LLOYD, Sir Edward (c.1600-66), of Berthllwyd, Llanidloes, Mont.

Lloyd’s grandfather and father had both served as sheriff of Montgomeryshire, with the latter securing permission for the assizes to be held at Llanidloes, a mile from the family residence. Lloyd became sheriff in 1629 and was knighted in the following year. In or around 1635 he purchased the royal manor of Arwystli, of which he had previously been steward, with some privileges in the neighbouring lordship of Cyfeiliog, from his wife’s cousin Sir Thomas Myddelton*.17Mont. Colls. iii. 42; viii. 189-90. He met with resistance from some of his neighbours, competitors for the purchase, who tried to obstruct his enjoyment of the fruits thereof, as attested by petitions of March 1637 and December 1638.18CSP Dom. 1636-7, p. 483; 1638-9, p. 165. In the same period Lloyd faced another dispute over his old chamber in the Inner Temple, and a libel case against Matthew Price (uncle of Sir John Price*) who had allegedly dubbed him a ‘prodigal squib knight’.19CITR ii. 244.

Despite such controversies, Lloyd was returned to the Short Parliament as burgess for Montgomery. He made no mark in the House, and later that year he made way for Richard Herbert, who had ceded the county seat to his erstwhile rival for it, Sir John Price. Lloyd and Price were at odds over the latter’s obstruction of his manorial rights at Llanidloes. Lloyd continued to be involved in local affairs, and on 16 August the House was told that he had been the sponsor of two new magistrates for the county when the commission was remodelled.20Procs. LP, vi. 440. There is no doubt that Lloyd sided with the king, and he was named to the commission of array for Montgomeryshire in July 1642, but how active he was in the civil war is not clear.21Northants. RO, FH133, unfol. He was later described as ‘a royalist of an even temper – quitted all offices in 1643 – compounded for his delinquency’, and other sources show he was fined £520 on 15 March 1648, reduced to £470 on 5 June 1649.22Mont. Colls. i. 474; CCC 1724. The Committee for Advance of Money had assessed him at £1,000 on 28 August 1646, and at £250 on 1 September 1651, but in neither case were proceedings taken.23CCAM 727, 1388. Little is known of Lloyd’s activities during the 1650s. In October 1650 he was given leave to travel to London.24CSP Dom. 1650, p. 561. In June 1651 he petitioned for the return of the tithes of Llandinam, originally granted to him by a future delinquent, Dr Thomas Bayly, in 1638, and this request was granted in June 1654 once he had undertaken to increase the rent charge from £120 to £200 a year.25CCC 1724.

Apart from his recovery of local honours in 1660, Lloyd received only modest marks of royal gratitude after the Restoration. He was one of the eight knights of the projected order of the royal oak nominated in his county, and in December 1661 Charles II requested the governors of Charterhouse to offer Lloyd’s younger son, Jenkin, the next vacant poor scholar’s place in the king’s gift.26Burke’s Commoners, i. 694; CSP Dom. 1661-2, p. 185. Lloyd attempted to sell ‘an estate in Wales’ to Bulstrode Whitelocke* in 1662.27Whitelocke, Diary, 655. He died in 1666 and was buried at Llanidloes. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward.28Mont. Colls. viii. 191.