PRICE, Hugh (d.1657), of Gwern y go, Kerry, Mont.

Hugh Price was of relatively obscure origin, but he was probably the eldest son of Austin ap Rees of Carno. Lewis Price of Pertheirin may have been his younger brother. He was bailiff of the hundred of Llanidloes in 1633, but nothing more is known of his career before the civil war.17Mont. Collns. vii. 18. As Colonel Price he became parliamentarian governor of Red Castle (Powis Castle) before September 1644, the Lords confirmed his tenure there in June 1647, and for many years he enjoyed the profits of the sequestrated castle demesne.18CCC 431; Symonds, Diary, 247; CSP Dom. 1645-7, p. 563; LJ ix. 238b. Price signed the resolutions of the Montgomeryshire gentry, asserting their loyalty to Parliament, on 20 May 1648, and in August of the same year became a commissioner of the associated north Wales counties.19Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vii. 1126; Phillips, Civil War in Wales ii. 373; LJ x. 448a. After the regicide, Price acquired increasing local importance. In June 1649 he was among those ordered to supervise the demolition of Montgomery Castle.20CSP Dom. 1649-50, p. 189. He was active in sequestration proceedings, not least to the prejudice of Edward Vaughan*, from the summer of 1649.21CCAM 996. He was appointed a justice of the peace by November, an assessment commissioner from December, and a commissioner for propagating the gospel in Wales in February 1650.22Mont. Collns. vii. 184; CCC 173, 186, 309, 334; A. and O. The council of state found Price a willing lieutenant in the locality and in May 1651 ordered him to expedite the recruiting of 500 men for the Irish service initially undertaken by John Jones I*.23CSP Dom. 1651, pp. 158, 210. He was appointed as sheriff of Montgomeryshire in November 1653, when he was described as of Gwern y go.24CJ vii. 348b.

During the protectorate, Price continued to be a significant figure in local government. He was named to a commissioner for scandalous ministers in north Wales in August 1654.25A. and O. He was entrusted with administering the oath to the Montgomeryshire JPs in February 1655, and a month later the protector’s circular letter enjoining the local commissions of the peace to be vigilant against royalist conspiracies was directed to him.26C231/6, p. 302; CSP Dom. 1655, p. 94. Commander of the militia forces in north Wales by July, he was instructed to oversee the disbandment of the garrisons at Conway and Caernarfon.27SP25/77, p. 873; CSP Dom. 1655, p. 232. Price, who remained in charge of Red Castle, was considered a loyal Cromwellian. Major-general James Berry*, writing to the protector from Wrexham in July 1656, recommended that Price be assigned ‘a company in some regiment of the army’ to secure Red Castle and Denbigh against the Welsh, who ‘will rule if they be not ruled’. Berry added that Price was ‘a very honest, trusty fellow [who] deserves encouragement’.28TSP v. 242. Perhaps on the strength of this recommendation, in the following October the garrison at Red Castle was augmented, and its allowance increased by 5s a day.29CSP Dom. 1656-7, p. 120.

Price was perhaps an obvious choice for the county representation in the second protectorate Parliament, his predecessor Sir John Price* having failed to shake off a reputation for political unreliability acquired during the civil wars. Apart from his appearance on the list of ‘kinglings’ who voted for Cromwell to become king on 25 March 1657, Price’s role in this Parliament is unclear, as the ‘Mr Price’ recorded in the Journal might also be John Price, the Cardiff Member.30Narrative of the Late Parliament (1657) 23 (E.935.5). It is, however, possible that Price was named to committees to ask the protector for a conference before the original, monarchical, version of the Humble Petition was presented (27 Mar.); and to subsequent committees to arrange a further conference on kingship and to consider the protector’s answer (7 and 9 Apr.).31CJ vii. 514a, 521a, 521b. Price died in November 1657, and was buried at Montgomery on 26 November.32Mont. Collns. xxvi. 219-20. His will, written on 21 November, divided his lands in Montgomeryshire unequally between his two sons, Samuel and Benjamin, and made modest provision for his three unmarried daughters.33PROB11/296/186. Samuel Price became a militia commissioner for north Wales, but after the Restoration moved to Berkshire.34Mont. Collns. xi. 272.