WYNNE
,
OWEN
(
1652
-?),
civil servant
,
was the second son of
Hugh
Gwyn
(alias
Hugh ap John Owen
) of
Gwaenfynydd
,
Llechylched
,
Anglesey
, who claimed descent from
Hwfa ap Cynddelw
, the
12th cent.
lord of Llifon
, and of
Elin
, daughter of
Robert ap John ap William
of
Tre'rddolphin
. He entered
Jesus College
,
Oxford
(matriculated
10 July
) in
1668
, and graduated
B.A.
in
1672
. At some subsequent date he qualified as a
doctor of laws
, and probably became an
advocate of Doctors' Commons
(
10 Jan. 1694
). He was
confidential secretary
to
Sir
Leoline
Jenkins
(q.v.)
during the latter's tenure of the
secretaryship of state
(
1680-5
), and retained the office of
undersecretary
under
Jenkins
's successors till
c.
1690
; in this capacity he served as
secretary to the commissioners
sent by
James
II
to treat with
William
of Orange
(
Nov. 1688
). He is thus an early example of the
permanent civil servant
; a contemporary account of his duties (which included
custody of all papers and translations
of those in
Latin
,
French
,
Spanish
,
Italian
, and
Dutch
) is printed in
F. M. G.
Evans
,
The Principal Secretary of State
(
1923
), 192, where his salary is given as £140 with board and lodging or £200 without. Among his other offices were those of
warden of the Mint
(
to 1690
) and
secretary to the commissioners for prizes
(
Jan. 1693
). He kept his
North Wales
acquaintances, especially
Sir
Robert
Owen
, of
Porkington
and
Clenennau
(see
Owen
,
Sir
John
), posted with the latest court news in
James
II
's day.
His eldest son,
WILLIAM
WYNNE
(
1693
-
1765
),
lawyer
and
author
, followed him to
Jesus College
(matriculated
23 Jan. 1709
), graduated
B.A.
1712
,
M.A.
1723
, entered
Middle Temple
in
1718
and was made a
serjeant at law
in
1736
. Inheriting from his father the private papers which
Jenkins
had bequeathed, he published in two volumes, in
1724
,
The Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins
. He d. on
16 May, 1765
, and was buried a week later in
Westminster Abbey
.
Bibliography:
-
W. R. Williams
,
The history of the Great Sessions in Wales,
1542-1830 together with the lives of the Welsh judges, and
annotated lists of the chamberlains and chancellors,
attorney generals, and prothonotaries of the four circuits
of Chester and Wales
, Brecknock, 1899
, 140;
-
J. E. Griffith
;
Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire
Families
, 1914
, 111;
-
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
;
-
Evans
,
The Principal Secretary of State. A survey
of the office from 1558 to 1680
, Manchester,
1923
, 155-6, 164, 192;
-
Reports of the ‘Historical
Manuscripts Commission
, 6
th R.
, app.;
-
N.L.W.
Brogyntyn MSS. at the National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
, letters
1656, 1695
, and unscheduled letter
8 Jan. 1684
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor
