MADRIN, Thomas (1613-?70), of Madrun, Buan, Caern.

Thomas Madrin came from an ancient Caernarfonshire family which claimed descent from the Welsh chieftain Collwyn ap Tangno. His grandfather’s marriage alliances with the houses of Bodfel and Cefnamwlch brought the Madrins into the nexus of Llŷn families, and his father had married into the Wynnes of Plas Mawr.24DWB. Madrin, who was educated at Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, succeeded his father in 1640, and soon took an active role in local affairs. In March 1641 he acted as mediator in a dispute between members of the Williams family which had proved resistant to the conciliation of no less a figure than John Williams, bishop of Lincoln (and future archbishop of York).25Cal. Wynn Pprs., 271. In August 1641 Madrin was one of the four county commissioners appointed to disarm recusants.26LJ iv. 386a. In February 1642 he was surety, with two others, for the appearance of the bishop of St Asaph, John Owens, before the House of Lords.27LJ iv. 586a. In August of that year he was appointed as a commissioner of array by the king, setting to work in the next few weeks raising recruits for the king’s army.28Dodd, 'Caern in the Civil War', 7, Cal. Lttrs. relating to N. Wales, 50-1. On 27 September he was among the royalist gentry of north Wales pronounced delinquent by the Commons.29Add. 18777, f. 12. As sheriff of Caernarfonshire he was involved in recruiting forces for the king in the spring and summer of 1643, and continued to arrange musters in the early months of 1644, although his enthusiasm may have been waning by that time, as in April he subscribed the letter to Archbishop Williams complaining at the treatment of the loyal royalists of Caernarfonshire.30Cal. of Letters rel. N. Wales, 56, 59, 61. Madrin was among the commissioners summoned to Conway by the archbishop on 6 February 1646 in an attempt to persuade the retreating royalist general, Lord Byron, not to abandon them.31Cal. Wynn Pprs. 289.

In the confusion of the last months of the civil war, Madrin successfully changed sides.32Dodd, 'Caern in the Civil War', 26. He was evidently acceptable to Parliament and in June 1647 was included in the Caernarfonshire assessment commission.33A. and O. He was among the local gentry who complained of their problems to the commissioners for disbanding on 29 February 1648.34Cal. Wynn Pprs. 305-6. By this time he had re-joined the Caernarfonshire commission of the peace, where he soon became one of its most diligent members.35Caern. RO, XQS/1648/1, 8-9, 10, 18, 20-1, 26, 31-2, 39, 46, 53. During the second civil war he assisted Thomas Mytton* and John Jones I* in the suppression of Sir John Owen’s royalist rising, chiefly by hindering Owen’s military recruitment in the locality.36Phillips, Civil War in Wales ii. 382; Dodd, 'Caern in the Civil War', 28. He was appointed a commissioner of militia in July 1648 and of the north Wales association in August, with the latter body footing the bill for his troop of 40 horse, raised by order of Parliament in the same month.37LJ x. 373a, 448a, 449a.

During the commonwealth, Madrin established himself as a dominant figure in the region. From April 1649 he served on the assessment commissions for Caernarfonshire and Anglesey, in August he became a sequestrations commissioner in north Wales, and in the autumn of the same year he again became sheriff of Caernarfonshire.38A. and O.; Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, 147, Arch. Cambr. (1927), 196. He continued to serve as a magistrate throughout this period; he was an active militia commissioner; and was soon being styled ‘Colonel Madrin’, presumably because he held a militia commission.39Caern. RO, XQS/1649/17, 49; 1651/13; 1652/19, 173; Cal. Wynn Pprs. 329; Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, 120; CSP Dom. 1654, p. 18. Through their work in the local administration Madrin established a close connection with Colonel John Carter*, and the two men soon became notorious for their oppression of local royalists.40Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, 120. The council of state expressed disquiet at their arbitrary detention of a royalist officer, Colonel Edward Gerard, in February 1652, and their pursuit of John Bodvell* was questioned by the Committee for Compounding in July 1653.41CSP Dom. 1651-2, p. 131; CCC 1599, 1600. Another associate of Madrin’s among the military rulers of north Wales was George Twisleton*, from whom he bought the manor of Edern, in Llŷn, in October 1652. This episcopal manor had been conveyed by the Trustees for sales of bishops’ lands to Twisleton and John Jones I* in 1649.42C54/3699/3.

In the elections for the first protectorate Parliament in July 1654 Madrin was returned for Caernarvonshire alongside John Glynne*. In the early months of the Parliament he was involved in measures concerning law reform and local government. On 15 September he was appointed to the committee to investigate the proceedings of the judges at Salters’ Hall and he was named to the committee on the bill for ejecting scandalous ministers on 25 September.43CJ vii. 368a, 370a. On 28 September he secured the release of William Lloyd, the ‘only servant he hath in town’, who had been arrested ‘upon a bill of Middlesex’ while waiting for his master in Westminster Hall.44CJ vii. 371a. Madrin was named to the committee of privileges when it considered the Irish elections on 5 October, and on 10 October he was chosen for the committee to review legislation passed by the Nominated Assembly.45CJ vii. 373b, 375b. His involvement in the later stages of the session appears to have been limited. He was appointed to the public accounts committee on 22 November and to the committee on the duties and burdens of sheriffs on 4 December, but took no part in business attending the controversial Government Bill.46CJ vii. 387b, 394b.

Madrin’s support for the protectorate continued after the dissolution of Parliament in January 1655. During the scare that attended the Penruddock rising in March, Madrin and William Wray* were involved in collecting evidence of an intended royalist uprising in north Wales.47TSP iii. 272. By 1656 Madrin had become a dominant figure in the Caernarfonshire commission of the peace, dealing with much of the business that came before the quarter sessions.48Caern. RO, XQS/1656/28, 124, 132, 141-2, 146, 165, 169, 209. In the same year he was again putting pressure on the Bodvell family, and this and other incidents no doubt added to his unpopularity in the region.49Cal. Wynn Pprs. 344, 347. In the elections for the second protectorate Parliament in the autumn he failed to win his former seat, which went to Robert Williams*, whose father-in-law and fellow MP, John Glynne, openly canvassed for him, and against Madrin, among the county gentry.50Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, 160, 193; Cal. Wynn Pprs. 347; Dodd, 'Caern in the Civil War', 31. Although Madrin remained second only to Carter in the military government of north Wales, was an important justice of the peace, and headed the signatories to the Caernarfonshire address of 1658 to Richard Cromwell* urging him to adhere to his father’s religious principles, he could not regain the county seat in January 1659.51Cal. Wynn Pprs. 351; Caern. RO, XQS/1657/76, 81, 91, 93, 129, 139-40, 142; 1658+1659/E/1, 18, H8, T/8; Arch. Cambr. (1927), 196. A petition in his name protesting at the result of the election for Caernarvonshire was read in the House on 22 March but was set aside for want of his signature.52CJ vii. 618a-b.

Under the restored Rump Madrin continued to be a man of local importance. He was appointed as a militia commissioner for north Wales in July 1659 and listed as a militia colonel by the beginning of September.53A. and O.; CJ vii. 772b. At least two appeals reached him from royalist families facing sequestration. One of these was from the Wynns of Gwydir, whose heir Richard was imprisoned.54Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, 169; NLW MS 1595E, f. 293. Wynn’s mother was informed by Robert Price on 14 September that ‘I do believe and it is not my opinion alone that Col[onel] Madrin expects to be courted if it be handsomely done and in time I hope he may be soon gained’.55Cal. Wynn Pprs. 353; N. Tucker, 'Richard Wynne and the Booth Rebellion', Caern. Hist. Soc. Trans. xx. 55. Madrin granted parole to Richard Wynn* twice in September and October and in November he was still active in the local administration, issuing a pass for Richard Griffith to journey to Wrexham.56Cal. Wynn Pprs. 353-4; Cal. Lttrs. relating to N. Wales, 110. He was still involved in the locality in the new year of 1660, even though he was dropped from the Caernarfonshire assessment committee at the end of January, and no longer served as a magistrate.57Cal. Wynn Pprs. 355.

At the restoration of the monarchy, Madrin and Carter were brought to book for abuses committed under the commonwealth, but Carter’s success in evading charges seems to have benefited Madrin also.58Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, 173-4. When required to return any arms remaining in his custody, Madrin reported in January 1661 that he had delayed his reply to ensure accuracy, and had three pistols and a case of Lord Bulkeley’s at Madrun, and two cases of pistols at Caernarfon with five or six powderless muskets.59Cal. Lttrs. relating to N. Wales, 149. At Caernarfon on 17 January 1663 he admitted before exchequer commissioners that he had served as a sequestrator and as a commissioner for ejecting scandalous ministers, but denied receiving monies.60E112/566/718. The sheriff of 1665-6 may well have been his son. He was involved in legal cases over property in the county in 1668 and 1669, but was perhaps dead by 1 July 1670 when his son Thomas became a magistrate.61C5/619/16; E134/20Chas2/Mich24; Justices of the Peace ed. Phillips, 34. The younger Thomas died without issue in 1688, and his brother William, who sold Madrun, ended the line.62J.Y.W. Lloyd, Powys Fadog (6 vols. 1881-7) vi. 220; DWB.