GWYNNE family, of Llanelwedd, Radnorshire

It would seem that the 'Gwyn' family of Llanelwedd began with a younger son of Rhydderch ap Dafydd Goch Gwyn, of the widespread clan of Glanbran, Llandovery (and other seats); there is a very full account of this clan in Old Wales (ed. W. R. Williams), vols. ii and iii (index); and pedigrees, not always consistent, are printed in Theophilus Jones, History of the County of Brecknock, 3rd ed., iii, 199-200, iv, 246-8 (pedigree 21 for Llanelwedd), and in Bradney, Monmouthshire, I, i, 408-9. RODERICK GWYNNE of Llanelwedd was sheriff of Radnorshire in 1633; he was a Cavalier and a commissioner of array. His daughter, SIBIL GWYNNE, married her kinsman GEORGE GWYNNE of Glanbrân (born 1623?), who in 1645 signed the proposals of peace made by the gentry of Carmarthenshire to Rowland Laugharne, and was twice employed as commissioner under Cromwell; he was M.P. for Radnorshire in 1654 and 1656; but he reverted to the Royalists, was M.P. for Radnorshire at the Restoration, and was sheriff of Monmouth (his mother's county) in 1663. The elder son of this marriage, Sir ROWLAND GWYNNE (1660 - 1726), went to S. John's College, Oxford, and Gray's Inn, and was M.P. for Radnorshire 1678-85, Brecknock 1689-90, 1698, 1700-1, and at other times for an English borough - twenty-three years in all. Though knighted (1680) by Charles II, he was a stout Whig, and is eulogized in Macaulay's History; he initiated the 'association oath' and was a strong defender of lord chancellor Somers. He held a household office under William and Mary, but fell out of favour in Anne's reign, and died 24 January 1725/6 'within the Fleet,' i.e. in impoverished circumstances. What then became of Llanelwedd is nowhere satisfactorily explained, but it emerges later as a property of the Gwynnes of Garth.

Author

Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

GWYNNE family, of Llanelwedd, Radnorshire

Author

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