WYNN, Henry (c.1602-71), of Figtree Court, Inner Temple and Rhiwgoch, Merion.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1640
1661 - 27 July 1671

Family and Education

b. c.1602, loth but 5th surv. s. of Sir John Wynn, 1st Bt. (d.1627), of Gwydir, Llanrwst, Caern. by Sidney, da. of Sir William Gerard of Chester, 1d. chancellor [I] 1576-81; bro. of Sir Richard Wynn, 2nd Bt. educ. St. Albans g.s. Herts. (Mr Thomas Gibson) 1615; I. Temple 1618, called 1629. m. c. Dec. 1620, Catherine, da. and h. of Ellis Lloyd of Rhiwgoch, 1s.1

Offices Held

Steward of the palace court ?1630-46, May 1660-d.; commr. for fees 1637-40; solicitor-gen. to Queen Henrietta Maria 1640-6, May 1660-9.2

J.p. Merion. 1650-3, 1670-d.; bencher, I. Temple May 1660, steward of Bromfield and Yale manors, Denb. July 1660-d.; commr. for assessment, Merion. 1661-9, Westminster 1666-9; sec. of council and clerk of the signet, Wales 1663-d.; protonotary and clerk of the crown, N. Wales circuit 1664-d.3

Biography

Wynn a lawyer, acquired property in Merioneth by marriage, and represented the county in three early Stuart Parliaments. His advancement at Court was due to his elder brother, the second baronet, who was receiver-general to Henrietta Maria, and his sympathies were royalist, but he took no active part in the Civil War. He was obliged to contribute £200 to the committee for the advance of money, but half seems to have been repaid him. Though elected a bencher of his Inn in 1647, he refused the position until the Restoration. He was appointed to the Merioneth commission of the peace under the Commonwealth but removed three years later.4

Wynn regained the county seat at the general election of 1661, but was an inactive Member of the Cavalier Parliament, perhaps because of his court offices. He made no recorded speeches and only five committees can be definitely ascribed to him, including those to consider the Duke of York’s revenue and to prevent fraudulent conveyances. Either he or John Wynne may be the ‘Mr Wynn’ who served on a further 20 committees, of which the most important was on the bill for regulating juries. Possibly parliamentary inactivity accounts for the absence of his name from court party lists in 1669-71, though he must have resented his failure to obtain the reversion of his office of protonotary on the North Wales circuit for his nephew. He died on 27 July 1671, aged 69, and was buried in the Temple Church.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: Leonard Naylor / Geoffrey Jaggar

Notes

  • 1. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, ii. 159; Cal. Wynn Pprs. 109, 135, 142, 145.
  • 2. IHR Bull. xxxi. 61; Foedera, viii. 165; CSP Dom. 1660-1, p. 286; HMC Ormonde, i. 71.
  • 3. CSP Dom. 1629-31, p. 555; 1660-1, p. 137; Add. 1660-70. pp. 237-8; 1671, p. 406; W. R. Williams, Great Sessions in Wales, 122.
  • 4. Trans. Cymmrod. Soc. 1938, pp. 162-70.
  • 5. Temple Church Recs. 20.