GWYNNE
family, of
Llanelwedd, Rads.
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
,
Hist. 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
, m. her kinsman
GEORGE
GWYNNE
of
Glanbrân
(b.
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 d.
24 Jan. 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
(q.v.)
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
