WYNNE
,
JOHN
(
1667
-
1743
),
bishop of S. Asaph and principal of Jesus College, Oxford
;
b. in
1667
, the son of
Humphrey
Wynne
of
Maes-y-coed
,
Caerwys
, and his wife
Elizabeth
(
Wynne
, daughter of
John
Wynne
of
Copa'rleni
,
Trelawnyd
, and his wife
Catherine
Thelwall
, of
Bathafarn
, see
J. E.
Griffith
,
Pedigrees
, 369 — the
bishop
was, accordingly, the second cousin of the
John
Wynne
of
Copa'rleni
described in the preceding article). He went to school at
Northop
and
Ruthin
, and in
1682
was admitted into
Jesus College
, where he graduated in
1685
(
B.D.
1696
,
D.D.
1706
), being elected a
Fellow
the same year. The name being a very common one, there has been, both in
Foster
and in the
D.N.B.
, a good deal of confusion about his career; if
D. R.
Thomas
's lists of
S. Asaph
clergy are studied it will be seen that he was not the
John
Wynne
who was at
Nantglyn
and
Llansilin
as alleged by
Foster
, nor the
John
Wynne
(another of the same name) who, according to
Foster
, was at
Efenechtyd
. Indeed, the
bishop
's career was comparatively straightforward: he was
chaplain
to the
earl of Pembroke
, who gave him the rectory of
Llangelynnin, Mer.
(
1701-1714
); furthermore, in
1705
, he became
prebendary
of
Christ College
,
Brecon
. From
1705 until 1716
he was
Lady Margaret professor of Divinity
at the
University of Oxford
, and in
1713
became
rector
of
Llandysul, Cards.
, in plurality. He was already (
1712
)
deputy-principal
of
Jesus College
, and in
Aug. 1712
, after a hard tussle between
Whig
and
Tory
Fellows, succeeded in obtaining the
principalship
. In
Jan. 1715
he was appointed
bishop
of
S. Asaph
, but, in spite of much grumbling at
Oxford
, continued to hold his post at
Jesus College
until
1720
, when he m.
Anne
, daughter of
Robert
Pugh
of
Pennarth
,
Penmachno
(see under
Lloyd
,
Richard
, of
Esclus
— the
bishop
was one of
Lloyd
's
executors
). While he was at
S. Asaph
he spent his money freely on
repairs to the cathedral and the palace
; it should also be noted that
Wynne
was the last
Welshman
to be
bishop
of that diocese until
1870
. In
1727
he was translated to
Bath and Wells
, where he remained for the rest of his life. In
1732
he bought the
Soughton estate
in
Northop (Flints.)
, and it was there that he d.,
15 July 1743
‘at the age of 85,’ according to his tombstone at
Northop
. He published a few sermons and, in
1696
, an abbreviation of
Locke
's essay
On the Human Understanding
— an abbreviation which was commended by
Locke
himself, which ran into five editions, and which was translated into
French
and
Italian
.
Edward
Lhuyd
felt in
1704
(
Arch. Camb.
,
1859
, 253) that
Wynne
was cold, if not actually hostile, to him —
Moses
Williams
, on the other hand, received from him a letter of recommendation when he was applying for the post of
secretary
of the
Royal Society
.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
;
-
Hardy
,
Jesus College
, 1899
, 163-7;
-
Thomas
,
A History of the Diocese of St.
Asaph
, ii, 432;
-
A. Ivor Pryce
,
Diocese of Bangor During Three Centuries,
seventeenth to nineteenth century inclusive being a digest
of the registers of the bishops
, 1929
, 15.
Two of the
bishop
's sons were buried at
Northop
. The elder,
JOHN
WYNNE
(
1724
-
1801
),
barrister
, was a
Bencher
of the
Middle Temple
. The other was
Sir
WILLIAM
WYNNE
(
1729
-
1815
), also a
barrister
; he went to
Trinity Hall
,
Cambridge
, in
1746
, graduated in law in
1751
(
LL.D.
1757
), was a
Fellow
of the college from
1755 to 1803
, and
Master
from
1803
until his death. He
specialised in ecclesiastical law
, and was a
pleader
in the
Court of Arches
from
1757 to 1788
, when he was appointed
Dean of Arches
and a
judge
in the
archbishop's Prerogative Court
, appointments which he held until
1809
. He became a member of the
Privy Council
in
1789
, and
one of the lords of the Treasury
in
1790
— he had been
knighted
in
1788
.
Soughton
was inherited by the
bishop
's daughter, who m.
Henry
Bankes
, an ancestor of the late
Sir
John Eldon
Bankes
.
Bibliography:
-
Thomas
,
A History of the Diocese of St.
Asaph
, ii, 432;
-
Venn
,
Alumni Cantabrigienses
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
