Volume 13 , Issue 13

GWIN / GWINNE / GWYN / GWYNNE

We did a search for GWIN / GWINNE / GWYNN / GWYN / GWYNNE in the book, Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 23, pages 399 thru 403. We find the following on Google Books. Go to Google Books; search for Dictionary of National Biography along with your surnames and see if you can find a possible ancestor's history.

GWIN, Robert (fl. 1591), pg. 399. I do not know if any of these GWIN's are related to my GWIN's. I am still searching for a connection.

GWIN, Robert (fl. 1591), a catholic divine, a native of the diocese of Bangor in Wales, received his education at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he was admitted to the degree of B.A. on 9 July 1568 (Oxf. Univ. Reg., Oxf. Hist. Soc., i. 271). In 1573 he went to the English College at Douay and studied divinity. He was ordained priest in 1575, and sent back to this country on the mission on 16 Jan. 1575-6, having just before that date taken the degree of B.D. in the university of Douay. He lived chiefly in Wales, and was much esteemed for his talent in preaching.

By an instrument dated 24 May 1578 Pope Gregory XIII granted him a license to bless portable altars, because at that time there were in England only two catholic bishops, both of whom were in prison, namely, an Irish archbishop and Dr. Watson, bishop of Lincoln.

Gwin, who appears to have been alive in 1591, wrote several pious works in the Welsh language, according to Antonio Possevino, who, however, omits to give their titles, and he also translated from English into Welsh A Christian Directory or Exercise Guiding Men to Eternal Salvation, commonly called The Resolution, written by Robert Parsons, the jesuit, "which translation," says Wood, "was much used and valued, and so consequently did a great deal of good among the Welsh people."

GWINNE, Matthew, M.D. (1558?-1627)

GWINNE, Matthew, M.D. (1558?-1627), pg. 399, physician, of Welsh descent, son of Edward Gwinne, grocer, was born in London. On 28 April 1570, he was entered at Merchant Taylors' School (Robinson, Reg. Merchant Taylors' School, p. 14). He was elected to a scholarship at St. John's College, Oxford, in 1574, and afterwards became a fellow of that foundation. He proceeded B.A. 14 May 1578, and M.A. 4 May 1582 (Reg. Univ. Oxf., Oxf. Hist. Soc., II. iii. 75).

Queen Elizabeth visited Oxford in September 1592, and he took part as replier in moral philosophy in an academic disputation held for her amusement, and at the same time was appointed to oversee and provide for the playes in Christ Church (ib. II. ii. 229, 230). He took the degree of M.B. 17 July 1593, and was the same day created M.D., on the recommendation of Lord Buckhurst, chancellor of the university, and in consideration of the fact that he had been engaged in the study of medicine, which then required no more than the reading of medical books for ten years.One of his questions on this occasion was whether the frequent use of tobacco was beneficial (ib. II. i. 127, 150, 190).

In 1595 he went to France in attendance on Sir Henry Unton, the ambassador. When Gresham College was founded in London, Gwinne was nominated by the university of Oxford on 14 Feb. 1597 the first professor of physic (ib. II. i. 233), and began to lecture in Michaelmas term 1598.

He was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London 30 Sept. 1600, and a fellow 22 Dec. 1605. He was six times censor, and twice held the office of registrar. In 1605 he was given the appointment of physician to the Tower. When in 1605 James I and Queen Anne visited Oxford, Gwinne disputed on physic with Sir William Paddy for the royal entertainment. The physicians selected for discussion, as likely to be interesting to a royal mother and a royal father, the questions whether the morals of nurses are imbibed by infants with their milk, and whether smoking tobacco is wholesome.

Gwinne resigned his Gresham professorship in 1607, and attained large professional practice. In 1611 was published his only medical work, entitled In assertorem Chymicae seed verse medicine desertorem Fr. Antonium Matthaei Gwynn Philiatri &c. succinct adversary, and dedicated to James I. [See Anthony, Francis].

Gwinne proves that Anthony's aurum potable, as it was called, contained no gold, and that if it had, the virtues of gold as a medicine in no way corresponded to its value as a metal, and were few, if any.

In 1620 Gwinne was appointed commissioner for inspecting tobacco. He was friendly with the chief literary men of the day, and was especially intimate with John Florio [q.v.], to whose works he contributed several commendatory sonnets under the pseudonym of Il Candido. Gwinne lived in the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London, and there died in October 1627.

GWINNET, Richard (d. 1717)

GWINNET, Richard (d. 1717), pg. 400, dramatist, son of George Gwinnet of Shurdington, Gloucestershire, was a pupil of Francis Gastrell [q.v.] at Christ Church, Oxford. He remained there some seven years. When he proceeded to London, and took rooms in the Temple, although he was in no way connected with the legal profession. While in London he became engaged to Elizabeth Thomas [q.v.], well known as Dryden's 'Corinna,' but owing to his consumptive tendencies the marriage was postponed, and he withdrew to his father's residence Gloucstershire. During the next sixteen years (1700-16) much correspondence passed between them, Mrs. Thomas writing as "Cornna," Gwinnet as "Pylades."

Their letters were subsequently published in two volumes entitled Pylades and Corrinna or memoirs of the lives, amours, and writings of R. G. (Richard Gwinnet) and Mrs. E. Thomas, Jr. . . . containing the letters and other miscellaneous pieces in prose and verse, which passed between them during a Courtship of above sixteen years . . . Published from their original manuscripts (by Philalethes) . . . To which is prefixed the life of Corinna, written by herself.

In 1716, on the death of his father, Richard Gwinnet returned to London to press his suit, but the wedding was again deferred owing to the illness of the lady's mother. Early in the following Spring Gwinnet suffered a relapse, and died on 16 April 1717.

GWYN,David (fl. 1588)

GWYN, David (fl. 1588), pg. 401, poet, suffered a long and cruel imprisonment in Spain (Cal. State papers, Dom. 1581-90, p. 220). Upon regaining his livery, he published a poetical narrative of his sufferings, entitled Certaine English Verses penned by David Gwyn, who for the space of eleven years and ten Months was in most grievous Servitude in the Gallies, under the King of Spaine, 16mo, London, 1588.

In this tract, consisting of eleven pages, are three poems presented by the author to Queen Elizabeth in St. James's Park on Sunday, 18 Aug. 1588 (Arber, Stationers' Registers, ii. 232). Only one copy is at present known; it fetched 20l. 15s. at the sale of Thomas Jolley's library in 1843-4. [Lowndes's Bibl. Manual (Bohn), ii. 962.]

GWYN, Eleanor "Nell"

GWYN, Eleanor (1650-1687), pg 401, actress and mistress to Charles II, was born, according to a horoscope preserved among the Ashmole papers in the museum at Oxford, and reproduced in Cunningham's Story of Nell Gwyn, on 2 Feb. 1650. Historians of Hereford accept the tradition that she was born in a house in Pipe Well Lane, Hereford, since called Gwyn Street. This account is said to be confirmed by a slab in the cathedral, of which James Beauclerk, her descendant, was bishop from 1746 to 1787.

A second account, resting principally on the not very trustworthy information supplied by Oldys in Betterton's History of the Stage(Curll, 1741) and in manuscript notes still existing, assigns her birth to Coal Yard, Drury Lane.

In the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth series of "notes and Queries' will be found full discussions of the question whether her father, who is aid to have been called James, was a dilapidated soldier or a fruiterer in Drury Lane, and of other points. Her mother Helena (?Eleanor), according to the 'Domestic Intelligencer' of 5 Aug. 1679 and the 'English Intelligencer' of 2 Aug. 1679, 'sitting near the waterside at her house by the Neat Houses at Chelsea (Millbank), fell into the water accidentally and was drowned.' Mrs. Gwyn was buried in the church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, in a tomb subsequently shared by her daughter.

Nell's first public occupation was that of a vendor in the Theatre Royal of oranges, or, according to a satire of Rochester, of herrings. Charles Hart and John Lacy the players and a certain Robert Duncan, Dungan, or Dongan, have been reckoned among her lovers. To Hart she owed her theatrical training; Dungan is said to have promoted her format he place in the pit assigned during the Restoration to the orange-women to the stage of the Theatre Royal. [See images for more information on Eleanor "Nell" GWYN>]

GWYN, Francis (1648?-1734)

GWYN, Francis (1648?-1734), pg 403 politician, son and heir of Edward Gwyn of Llansannor, Glamorganshire, who married Eleanor, youngest daughter of Sir Francis Popham of Littlecott, Wiltshire, was born at Combe Florey in Somersetshire about 1648. Francis Gwyn was trained for the profession of the law, but being possessed of ample means soon showed a preference for politics. On a by-election in February 1673 he was returned for Chippenham. After the dissolution in January 1679 he remained outside the house discharging his official duties, but in 1685 was elected for Cardiff.

In the Convention parliament of 1689-90 and in its successor from 1690 to 1695 he sat for Christchurch in Hampshire, and on the latter, if not on the first occasion, he was recommended by Henry, Earl of Clarendon. He represented Callington, Cornwall, from 1695 to 1698, and was elected for Totnes in 1699 and 1701.

From 1701 till 1710 he represented Christchurch, and Totnes again from 1710 to 1715. Gwyn was a Tory, and lost his seat on the accession of George I until March 1717 he was re-elected for Christchurch. At the general election in 1722 he was returned for both Christchurch and Wells, when he chose Wells, and at the dissolution in 1727 he retired from parliamentary life. In return for the sum of 2,500l. Sir Robert Southwell vacated for Gwyn the post of clerk of the council, and he was sworn in on 5 Dec. 1679, holding the office until January 1685. Until the death of Charles II he was a groom of the bedchamber, and he was twice under-secretary of state, from February 1681 to January 1683, under his cousin, Edward, earl of Conway, and from the Christmas 1688 to Michaelmas 1689. The minutes of the business which he transacted during these periods of office were sold with the effects of Ford Abbey in 1846.

When Lord Rochester was lord high treasurer under James II, Gwyn was joint secretary to the Treasury with Henry Guy [q.v.], and when Rochester was made lord-lieutenant, of Ireland in 1701 Gwyn was his chief secretary, and a privy councillor. He accompanied James on his expedition to the west in November 1688 and his diary of the journey was printed by Mr. C. T. Gatty in the Fortnightly Review, xlvi, 358-64 (1886).

When the House of Lords met at the Guildhall, London, in December 1688, he acted as their secretary, and kept a journal of the proceedings, which has not yet been printed. At one time he served as a commissioner of public accounts. From June 1711 to August 1713 he was a commissioner of the board of trade, and he was then secretary at war until 24 Sept. 1714, when he received a letter of dismissal from Lord Townshend. He was recorder of Totnes and steward of Brecknock. He died at Ford Abbey on 2 June 1734, aged 86, being buried in its chapel.

In 1690 Gwyn married his cousin Margaret, third daughter of Edmund Prideaux, by his wife Amy Fraunceis, coheiress of John Fraunceis of Combe Florey, and granddaughter of Edmund Prideaux, attorney-general of Cornwall. They had four sons and three daughters, besides others who died young, and their issue is dully set out in the pedigree in Hutchins's History of Dorset.

By this union Gwyn eventually became owner of the property of that branch of the Prideaux family, including Ford Abbey. This property passed format he family on the death of J. F. Gwyn in 1840, and there was an eight days' sale of the abbey's contents. The sale of the plate, some of which had belonged to Francis Gwyn, occupied almost the whole of the first day.

The family portraits, collected by him and his father-in-law, were also sold. In the grand saloon was hung the splendid tapestry said to have been wrought at Arras, and given to Gwyn by Queen Anne, depicting the cartoons of Raphael, for which Catharine of Russia, through Count Orloff, offered 30,000l., and this was sold to the new proprietor for 2,200l.

One room at Ford Abbey is called 'Queen Anne's,' for whom it was fitted up when its owner was secretary at war; and the walls were adorned with tapestry representing a Welsh wedding; the furniture and tapestry were also purchased for preservation with the house. Several letters by Gwyn dated 1686 and 1687, one of which was written when he was setting out with Lord Rochester and James Kendall on a visit to Spa, are printed in the 'Ellis Correspondence' (ed. by Lord Dover), i. 170-171, 202-3, 253-4, 314-15. In 'Notes and Queries,' 2nd seer. xii. 44 (1861), is inserted a letter from him to Harley, introducing Narcissus Luttrell the diarist, and many other communications to and from him are referred to in the Historical MSS. Commission's reports. The constancy of his friendship with Rochester was so notorious that in the 'Wentworth Papers,' p. 163, occurs the sentence 'Frank Gwin, Lord Rochester's gwine as they call him.'

[Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, i. 27, 325, iv. 74, 370, 718, v. 73, vi. 674; Diary of Henry, Earl Clarendon, ed. Singer, ii. 305; Pulman's Book of Axe, pp. 422, 428; M. A[llen]'s Ford Abbey, pp. 66-98; Hutchins's Dorset, ed. 1873, iv. 527-9; Gent. Mag. 1846, pt. ii. 625-6; Oldfield's Parl. History,iv. 427-8, v. 160; Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. App. pp. 736-8, 7th Rep. App. passim.]

>GWYNN / GWYN / GWYNNE, John (d. 1786)

GWYNN / GWYN / GWYNNE, John (d. 1786), [Dictionary of National biography, Vol. 23, pg 405], architect, was born 'of a respectable family' in Shrewsbury, probably in the parish of St. Chad's, but the year of his birth is not known. He is said to have left his native town in early childhood. He does not seem to have been educated as an architect. In 1760 he was described as 'till of late of another profession' (Observations on Bridge Building, p. 22). He became known in London as early as 1734, as a writer on art and a draughtsman.

Gwynn died on or about 27 Feb. 1786 at Worcester, and was buried in the graveyard of ST. Oswald's Hospital. In his willdated 25 Feb. 1786, made when he was very ill, he mentioned a brother Richard Gwynn of Liverpool, and made provision for the maintenance and education of a natural son Cahrles. Failing him the money was to go to the Royal Society and the Royal Academy. Charles Gwynn died in 1795. Gwynn's works show him to have possessed considerable culture and a keen sense of beauty.

Owen (in Chambers, Biog. Illustr. of Wrocester, p. 504) described him from personal recollection as 'lively, quick, and sarcastic, of quaint appearance and odd manners,' and Boswell called him 'a fine, lively, rattling fellow' (see account of his journey to Oxford with Johnson; Boswell, Life, p. 481). An excellent portrait of him was painted by Zoffany.

GWYNNE, John (fl. 1660)

GWYNNE, John (fl. 1660), captain, a Welshman, was the grandson of Edward Gwynne, barrister-at-law. He was a retainer in the household of Charles I, and was employed in training the royal family in military exercises. he rose to be a captain in the king's regiment of guards. During the civil war he seems to have distinguished himself by his personal courage and activity. After the king's execution he followed the fortunes of Charles II.

GWYNNE was with Montrose in his last unhappy attempt in 1650, and joined the forces of General John Middleton in 1654. When that enterprise also failed he served James, duke of York, and wa with him at the fight before Dunkirk in 1658, and in Flanders. Upon the Restoration Gwynne seems to have been passed over and left to embarrassment, if not to want.

GWYNNE accordingly drew up a statement of the battles, skirmishes, and adventures in which he had exhibited his loyalty. The manuscripts is a very neat one, and is preceded by several letters to persons of consequence whose interest the author was desirous of securing. Whether he proved successful or otherwise in his application is unknown. The manuscript was presented to Sir Walter Scott by the Rev. John Grahame of Lifford, near Strabane, Ireland, into whose hands it fell by accident. Scott published it as 'Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War. Being the Military Memoirs of John Gwynne.' &c., 4to, Edinburgh, 1822. [Scott's Preface to Military Memoirs; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660-1, p. 443.]

GWYNNTETH, John, (fl. 1557)

GWYNNTETH, John, (fl. 1557), pg. 407, catholic divine and musician, was son of David, ap Llewelyn ap Ithel of Llyn, brother to Robert ap llewelyn ap Ithel of Castelmarch, Carnarvonshire, ancestor of Sir William Jones, knight. He was educated at Oxford, and being a poor man he was says Wood, 'exhibited to by an ecclesiastical Mecasenas,' in the hope that he would write against the heretics. In due course he was ordained priest, and on 9 Dec. 1531 he supplicated the university for leave to practise in music and for the dredge of doctor of music, as he had composed all the responses for a whole year 'in cantos chrispis aut fractis, ut aiunt,' and many masses, including three masses of five parts and five masses of four parts, besides hymns, antiphons, and divers songs for the use of the church (Oxf. Univ. Reg., Oxf. Hist. Soc., i. 167). This request was granted conditionally on his paying to the university twenty pence on the day of his admission, and he was forthwith licensed to proceed.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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