AMONG Pembrokeshire’s vast history are a number of interesting and important individuals who helped to shape the county and wider UK in various ways.

Today, we look at the story of Sir John Perrot of Haroldston, near Haverfordwest and his links to the Tudor royal family.

John Perrot was born between 1527 and 1530 at Haroldston Manor to parents Mary Berkeley and Sir Thomas Perrot, however, it is believed by some that he is an illegitimate son of King Henry VIII.

This came about as Thomas was a friend of the king and Mary served his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Some historians believe that the king and Mary had an affair which produced John, however, others state there are no records of the pair being in the same location around the time that would have led to John’s conception.

According to History of Parliament Online, he was educated in St. David’s and then was sent to the household of William Paulet, Baron of St. John by his stepfather Thomas Jones.

John had a tendency for violence, with a falling out with Henry, 6th Lord Bergavenny, leading to the pair fighting. He later had a violent encounter with two yeomen of the guard and this is where he began to rise to prominence.

That brawl led to a meeting with the king, who promised him preferment, but did not carry it out due to his death.

Edward VI took the reign and just days after opening Parliament, Sir Richard Deveraux – who represented Carmarthenshire - died, leaving a space in the Commons. John took that space at the age of just 19.

He was successful in the by-election, where it is believed he was assisted by Paulet as lord president of the council, his uncle who was the reader in Greek to the king and with help from his stepfather who was a leading figure in west Wales and a knight of the shire.

As a protestant, he welcomed the ecclesiastical legislation introduced by the parliament, but it is not known whether he had any involvement in its implementation.

He was knighted in 1549 and two years later, he accompanied the Marquess of Northampton to France to negotiate the marriage of the king and the French Princess Elizabeth.

During this trip, he was hunting with the king – Henry II – and he saved him from a wounded boar. He offered John a ‘good pension to serve’ after this instance, but he declined and returned to England.

John lived an extravagant life but this forced him to mortgage his family’s lands. It is said that Edward VI persuaded the council to give him £100 from concealed lands that he may discover, with this happening just two months before the king would die.

He wouldn’t sit in the second parliament and was replaced by his half-brother Henry Jones.

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When the Marian Restoration came in, John was displeased and got on the wrong side of the regime.

He was held prisoner in the Fleet for three days in January 1554 after assaulting a number of the 3rd Earl of Worcester’s servants.

He represented Sandwich in two of Queen Mary’s parliaments where he aligned himself with the opposition, standing for ‘the true religion’ in 1553 and supporting Sir Anthony Kingston in 1555.

He was denounced by Thomas Cathern and briefly imprisoned in the Fleet for harbouring protestants in Haroldston.

He fell foul of the queen due to religion a number of times, once for refusing to assist Sir William Herbert I, 1st Earl of Pembroke, in harrying his co-religionists. This got the attention of the queen who hampered his chances of getting Carew Castle.

He tried to redeem himself but fell further foul of the queen when he stepped on her train. He was later given the castle after the Earl of Pembroke advised the monarch and council to do so in the hope of winning him over.

It didn’t work though and he aligned with Anthony. He was dismissed from Pembroke’s London house for violent quarrels with the earl.

In April 1556, he was arrested on suspicion of complicity in the Dudley conspiracy, but was never charged due to a lack of evidence.

He reconciled with the earl the following year and served under his command in St Quentin, he was excused from service at sea in January 1558. That February, it is believed he may have lost to Thomas Cathern in the election in Pembrokeshire as he complained about him to the council and then broke into his house and took him into custody at Carew Castle.

They appeared before the council that June where he was found to have ‘exceeded his commission and misused himself’ and was again committed to the Fleet.

He was bound over in July in a recognizance of £200 to keep the peace and commissioners began investigating a charge against him by Cathern.

He returned to parliament under Queen Elizabeth I who he found favour with. He was appointed president of Munster by the queen in 1570, became a Privy Councillor and served in the marches of Wales.

He suppressed the Munster rebellion of James Fitzgerald and pardoned the rebels before returning to England in 1573.

He returned back to Ireland in 1584 as lord deputy and confiscated large lands for English settlers to create plantations. But this was not organized well, although he succeeded in bringing the native landowners of Connaught under English law. They avoided losing lands to plantations by paying the crown fixed rent.

During his time in Ireland, he fell foul of Adam Loftus, the Anglican archbishop of Dublin because of his tolerance towards Roman Catholics and plans to convert St Patrick’s Cathedral into a university.

The archbishop had him recalled to England in 1548 on false charges of treasonable negotiations with Spain.

He was found guilty of the offence and sent to the Tower of London in 1591 to be executed.

He died in the tower in 1592 of cholera, while awaiting execution. His estates had been seized by the crown, however, on his death, the queen allowed the states to be passed on to his son Thomas.