Richard Vaughan (by 1606 – 19 July 1636) was a Welsh politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1628 to 1629. Vaughan was the son of William Vaughan of Plas Hen and his wife Ann, daughter and heir of Richard Vaughan of Talhenbont,

Llanystumdwy Llanystumdwy () is a predominantly Welsh-speaking village, community and electoral ward in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The village lies on the southern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, with a beach facing Cardigan Bay, between Cricci ...

Caernarfonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...

. In 1628, he was elected Member of Parliament for

Merioneth Merionethshire, or Merioneth ( or '), was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Name 'Merioneth' is an anglicisation of the Welsh placename ''Mei ...

and sat until 1629 when

King Charles King Charles may refer to: Kings A number of kings of Albania, Alençon, Anjou, Austria, Bohemia, Croatia, England, France, Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Ireland, Jerusalem, Naples, Navarre, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Sicily, S ...

decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Vaughan was so corpulent and bulky that it was necessary to open the large door of the House of Commons to let him in "which was seldom opened except when the Usher of the Black Rod summoned the members to appear before the House of Lords. When the door was opened the Lords used to whisper that Black Rod or the Welsh Mayor was coming."W R Williams ''The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales''
/ref> Vaughan died at Corsygedol in 1636 of complications of an operation to reduce his girth. He was aged about 30 at the time and had been serving as Sheriff of Merioneth. He had married, by a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

dated 12 April 1616, Elizabeth Owen, daughter of Sir John Owen of Clenennau and

Brogyntyn Brogyntyn is a mansion in the parish of Selatyn to the north-west of Oswestry in Shropshire, England. Brogyntyn Hall was the home of the Ormsby-Gore family from 1815, and had previously been the estate of their ancestors the Maurices and Owens s ...

. The couple had a son, William, and a daughter, with Elizabeth dying sometime before 25 October 1641. William died relatively young in 1669, with one of his sons,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

representing Merioneth in 1702.

References

Bibliography

* Vaughan Family of Corsygedol i
Dictionary of Welsh Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Richard 1636 deaths People from Merionethshire Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Wales High sheriffs of Merionethshire English MPs 1628–1629 Year of birth uncertain