Welsh Journals

house appears in Mont: Coll: vol 35), and John Lloyd greatly improved it by draining and bringing into cultivation a good deal of the low-lying land on the banks of the Severn. In addition to cultivating his farm and bringing up his large family John Lloyd was a keen sportsman and ran, as a trencher-fed pack, a well known pack of hounds which were apparently used for hunting both the fox and the otter. In this he was assisted by a celebrated local character by the name of George Thomas, of whom there is an account in Montgomeryshire Worthies. Thomas was the son of a wool-stapler at New. town and, after trying his hand at several jobs, ended his days as school master and postmaster at Llandyssil, dying in 1872, at the age of about 81 years. His chief claim to fame, however, is as a writer of mock-heroic verse on local events; these poems include The Otter Hunt," dedicated to Charles Dike of Mainstone and The Death of Roman, a well-known hound, the property of John Lloyd, Esquire, Court, that fell dead when hunting a hare," published together in 1817 by J. Waidson of Welshpool; also The Bloodless Wars of Montgomeryshire (1840)23 and The Welsh Flannel." There is an attractive oil-painting, in my possession, of John Lloyd on horseback dressed in a bottle-green coat and drab breeches and leggings, together with George Thomas in a pink coat, holding an otter-pole. They are surrounded by eleven hounds, and the scene is laid on the banks of the Severn. John Lloyd of The Court died 19th April, 1829, at the age of 57, and was buried at Llanmerewig, where there is a tablet to his memory showing the arms referred to above, which were formerly also on the tablet to his father in Llanfair Caereinion church. His widow survived him by many years, dying 27th April, 1855, aged 82, when she was buried with her hus- band and two of their children who had predeceased them and who are also mentioned on the tablet: Jane, who d. 1809, aged 14, and Richard, who d. 1827, aged 11. Another child, Ellen, died as an infant, and they were sur- vived by eight of their original family of eleven, Anne, David, Maurice, Wil- liam, Margaret, John, Charles and Edward. Of these, only Maurice and John are still represented in the male line, and they and their descendants are mentioned later in this article. 23. The most famous of these "bloodless battles" was the battle of Heniarth near Llanfair Caereinion, which was spoilt by the servant of the miller who owned the battlefield, who came to both the opposing forces with the message, "Mas- ter says he wont have no battle on his land, and you're to go home" The would-be contestants were the Chartists and the Yeomanry.