Fonds GB 0210 MSWIGFAIR - Wigfair Manuscripts

The Lloyd family appear to have resided at Wigfair since at least the time of Robert ap Maredudd ap David Lloyd of Wigfair (fl. 1549-1562). Howel Lloyd (c. 1681-1729) of Wigfair married Phoebe Lloyd (d. 1760), heiress of the Lloyd family of Hafodunos.

The Lloyd family of Hafodunos was originally unrelated to the Lloyd family of Wigfair. Cynwrig ap Bleddyn (?fl. early 15 cent) appears to have been the first to have been described as of Hafodunos, and his grandson, David Lloyd (?fl. late 15th cent) appears to have been the first of his family to be called Lloyd. Hafodunos passed from father to son for a further eight generations, to Hedd Lloyd (d. c. 1739). He was suceeded by his daughter Phoebe (d. 1760), the widow of Howel Lloyd (c. 1681-1729) of Wigfair, a family that appear to have resided at Wigfair since at least the time of Robert ap Maredudd ap David Lloyd (fl. 1549-1562). The Lloyd family of Wigfair and Hafodunos lasted two generations before coming to an end with co-heiresses. One, Dorothea Lloyd, who appears to have inherited Hafodunos, married the Rev. Thomas Clough (1756-1814), rector of Denbigh, a descendant of the Clough family of Plas Clough. Their son, Rev. Thomas Hugh Clough, sold Hafodunos to Samuel Sandbach of Liverpool in 1830. The other heiress, Mary, who appears to have inherited Wigfair, married the Rev. J.C. Potter who assumed the surname Conway. Later members of the family styled themselves Lloyd Conway.

The union of the Lloyd families of Hafodunos and Wigfair took place with the marriage of Phoebe Lloyd, the heiress of Hafodunos, and Howel Lloyd (d. 1729) of Wigfair. Their second son, also called Howel (d. 1783), became the heir of the combined estates; he married Dorothea Conway of Ruthin. Hafodunos was sold in 1830. John Lloyd ('The Phillosopher') was the eldest child of Howel and Dorothea Lloyd. He graduated to the Bar from the Middle Temple in 1781 and was made a Bencher in 1811. He served as member of parliament for Flintshire from 1797 to 1799. John Lloyd possessed a library of over ten thousand books, manuscripts, maps and scientific equipment. He corresponded extensively with some of the most notable scientists, philosophers and writers of his day, including Joseph Banks, William Herschel, Thomas Pennant, Hester Lynch Piozzi and 'Gwallter Mechain'.