Salusbury family

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An ancient Welsh family of oligarchs, the Salusbury family was first recognized by the crown during the reign of Henry VII after Thomas Salusbury put down a rebellion in Cornwall. Fighting as a Royalist during the English Civil War, John Salusbury, the second son of Sir Thomas Salusbury, received a baronetcy on 10 November 1619 during the reign of Charles II for his father's contributions to the Crown -- despite the fact that a relation, Thomas Salisbury, had been executed thirty years earlier for his involvement in the Babington Plot.

A commonly acknowledged legend is that after the Babington Plot, the Salusbury Family was split into two scions: those that supported Elizabeth I and those that did not. The parent branch of the family continued to use the original spelling, while the cadet branch, which supported the overthrow of Elizabeth, began to spell their name as "Salisbury".

The Salusbury family can be split up into roughly two eras, the ancient and the modern family. In 1648, after the death of Sir John Salusbury, 4th Baronet of Lleweni, the family had a lack of male heirs. The sole daughter of Sir John, Hester Piozzi, adopted a son and bestowed the Salusbury name upon him. Therefore, the ancient and modern Salusbury family have no direct blood connection. Around this time, the seat of the Salusbury family moved from Lleweni Hall to Brynbella, further exagerrating this change. As a result, all members of the Salusbury family hail from John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury.

The family produced several members of the House of Commons, the diarist Hester Piozzi, and the journalist Frederic Salusbury.