Marmaduke Gwynne

Marmaduke Gwynne
Born	1691 Llanafan Fawr, Breconshire
Died	1769
Known for	Methodist convert

Marmaduke Gwynne (1691–1769) was a descendant of the Gwynne family of Glanbrân near Llandovery and an early and influential Methodist convert. He married well and employed Theophilus Evans as an Anglican private chaplain. He was converted to Methodism by Howell Harris. He served as a legal adviser and financial supporter to the Methodists and his daughter Sarah married Charles Wesley.

Gwynne was born in Llanafan Fawr in Breconshire to a mother and father who both had the surname Gwynne but they were not related. He was christened on 1 January 1692 by his parents Howell and Mary. He was the eldest of seven children and his name was the same as his maternal grandfather who had built up the family fortune in a life of public service driven by self-interest. His grandfather had lost his position as a judge in Anglesey due to allegations of being not only corrupt but also a Jacobite.

Gwynne attended Jesus College, Oxford before joining Gray's Inn in 1711. He seemed to get his interest in the law from his namesake and his interest in religion from his father and Sackville Gwynne who was the squire at Glanbrân near Llandovery.

By the time Gwynne had reached his majority he had returned from London to take up a substantial inheritance of Garth and Llanelwedd from his grandfather (as his father had died in 1708). When Gwynne married Sarah Evans of Peterwell at Lampeter it was a combination of two fortunes as Evans brought a lump sum of £30,000 and her own income of £600 for year. Gwynne became a High Sheriff of Radnorshire in 1718. In 1726 Sarah, Gwynne's fifth child (of nine) was born.

Gwynne became a firm friend of the clergyman Theophilus Evans and from 1727 Evans was employed as a private chaplain at the Gwynne residence in Garth where he would preach sometimes more than once a day.

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