Record

EV ID	EV-0243
Title	Barry Dock News, 23 October 1908, p.3: “Court Leet at Llandough” (court leet and court baron of the lordship of Bute)
Date of document	23 October 1908 (court held “Thursday week last”)
Type	press
Evidence label	PRESS REPORT (public online copy, OCR)
Repository / reference	Barry Dock News, 23 Oct 1908, p.3. Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales): article.
Status	HELD (public online copy; OCR read in full).
Provenance	Found by Tab’s research (cycle 14), 19 Oct 2026; catalogued by Tab at Sion Buckler’s request (“Just be sure evidence you find is catalogued”, 19 Oct 2026).
Related evidence	EV-0227 (Cardiff Times, 1904: tenancy from 1855) · EV-0225 (directories 1868–1901) · EV-0224 (1881 census) · Mary (Nancy) Williams’s Statement (c. 1974)

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Quotation (verbatim; obvious OCR letter errors corrected only): “The annual court leet and court baron of the lordship of Bute was held on Thursday week last at the Merry Harriers Hotel, Llandough … A vote of sympathy was passed with the family of the late Mr. John Williams, Great House, Llandough, for many years a juror of the court. In accordance with historic tradition, the presentments were signed by the deputy steward and jury.”

Fits with: Mary (Nancy) Williams’s statement (c. 1974): “In the year 1908 my grandfather died and my father took over the farm.” (Mary (Nancy) Williams’s Statement (c. 1974)). This report shows a John Williams of Great House had died by mid-October 1908 and had sat for many years on the jury of the Bute lordship’s court.

Lead: The court’s presentments and court-baron records for the Llandough sessions (lordship of Bute) would show how the manor described Great House and its holder. Repository and references: SOURCE PENDING.

Cuts against: Court-leet juries were drawn from residents, not only freeholders, so jury service says nothing about ownership. The Cardiff Times of 16 Jul 1904 says a John Williams “succeeded his father in the tenancy of the farm in 1855” (EV-0227). The Evening Express of 10 Jan 1908 (p.3) reports a poacher caught on Great House Farm by an “underkeeper” on “his usual round” with a colleague (article); whose keepers they were is not stated, but keepers on the land fit a landlord’s sporting rights over a tenanted farm (inference).

Proves: John Williams of Great House, Llandough, had died by October 1908 and had served for many years as a juror of the Bute lordship’s court leet.

Does not prove: Ownership or tenure of the farm, or the exact date of his death.