Baptism:
Date: AFT 6 Nov 1762
Place: Llenbedr Y Cennin
Occupation: Rector of Llanrwst
Residence:
Place: Pennant Erethlyn, Eglwysbach, Denbighshire
Will:
Date: 1842
Individual Note:
Howel Holland Edwards was born in 1762 (Gfs) and died in 1846. There is a brass plaque in St Martin’s church which confirms these dates and his entombment within the church. In addition to being Rector of the Parish of Llanrwst he was also Canon of the Church of St Peters in Westminster. HHE had a keen interest in the Holland family Genealogy, particularly with respect to the Pennant line. He sported the family coat of arms and clearly spent a lot of time researching the family tree. Much of the data used for generating the Eglwys Bach family tree comes from his notes which must be given a lot of credibility as he had access to all the Pennant papers that may have been passed down through the family. Some of these have survived and are filed within the NLW and Gwynedd Archives. There may be other papers yet to be unearthed that may help to fill some of the gaps.
He was married to Caroline Palmer who came from a prominent family in Middlesex and as far as we know they had no children.
HHE left a will dated 1842, ref PROB 11/2044, in which he left his estates in Eglwys Bach in trust as he had no male heir. Several potential beneficiaries were named according to who might survive from both sides of the family, one of which was the Reverend John Boulger son of HHE’s sister Mary and John Boulger senior. We know from the following inscription on Jeffrey Holland’s gravestone “ Reverend John Boulger MA of Pennant died Dec1875 aged 83” that he eventually inherited Pennant, however it is believed that after his death there was a dispute over ownership between the descendants of the Palmer family and the heirs of Margaret Holland and Ellis Roberts.
They had a son Robert who according to HHE (XDS101/11/2) married first Catherine Lloyd(XDS/11/1) a gentlewoman from Pwllheli ; there were no children issuing from this marriage and he subsequently married Ellen Jones his servant maid after first having an illegitimate son Thomas. They later had five daughters the eldest of which had a child called Mary Jones who was left in the care of her grandmother when her parents left the county. HHE acknowledges that this Mary was the right heir but admitted that he did not know of her existence when he made his will and would not consider changing it. In his notebook he says that the three eldest daughters emigrated to America and settled in New York where they were still living in1834. The other two sisters were in 1837 living with their mother at Maentwrog in the county of Merioneth. He concludes that these sisters were the right heirs to his real estates of Pennant after the entail surviving from his will. He discounts Thomas as an heir due to the illegitimacy of his birth. Margaret and Ellis Roberts also had a daughter Hannah who married David Evans and according to HHE had numerous issue.
After the death of the Rev John Boulger, son of Mary Holland Boulger and John Boulger senior, it would appear that the property went into the hands, of Margaret Grace Jones granddaughter of Mary Holland Boulger who was the second of the entails mentioned in the will of HHE. Reputedly she lived until she was ninety seven and died in 1902, by which time all the other potential legatees mentioned in the HHE’s will had died. She left a will bequeathing her property to various parties. John William Jones senior, a descendant of Robert Roberts, brother of Hannah Roberts the son of Margaret Holland and Ellis Roberts, successfully challenged the will and made a successful claim to the estate. John William Jones senior (d1902-4)and then his son John William Jones junior (d1905), and then his son Clifford John George Jones occupied Pennant Hall in the early part of the twentieth century until the latter emigrated to Canada in the early 20th century. Much of this information is provided by Pat Nace, a granddaughter of Clifford J G Jones who at the time of writing resides in Canada. Interestingly there are some remarkable physical similarities in the facial features of Pat Nace and Yvonne Humphreys daughter of Robert Cecil Holland, and particularly Mathew Humphreys, son of Yvonne.
The Pennant Estate was sold by auction in 1910 at which time it had 540 acres of land.
Pennant Hall was rebuilt under the tenure of HHE, plans for this rebuild are available in the NLW, and can be accessed via the internet by inputting Pennant Hall Eglwys Bach into Google search.
HHE also had a property called Plas Horluch in Eglwys Bach which he bequeathed to the Palmer family in his will. We don’t know what became of that.
Notes from Brian Holland