Williams-Wynn Baronets
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The Williams, later Williams-Wynn Baronetcy, of Gray's Inn in the County of Middlesex, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 6 July 1688 for the politician and lawyer William Williams. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1680 to 1681. The second Baronet represented Denbigh in the House of Commons. The third sat as Member of Parliament for Denbighshire and was a prominent Jacobite. He was the husband of Jane (née Thelwall), great-granddaughter of Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet, of Gwydir. Sir John Wyn was the direct male heir decendant of the princely house of Aberffraw through his ancestor Owain Gwynedd, and pretender to the title prince of Wales. In 1718, he inherited, through his wife, the Wynnstay estates on the death of Sir John Wynn, 5th Baronet, of Gwydir (see Wynn Baronets) and assumed the same year the additional surname of Wynn.
The fourth Baronet represented Shropshire and Denbighshire in Parliament and served as Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire. The fifth Baronet sat for Beaumaris and Denbighshire and was also Lord-Lieutenant of Merionethshire. The sixth Baronet was Conservative Member of Parliament for Denbighshire for over forty years. The seventh Baronets briefly sat as Members of Parliament for Denbighshire in 1885 before the constituency was abolished. The ninth Baronet was Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire. The tenth Baronet served as Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire and of Clwyd.
John Williams, great-grandson of John Williams, second son of the first Baronet, was created a Baronet, of Bodelwyddan, in 1798 (see Williams Baronets for more information). The prominent politician Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn was the second son of the fourth Baronet. His great-grandson John Francis Williams-Wynne was Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire and of Gwynedd.
It is claimed by some that there are living relatives of the Wynn family living in the United States who claim to be decended from either an Owen Wynn or a Hugh Wynn who supposedly emmigrated there in the 17th Century. However, the sources for both these claims are considered to be very unreliable and probably later constructions [1]. Certainly, if there were any sons or grandsons of Owen Wynn alive in 1719 then they would have inherited the Baronetsy. No one made any such claim so it seems most likely that there were no surviving sons or grandsons of Owen Wynn living in New England.
[edit] Williams, later Williams-Wynn Baronets, of Gray's Inn (1688)
- Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet (c. 1634–1700)
- Sir William Williams, 2nd Baronet (c. 1665–1740)
- Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 3rd Baronet (1692–1749)
- Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet (1749–1789)
- Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet (1772–1840)
- Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 6th Baronet (1820–1885)
- Sir Herbert Lloyd Watkin Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet (1860–1944)
- Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 8th Baronet (1891–1949)
- Sir Robert William Herbert Watkin Williams-Wynn, 9th Baronet (1862–1951)
- Sir (Owen) Watkin Williams-Wynn, 10th Baronet (1904–1988)
- Sir (David) Watkin Williams-Wynn, 11th Baronet (b. 1940)
[edit] Sources
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
- Leigh Rayment's Baronetage Page.
