Welsh Journals

4 NOTES ON THE PERROT FAMILY. An attempt, however, has been made to identify this Rice or Richard Perrot with the Haroldstone branch in Philpot's-Collections in the Herald's College. The dif¬ ference in the handwriting1 and colour of the ink show an interpolation, the truth of which is not confirmed by more genuine records, and is inconsistent with dates. There was, however, a genuine branch of the Pem¬ brokeshire line, which seems to have settled in England in the time of Henry VII. As the house of Harold- stone was a zealous supporter of that king, it is not improbable some of its younger sons may have followed him into England, after the battle of Bosworth Field, with a view to improve their fortunes. The identical con¬ necting link, however, cannot be made out satisfactorily from the Welsh or other visitations. In the English ones this family is simply described as of the Pembroke¬ shire line. In Lee's Oxfordshire visitation it is given, " Owen Perrot, a third brother of the house of Pembroke¬ shire." This family finally settled at North Leigh, near Oxford, where William, the last of the line, died 1765. It was, however, in Pembrokeshire that the family flourished so extensively and so vigorously from a period soon after the Norman invasion till the reign of Eliza¬ beth. By marriages considerable estates were succes¬ sively acquired; in which judicious practice they were followed by others of the same class,—such, especially, as the Wogans. These two great houses of the Perrots and Wogans, partly owing to the isolated position of the county, and partly to the policy of keeping up their influence, so frequently intermarried between them¬ selves and the other leading families of the county, that there are few, if any, gentlemen of ancient lineage re¬ maining in Pembrokeshire who are not more or less con¬ nected with either or both families. 1 Thomas William King, Esq., York Herald, with his usual courtesy, informs the writer of this notice that he thinks the additions, with one exception, have been added by the same hand that wrote the bulk of the MS. in which the pedigree occurs, and which was written by Wm. Smith, Rouge Dragon.