WYNNE, ROBERT (died 1720), cleric and poet

Son of Edward Wynne of Plasnewydd, Llangywer. He was probably the Robert Wynne, 'of Merioneth ', who was entered as a sizar at Queens ', Cambridge, 28 June, 1676, matriculated 1676, B.A., 1679-80. Ordained priest by Humphrey Lloyd, bishop of Bangor, 31 March 1681, he was curate of Llangywer for the period 1681-5 if not earlier and later. His collation to the rectory of Llanuwchllyn by William Lloyd, bishop of St Asaph, in 1681, involved him in the consequences of the latter's determined attempt to regain the patronage of which the Price family of Plas Iolyn had deprived the bishops of St Asaph. There followed a series of court actions in Merioneth, Shropshire, and at the Exchequer Bar. Thomas Price, son of Peter Price of Cynllwyd, after incurring in the course of this litigation the censure of the House of Lords and a threat of a similar censure in the House of Commons for breaches of privilege in 1690, finally succeeded at the Great Sessions for Merioneth in 1694, in ejecting Robert Wynne, his brother-in-law by marriage to his sister Judith. By this time the more amenable Edward Jones held the see of St Asaph, but, though he withdrew episcopal support for the cause, Wynne was till the day of his death called to Episcopal Visitations as rector of Llanuwchllyn. In 1702, he was collated to the vicarage of Gwyddelwern, but his tenure of the living does not seem to have been undisturbed. In 1710 he is said to possess it by virtue of a sequestration, and between 1713 and 1719 the clergy call books vacillate between vicar and curate in their description of him. He was buried at Llangywer on 2 May 1720, when Edward Samuel preached the funeral sermon. Two poems by him were printed in Blodeu-Gerdd Cymry, 1759, and others survive in manuscript (Peniarth MS 121 in particular), including an elegy and epitaphs for Huw Morys and John Davies (Siôn Dafydd Lâs).

His son, EDWARD WYNNE (1685 - 1745), was also vicar of Gwyddelwern from 1724 till his death. He was ordained deacon by John Evans, bishop of Bangor, 17 September 1710, and priest by John Wynne, bishop of St Asaph, 21 September 1718. It was of him that another John Wynne, in his report on the deanery in 1729, reported that ' he has been of neither University, and yet can as dextrously uncork a Bottle as any veterane sott in the city of Oxford '. This was an accomplishment which he had acquired from his father. Edward Wynne was buried at Gwyddelwern, 6 November 1745, and administration of his estate was granted to his principal creditor, John Lloyd of Dolyglesyn, Corwen. The englynion composed by and to him at the Bala Eisteddfod of 1738 show that he had also inherited his father's gift for poetry and friendship with poets.

Alumni Oxonienses under Robert Wynne needs correction. Three persons of the name held cures in the diocese of St Asaph at this period - the two others were Robert Wynne, D.D., chancellor of the diocese, and Robert Wynne, M.A., rector of Queenhope.

Thomas, A History of the Diocese of St. Asaph, is confused in its statement on R. Wynne. The rector of Llangywer writes that there are four tombs of the Wynne family of Plasnewydd (today called Ty-cerrig) in the churchyard, but the relevant inscriptions have perished, and the registers recording Robert Wynne's burial are missing. - ED.

Author

• Evan David Jones, (1903 - 1987)

Sources

• N.L.W. St Asaph Probate Records
• Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses
• The Records of the Church in Wales at the National Library of Wales, St Asaph, passim
• Llangywer and Gwyddelwern Bishops Transcripts
• An Answer to a Lying Pamphlet entitled The Case of Thomas Price, Esq. (1690), [1690]
• The Journals of the House of Commons, 24 October-8 November 1690
• The Journals of the House of Lords, 2-3 December 1690
• Edward Samuel, Pregeth ynghylch Gofalon bydol a bregethwyd … ar gladdedigaeth Mr R. Wynne (Caerleon 1731)
• J. Reynolds, The Scripture Genealogy … to which is added, the genealogy of the Caesars, British kings … with the gentlemen of North Wales … also a display of herauldry of the particular coat armours now in use in the six counties of North Wales … (Chester 1739) 159
• Wynnstay Manuscript at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 143, 26
• NLW Archives: Peniarth MS 121: Poetry, &c.
• NLW MSS 279, 593, 653, 656, 832, 1238, 1436, 4697, 7015, 11993
• Beirdd y Bala (1911), 15-16

Published date: 1959

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