Gelli Meyrick

Sir Gelli Meyrick (also Gelly or Gilly) (1556? – 13 March 1601) was a Welsh supporter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and conspirator in Essex's rebellion. He was executed for his part in it.

He was the eldest son of Rowland Meyrick, bishop of Bangor (Gwynedd), by Katherine, daughter of Owain Barret of Gelliswic. After his father's death in 1565 he spent his youth with his mother on the family estate of Hascard in Pembrokeshire. At an early age he became a soldier and served in the Netherlands, receiving in 1583 the grant of a crest.

He soon became acquainted with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who owned property in Wales. He attended the Earl at Flushing in 1585, and joined in the campaigns under Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester in the Low Countries in that and the following year. On returning to England Essex conferred on him the office of steward in his household. Meyrick went with Essex on the expedition to Portugal in 1589, and two years later accompanied him to Normandy, but sickness prevented him from taking much part in the campaign which Essex conducted on behalf of Henry of Navarre. In 1595 he and another of Essex's followers, Henry Lindley, were jointly presented by the crown, at Essex's suit, with nine parks in the duchy of Lancaster and one in the duchy of Cornwall, besides the manor and castle of Wigmore, Herefordshire and the forest and chase of Bringwood. He thenceforth made Wigmore Castle his chief country residence; his London house was in the parish of St Clement Eastcheap.

The death of Sir Roger Williams gave Meyrick the opportunity to become the most influential of the Earl's supporters. In 1596 Meyrick accompanied Essex on the expedition to Cadiz, serving as lieutenant-colonel in Sir Conyers Clifford's regiment, and also acting as commissioner of stores. Essex knighted him at Cadiz after the capture of the city. On his return in August, Meyrick was officially reported to have brought home as prize some India hides; charges of pilfering in connection with the goods captured from the enemy were brought against him by Sir Anthony Ashley, and he retaliated by accusing Ashley of far more serious peculations. The quarrel ended in Ashley's committal to prison.

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