Maurices of Clenennau & Porkington

Sir William MAURICE of Clenennau, Caernarvonshire, was born in April 1542, the eldest of eight known children of Maurice ap Ellis and Ellen PULESTON. He was the first of his line to adopt the surname MAURICE, though his pedigree is complete for 3 previous generations and he is descended from a long line of men who held public office in Northern Wales.

Coat of Arms of the Maurices of Clennanau Vert, three eagles displayed in fess or

William was married three times; firstly to Margaret Wyn LACON, heiress of the Porkington estate in Shropshire; secondly to Ellin, widow of John LEWIS, following Margaret's death in 1571 or 1572; thirdly to Jane, widow of Sir Thomas JOHNES in 1605. William had 9 children by Margaret, the first when he was just 18; and one other child by his second wife Ellin. William became Sherrif of Caernarvonshire in 1593 and of Beaumaris in 1601. He was a tireless debater in the reign of James I and favoured the United Kingdom. He received his knighthood on 23 July 1603. While he had little formal education, he read widely in theology, law and politics. He was a staunch Anglican and Royalist. He is said by some sources to have been a close friend of James I, though this is denied by the Dictionary of Welsh Biography. His death in August 1622 is recorded on a tombstone in Penmorfa church.

The son and heir of Sir William was William Wyn MAURICE, born 21 December 1559. He married Mary, daughter of John LEWIS of Chwaen in Anglesey, the same John LEWIS whose widow married his father. He had three children but his only son and heir Ellis MAURICE, born 1582, died in 1594 and so his estate passed to his first daughter Ellin MAURICE. Ellin married John OWEN and so at last, the amassed estates of Clenennau, Porkington and Llanddyn passed out of the hands of the MAURICE family.

It must be noted however, that the surname of MAURICE flourished in Shropshire in the 17th and 18th centuries due in large part to the shift of the family to the Porkington estate and to the descendents of minor lines of the family. Ellin, the last heiress of the estates, was buried in 1626 at Selattyn in NW Shropshire, and it is here that the name concentrates in the two centuries following her death.