within the great changes during the Renaissance which were turning Britain and the European continent away from its medieval rural and local economy to the more international economy that resulted from the discovery of the New World. The year 1492 with Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the New World seems very long ago, yet it occurred only 30 or 40 years before the birth of Richard Nash. In a small way he was on the edges of the world of sea exploration and colonization that was the first step in creating our own modern view of the earth as a single living space.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 
Andrews, Kenneth R. Drake's Voyages. New York: Charles Scribner's, 1967.

"Beau" Nash, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Aberystwyth, 19??

Clowes, Wm. Laird. The Royal Navy. 5 vols. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 1897. Reprint AMS Press, 1966.

Laws, Edward. The History of Little England beyond Wales: Short Pedegrees of Divers Noble-men, knights, esquires, gentlemen & Women of Pembrokeshire. Picton Castle Mss. Published 1888.

"Sir Francis Drake, Dictionary of National Biography. New York: Macmillan Co., 1908.

Wernham, R. B. "Queen Elizabeth and the Portugal Expedition of 1589", English Historical Review. LXVI (1951): 1-26, 194-218.

Williams, Derek. "An Examination of the Scourfield Pedigree", Pembrokeshire Historian, No. 6 (1994-5), pp.17-24.

Williams, Neville. The Sea Dogs: Privateers, Plunder and Piracy in the Elizabethan Age. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1.975.

By Norma Leigh Rudinsky