p 419 -
... Sir Morgan John of Tredegar was succeeded on his death in 1499 or
1500 by his son John ap Morgan, also known as John Morgan. ... John Morgan
was a minor at the time of his father's death but was apparently of age by
1509 when, as lieutenant of Henry, Lord Stafford, the brother of Edward, duke
of Buckingham, he was acting as sheriff of the lordship of Newport (Wentloog)
and steward of the lordship of Machen.(98) Together with his father's brother,
Thomas Morgan of Machen, John Morgan continued to be active in the duke's
administration during the following decade, being rewarded, like his uncle
Thomas, with the duke's red and black livery cloth in 1517.(99)
He married Lettice,daughter of Sir George Herbert (d. 1504) of St Julians near Newport, whose
eldest son, Walter, has already been mentioned as one of the main protagonists
in the Newport affray of 1533. Following the execution of Edward, duke of
Buckingham on 17 May 1521 and the seizure of his estates by the Crown, the
royal commissioners who surveyed his lands reported that the stewardship
of Newport had lately been occupied by John Morgan, the king's servant, a
substantial young man of £100 in lands and Thomas Morgan, his uncle, a sad
gentleman and also of good substance.(100)
In another report, apparently written
at about the same time, the royal commissioners noted that as John Morgan,
esquire, now admitted the king's servant, and Thomas Morgan, had since
the duke's death discreetly administered justice and kept the people in right
commendable order, the commissioners had deputed them their lieutenants in
the stewardship of the lordship, and allowed them a joint fee of £ 13 6s 8d.(101)
However, as already noted, Sir William Morgan was granted the chief steward-
ship of the lordships of Newport (Wentloog) and Machen on 12 January 1522
with a fee of £13 6s 8d. Sir William's appointment was probably unwelcome to
John Morgan, and particularly to Thomas Morgan of Machen, who deposed in
January 1534 that he and Sir William had always been enemies.(102) On the same date
as that of Sir William's appointment John Morgan was granted for life the
offices of constable and door ward of Newport castle with an annual fee of 66s 8d
and wages of 2d a day.(103)
John Morgan's grant described him as a gentleman
usher of the king's chamber, evidently the recent appointment in the king's
service which the royal commissioners had mentioned in their report. His
appointment illustrates the expansion in the numbers of gentlemen in England
and Wales in the king's service which resulted from Buckingham's execution. As
a gentleman usher John Morgan appears in a list of members of the king's
household compiled in the early 1520s, but there is no evidence of his activities
in that capacity.(104) Moreover he did not live long enough to make a successful
career in the royal service, as the last instalment of his fees which he received
was that for Lady Day 1524 and he evidently died before the end of that year.(105) ...
