Welsh Journals

Aug., 1876. BYE-GONES. 97 PIERRE POINT, John, was bora at Lueton, in Shrop¬ shire, in the year 1653, and deserves especial notice as the founder of Lueton School, established by Act of Parlia¬ ment in 1708, in which provision is made for the edncation of one hundred and five boys. The scholars are divided into three classes. The first fifty being the sons of parents whose annual income does not exceed £20, and these are clothed and they pay no tuition fees. The second sort con¬ sists of thirty boys, the sons of parents whose annual in¬ come does not exceed £300, and these pay one pound an¬ nually for tuition. The third are master's boarders, and they are limited to twenty-five. Every year boys out of the two first named classes are put to some trade, and fees paid with them; and at the end of their service a snm of money is paid to each boy who can produce testimonials of in¬ tegrity and general good conduct. Every two years an ex¬ hibition of £75 per annum is ready te be given to any qualified candidate* who may wish to enter the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and this payment is continued for four years. There is a chapel attached to the school, and provision made for the minister. The generous donor did not confine his benefaction to this one object, but left legacies at his death to Hospitals in London, and for the augmentation of poor livings in the Church of England. He died in 1711. PIERSON, Thomas, was born at Weverham, Cheshire, and became minister of Brampton, in Herefordshire. Very little is known of his life and character, bat he is deserving of notice inasmuch as he left in his will—dated 1633—the sum of £300 towards the perpetual maintenance of a preacher at Nether Whitley, and Witton in his native county. PIGOT, Richabd, a native of Northwich, in Cheshire, is worthy of mention as a gentleman of considerable educa¬ tional attainments, for it is said that he held the mastership of Newport Grammar School for some years, and that in 1645 he was promoted to be " chief schoolmaster" at Shrewsbury. If this is correct he must have remained there for nineteen years, for he died in 1663, and is buried at St. Mary's church, Shrewsbury. PIGOTT, Jane, daughter of the Rev William Pigott, rector of Edgmund, in Shropshire, was a native of that place, and fairly entitled herself by her many good deeds to -be looked upon as a " Salopian worthy," but she had also another claim to notice as the owner of a ring pre¬ sented to a member of her family by Charles the First a short time before his death. The ring bore a small minia¬ ture of the king, and inside was engraved " Martyr iopuli." She also possessed a carved portrait, in ivory, of James the Third (commonly called the Pretender) given by him to her relative Robert Pigott in 1730, and this last relic she prized with true Jacobin devotion. PIGOTT, Robbbt, who was sheriff of Shropshire in 1774, was porn in that county in 1738. There are two remark¬ able incidents in connection with him that are worth record¬ ing. He was son to Robert Pigott, who had agreed with Mr Codington to run their father's lives one against the ether for a wager. It turned out that Mr Pigott's father flaa died upon the very day that the bet was made, indeed he was dead when it was made, upon which he refused to pay ine amount of the wager. The case being brought before ^ord Mansfield, that eminent judge decided " that the im¬ possibility of a contingency does not prevent it from be- ia ug e subiect of a wager provided the impossibility « unknown to both parties at the time of laying it." The p£<Vi?C,dent Stated to'is, that immediately after Mr al0g, j *" 8er*«i his year of office as sheriff, he was ho »ranned with the aspect of thingsinEngland.that he seldhis estates at a very inadequate price, and retired with the money to the continent, where he died in 1794. PLANT, Samuel, born near Sandbach, Cheshire, in the year 1821. He proceeded to the Manchester grammar school for his education, and thence to Brasenose College, Oxford, where in 1844 he graduated B.A., and in 1847, M. A. He was ordained in 1845 to the curacy of St. John's, Hartley, and four years afterwards he obtained the vicarage of Weston, near Stafford. He has published some sermons, and " Remarks on Mining Accidents." PLANTAGENET, Geobge, youngest son of Edward the Fourth, was born at Shrewsbury, and although there is nothing more to record of him, for he died in his infancy, we are bound to mention him in these records, out of com¬ pliment to the " Proud Salopians," who are careful in all their annals to remind us of his relation to their town. PLANTAGENET, Henby, first Duke of Lancaster, was born at Monmouth Cast) e, and is memorable for his bounties, and as the founder of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was a good man and desirous of turning bis eminent posi¬ tion to serviceable account, so that we may honour him for his moral perfections, and account him worthy of a very distinguished place in the history of this border county. He died 1361, leaving a daughter, Blanch, who "was married to John of Gaunt the Great Duke of Lancaster. PLANTAGENET, Richabd, second son of Edward the Fourth, born at Shrewsbury in 1472, is best known in his¬ tory as the innocent Duke of York, who was put to death by his cruel uncle, with a view of securing the Crown for himself. So long as the struggle upon Bosworth Field is remembered, will the infamy attached to the bloody deed of Richard the Third continue to be denounced; and it is prebable that Henry of Richmond, when passing through Shrewsbury on his way to Bosworth, found many a strong hand to support him among the gallant sons of that ancient town, who cheerfully joined his standard with a view of avenging the murder of their innocent townsman. PLATT, John Weld, a native of Cheshire, in 1818 pub¬ lished " The History and Antiquities ef Nantwich," a work that has reflected credit upon the author, and been of infi¬ nite valae to historical and antiquarian students. Mr Piatt had prepared materials for a new and larger edition of this work, but they were never sent to press, nor is it known what became of them. PLO WDEN, Charles, born in Shropshire, 1743, wassent to Rome for his education, and entered the society of the Jesuits in 1759 when quite a lad. In 1773 he returned to England and applied himself to ecclesiastical and literary pursuits, becoming eventually president of the Roman Catholic College at Stonyhurst in Lancashire. He wrote a great number of works, and his death occurred in France 1821. PLOWDEN, Edmund, an eminent lawyer, was born in Shropshire in 1517, and educated at Cambridge, from whence he removed to Oxford, where he took his degrees in physic, which profession he afterwards quitted for the law. His " Commentaries and Reports" are greatly esteemed. He died in 1584. PLOWDEN, Fbancts, a member of an old Salopian family, was born in that county, and was educated for a priest at St. Germain-en-Laye, he and his family having gone over to France with James 2nd in his exile. He was employed as a missionary in England for some years, but, returning to Paris, he continued to reside there till his death in 1787. He published several works, but the best known of the whole is "Traite du Sacrifice de J. p.," published in 1778. 25