Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/336

 enemies, Young and Constantine sought his pardon before his martyrdom in 1555, but Meyrick made no such concession. The accession of Mary, shortly followed by Meyrick's marriage in 1554 to Catherine, daughter of Owen Barret of Gellyswick and Hascard, Pembrokeshire, put a period to Meyrick's advancement, and he was ejected from his canonry at St. David's. On Elizabeth's accession, however, he was, with Dr. Richard Davies and Thomas Young, commissioned to visit the four Welsh dioceses, as well as Hereford and Worcester, and on 21 Dec. 1559 he was consecrated by Parker to the see of Bangor in succession to William Glynn. He took the oath of allegiance on 1 March 1559-1560, and in the same year received a commission from his metropolitan to visit the diocese. The following January, being then on a visit to London, he ordained five priests and five readers in Bow Church. He was shortly afterwards appointed a member of the council of the marches. With his see he held the prebend of Trevlodau and the rectories of Llanddewy-Brefi and Llanddewy-Velfrey, to which he added in 1562 the rectory of Llanbedrog, Carnarvonshire. He died on 24 Jan. 1565-6, and was buried at Bangor, 'on the south side of the altar near the wall, where there was an effigies in brasse, on a flat stone over his grave,' but the monument has long disappeared.

Meyrick left four sons: Sir Gelly, who is separately noticed; Francis, Harry, and John. Francis, like his elder brother, served under and was knighted by Essex in Ireland, died in 1603, and was buried in the Priory Church of Monkton, Pembrokeshire, where his monument was destroyed during the civil wars; he was father of Sir John Meyrick (d. 1659) [q. v.]

[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 797; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Godwin, De Præsulibus, p. 627; Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Anglic.; Camden's Annales, ed. Hearne, i. 49; Hardy's Syllabus of Rymer's Fœdera, pp. 801, 802, 805; Foxe's Acts and Monuments, 1847, vii. passim; Strype's Memorials of Cranmer, pp. 222, 385, Memorials, i. 424, ii. 355, 362, Annals, i. 248–234, 487, Parker, i. 124, 126, 129, 152; Browne Willis's Survey of Cath. Church of Bangor, 1721, pp. 28, 106; Freeman and Jones's St. David's, p. 331; Kennet's Antiq. Brit. p. 37; Dwnn's Visitations, i. 137; Williams's Eminent Welshmen.]  MEYRICK, SAMUEL RUSH (1783–1848), antiquary, born on 26 Aug. 1783, was only surviving son of John Meyrick (d. 1805), F.S.A., agent, of Great George Street, Westminster, and Peterborough House, Fulham, by Hannah (d. 1832), daughter and coheiress of Samuel Rush of Ford House, Hertfordshire, and Chislehurst, Kent. He matriculated at Oxford from Queen's College on 27 June 1800, and graduated B.A. in 1804, M.A. and B.C.L. in 1810, and D.C.L. in 1811 (, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, iii. 950). By an early marriage he offended his father, who arranged that the property should devolve on his son's children instead of his son. But the early death of Meyrick's only son destroyed the effect of this disposition.

For many years Meyrick practised as an advocate in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts. He resided at 3 Sloane Terrace, Chelsea, and afterwards at 20 Upper Cadogan Place, where he gradually accumulated a magnificent collection of armour. He was elected F.S.A. in 1810, and for some years frequently contributed to the ‘Archæologia,’ besides taking an active part in the proceedings of the society.

In 1823 Meyrick became acquainted with James Robinson Planché, and introduced him to Francis Douce. Planché, in his ‘Recollections’ (i. 54–5), warmly acknowledges the valuable assistance he received from both in his efforts for the reform of theatrical costume. He was afterwards called upon to arrange the Meyrick collection of armour twice for public exhibition, at Manchester in 1857 and at South Kensington in 1868.

About 1827 Meyrick, having vainly endeavoured to purchase the ruins of Goodrich Castle, near Ross, Herefordshire, bought the opposite hill, and, with Edward Blore for his architect, erected thereon a mansion, which he styled Goodrich Court. Rooms were specially constructed for the reception of the armoury.

In 1826 he was consulted by the authorities at the Tower of London as to the arrangement of the national collection of arms and armour (Gent. Mag. 1826 pt. ii. pp. 159, 195, 1827 pt. i. pp. 195–6), and in 1828, at the command of George IV, he arranged the collection at Windsor Castle (ib. vol. xcviii. pt. i. p. 463). In January 1832 William IV conferred the Hanoverian order upon him for these services, and dubbed him a knight bachelor on 22 Feb. following.

In 1834 he served the office of high sheriff of Herefordshire, and made his year in office conspicuous by the revival of javelin-men, duly harnessed, and other pageantry. During the same year Francis Douce bequeathed him a part of his museum—chiefly ivories and carvings in ivory—of which Meyrick furnished a catalogue to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ in 1836. Meyrick assisted in the formation of the British Archæological Asso-