Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn (elder)

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Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn (9 October 1775 – 2 September 1850) was a British politician of the early- to mid-19th century.

Born into an ancient Welsh family, Williams-Wynn was the second son of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, by his second wife Charlotte Grenville, daughter of Prime Minister George Grenville. His great-great-grandfather Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1680 to 1685. On his mother’s side he was the nephew of William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville and George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham and the first cousin of Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Williams-Wynn was educated privately, at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1798. At Westminster School Williams-Wynn became acquainted with the poet Robert Southey, whom he later supported financially.

In 1797 he was elected to parliament for the notorious rotten borough of Old Sarum, where he succeeded Richard Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington. He resigned this seat in 1799, when he was elected for Montgomeryshire, which constituency he would represent for the next 51 years. In 1806 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in the Ministry of All the Talents led by his uncle Lord Grenville. He remained in this post until the government fell the following year. Williams-Wynn was an active member of parliament and considered an authority on the procedure of the House of Commons. This led him to be nominated for the post of Speaker of the House of Commons in 1817. However, he was defeated by Charles Manners-Sutton. During the late 1810s Williams-Wynn was leader of a group of MP’s that tried to establish a third part in the House of Commons, acting on behalf of his cousin Lord Buckingham. However, the third party never materialized and the group instead joined the Tories.

In January 1822 Williams-Wynn was admitted to the Privy Council and appointed President of the Board of Control, with a seat in the cabinet, in the Tory government of the Earl of Liverpool. He remained in this post also in the administrations of George Canning and Lord Goderich. However, when the Duke of Wellington became Prime Minister in 1828, Williams-Wynn was not offered a position in the government.

This drove him into opposition, and when the Whigs came to power in November 1830 under Lord Grey, Williams-Wynn was appointed Secretary at War, although without a seat in the cabinet. He only remained in this post until April the following year, and held no other position during the three remaining years of the Whig government. In 1834 the Tories returned to office under Sir Robert Peel, and Wynn was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, but again was not a member of the cabinet. The Peel government fell already in April 1835 and Wynn never held office again. However, he was said to have thrice rejected the post of Governor-General of India. Wynn remained Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire until his death, and from 1847 to 1850 he was Father of the House of Commons.

Wynn married Mary Cunliffe, daughter of Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bt, in 1806. They had seven children, two sons and five daughters. His eldest daughter Charlotte Williams-Wynn was a well-known diarist. Williams-Wynn died in September 1850, aged 74.

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by George Hardinge The Earl of Mornington	Member of Parliament for Old Sarum with George Hardinge 1797–1799	Succeeded by George Hardinge Sir George Yonge
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Francis Lloyd	Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire 1799–1850	Succeeded by Herbert Watkin Williams-Wynn
Preceded by George Byng	Father of the House 1847–1850	Succeeded by George Granville Vernon Harcourt
Political offices
Preceded by J.H. Smyth	Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1806–1807	Succeeded by Charles Jenkinson
Preceded by Charles Bathurst	President of the Board of Control 1822–1828	Succeeded by The Viscount Melville
Preceded by The Lord Francis Leveson-Gower	Secretary at War 1830–1831	Succeeded by Sir Henry Parnell
Preceded by The Lord Holland	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1834–1835	Succeeded by The Lord Holland