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Born: 1494, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales
Died: 2 Sep 1570
Father: Richard HERBERT (Sir)
Mother: Margaret CRADOCK
Married: Elizabeth BERKELEY BEF 1531
Children:
1. William HERBERT of Cogan Pill
2. John HERBERT
¿7. Richard HERBERT of Ewyas?
Associated with: Grace BEWRING (w. of Geoffrey Newton)
The details in this biography come from the History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons.
Born 1494/5, first son of Richard Herbert of Ewyas, Herefordshire by
Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Matthew Cradock of Swansea; brother of
William Herbert. Married 1st, by 1531
Elizabeth, daughter
of Sir Thomas Berkeley of The Vyne, Hants.,
and had 3 sons, including William Herbert of Cogan Pill, and 3 daughters; married 2nd
Grace Bewring, widow of Geoffrey Newton. Succeeded father 1510. Knighted 12 Mar/18 Apr 1543. Steward, lordships of Abergavenny, Mon. by
Jan 1516, of Gower and Kilvey, Glam. 1526-death, of Gelligaer, Glam. c. 1540,
of Swansea by 1549-?60, of Neath abbey, Glam. 1533, cts. of Abergavenny priory
in 1535; receiver, Glam. Jun 1524; esquire
of the body by 1533; commissioner tenths of spiritualities, diocese of Llandaff
1535, coastal defense, S. Wales 1539, benevolence, Glam. 1544/5, relief 1549,
1550, goods of churches and fraternaties 1553; ?receiver, estates of the Earls
of Worcester, S. Wales by 1538-54 or later; sheriff, Glam. 1540-1, 1552-3; Justice
of Peace Glam. 1543-55 or later, other Welsh counties early 1550s, Glos.,
Herefs., Salop, Worcs. 1554, q. Glam. by 1561-?death; custos rot. Glam. 1543,
dep. c.1547;
gent. waiter, household of
Queen Catherine Parr by 1544-8; receiver, ct.
augmentations, Glam. in 1545; v.-adm. S. Wales 1550-8; member, Council in the
marches of Wales in 1551-3 or later; mayor, Cardiff in 1553.
George Herbert's career was patterned on, although it did not rival, that of his younger brother William, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Until about 1540 he made his way in South Wales under the aegis of his kinsmen George Neville, Lord Abergavenny and Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester and his son Henry, later the second Earl, but his position was transformed by his brother's ascendancy at court and King Henry VIII's marriage to William Herbert's sister-in-law Catherine Parr. The marriage took place after the close of the second session of the Parliament of 1542, to which George Herbert had been returned for Glamorgan: he had the double distinction of being the first sheriff of the shire which he had helped to set up at the union and its first knight in Parliament. After the dissolution he and his brother fought in the Boulogne campaign. He could have been re-elected to the Parliaments of 1545 and 1555 for which the name of the knight of the shire is lost, and he was perhaps John Bassett's replacement in the Parliament of 1547. While sheriff in 1553 he returned his kinsmen George Mathew and Anthony Mansell to Parliament, and in 1558 and 1559 he presumably encouraged his son William's and his grandson William's election.
Herbert's relations with his neighbors,
kinsmen and colleagues on the bench in Glamorgan were not always happy. He was
accused in the Star Chamber by two of the sons of
Sir Edward Carne of assaulting
them at Cowbridge in 1538 and conspiring
with Sir Rhys Mansell, with what outcome is unknown. Rivalry between him and
Mansell intensified after Mansell's appointment as chamberlain of South Wales, a
post which Herbert had coveted while a member of the council in the marches. In
1555
an information was laid in the Exchequer by Mansell or a client about the size
of Herberts following, with the result that he was ordered to limit it to 40
men, a figure for which he had received a license. Matters came to a head in Dec
1557 after the wreck of a French vessel near Oxwich. Mansell arrested the
survivors and took the cargo for himself, while Herbert claimed the prisoners
for the Admiralty and the freight for Worcester; in the ensuing contest Mansell's sister was
accidentally killed. The Star Chamber decreed in
Mansell's favor in May 1558 and
ordered Herbert's committal to the Fleet pending trial for manslaughter, but
whether he was found guilty is not recorded. An attempt by the Council to
reconcile
the pair failed, and local intervention met with no success before Mansell's
death in 1559. Herbert sued out of general pardon from Elizabeth and after being
left off her commission of the peace he was restored to the bench in 1561 and
was one
of the quorum until his death, apparently intestate, on 2 Sep 1570. Following
the disclosure that he owed the crown 1200 pounds almost certainly money
collected by his son Matthew as receiver for South Wales and not delivered to
the augmentatios before Matthew's death, his goods were distrained but within two
years his heir and grandson William was able to enter upon an estat free from
debt. Grace Bewring survived him but in later legal proceedings the heir alleged
that Herbert had never lawfully been married to her.
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