MYDDELTON (or

See also:

• MIDDLETON
• MIDDLETON, ARTHUR (1742–1787)
• MIDDLETON, CONYERS (1683–1750)
• MIDDLETON, THOMAS (c. 1570-1627)

MIDDLETON),

See also:

• SIR

SIR

See also:

• HUGH
• HUGH, ST

HUGH,

See also:

• BART, JEAN (1651-1702)

BART  . (C . 1560-1631), contractor of the New River scheme for supplying London with water, was a younger son of Sir Richard Myddelton, governor of Denbigh Castle . Hugh became a successful London goldsmith, occupying a shop in Bassihaw, or Basinghall Street; he made money by commercial ventures on the Spanish main, being associated in these with Sir Walter Raleigh; and he was also interested in cloth-making . He was an alderman, and then recorder of Denbigh, and was member of parliament for this borough from 1603 to 1628 . In 1609 Myddelton took over from the corporation of London the projected scheme for supplying the city with water obtained from springs near Ware, in Hertfordshire . For this purpose he made a canal about to ft. wide and 4 ft. deep and over 38 M. in length, which discharged its waters into a reservoir at Islington called the New River Head . The completion of this great undertaking put a severe strain upon Myddelton's financial resources, and in 1612 he was successful in securing monetary assistance from James I . The work was completed in 1613 and Myddelton was made the first governor of the company, which, however, was not a financial success until after his death . In recognition of his services he was made a baronet in 1622 . Myddelton was also engaged in working some lead and silver mines in Cardiganshire and in reclaiming a piece of the Isle of Wight from the sea . He died on the loth of December 1631, and was buried in the church of St Matthew, Friday Street, London .

He had a

family of ten sons and six daughters . One of Sir Hugh's brothers was Sir Thomas Myddelton (c . 1550-1631), lord mayor of London, and another was William Myddelton (c . 1556-1621), poet and seaman, whe died at Antwerp on the 27th of March 1621 . Sir Thomas was a member of parliament under Queen Elizabeth and was chosen lord mayor on the 29th of September 1613, the day fixed for the opening of the New River . Under James I. and Charles I. he represented the city of London in parliament, and he helped Rowland Heylyn to publish the first popular edition of the Bible in Welsh . He died on the 12th of August 1631 . Sir Thomas's son and heir, Sir Thomas Myddelton 1586-1666), was a member of the Long Parliament, being an adherent of the popular party . After the outbreak of the Civil War he served in Shropshire and in north Wales, gaining a signal success over the royalists at Oswestry in July 1644, and another at Montgomery in the following September . In 1659, however, he joined the rising of the royalists under Sir George Booth, and in August of this year he was forced to surrender his residence, Chirk Castle . His eldest son, Thomas (d . 1663), was made a baronet in 1660, a dignity which became extinct when William the 4th baronet died in 1718 .