Henry Williams-Wynn

Sir Henry Watkin Williams-Wynn KCB GCH (16 March 1783 – 28 March 1856) was a British MP in the early 19th century. From 1824 to 1853, he served as the British Envoy to Denmark.

Sir Henry Williams-Wynn
British Envoy to Denmark
In office
1824–1853
Preceded byAugustus John Foster
Succeeded byThe Earl of Sheffield
Member of Parliament for Midhurst
In office
January 1807  May 1807
Preceded byJohn Smith
William Wickham
Succeeded bySamuel Smith
James Abercromby
Personal details
Born
Henry Watkin Williams-Wynn

(1783-03-16)16 March 1783
Died28 March 1859(1859-03-28) (aged 76)
Spouse
Hon. Hester Frances Smith
(m. 1813)
Children6
Parent(s)Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet
Charlotte Grenville
RelativesGeorge Grenville (grandfather)

Early life

He was the younger son of eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood, of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, and, his second wife, Charlotte Grenville. Among his siblings was elder brothers Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet (who married Lady Henrietta Clive, a daughter of Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis) and Charles Williams-Wynn, Secretary at War and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (who married Mary Cunliffe, daughter of Sir Foster Cunliffe, 3rd Baronet). His sister Henrietta Elizabeth Williams-Wynn, married Thomas Cholmondeley, 1st Baron Delamere.

His father was the only son of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 3rd Baronet and his second wife, Frances Shackerley of Cheshire, and succeeded to the baronetcy (and extensive Wynnstay estates, the largest in North Wales) when only a baby after his father was killed by a fall from his horse while hunting. His maternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Wyndham) Grenville (daughter of the Tory statesman Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet) and Prime Minister George Grenville.

Career

Williams-Wynn sat for Midhurst from January to May 1807.[1] From 1824 to 1853, he served as the British Envoy to Denmark.

He was appointed Knight Commander, Order of the Bath and was appointed Knight Grand Cross, Hanoverian Order.

Personal life

Williams-Wynn's country house in Copenhagen, drawing by H.F.F. Holm.
A watercolour by[H.F.F. Holm from Langelinie in Copenhagen withy Wynn's son seen in the bottom right corner.

On 30 September 1813, he married Hon. Hester Frances Smith, daughter of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington of Upton and the former Anne Boldero-Barnard. Together, they were the parents of:[2]

  • Charlotte Henrietta Williams-Wynn (1815–1873), who married Count Friedrich von Bismarck in 1847.[2]
  • Grenville Watkin Williams-Wynn (1816–1865),[2] who suffered from dwarf growth. He was a well-known figure in Copenhagen, both due to his physical disposition and his courtship of the ballet dancer Lucile Grahn. William Wynn was a patron of the artist H.G.F. Holm.[3]

Williams-Wynn died on 28 March 1856.[5]

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter Charlotte, he was a grandfather of four, including Countess Helene von Bismarck-Schierstein (1850–1903) (who married Maj. Wilfred Joseph Cripps), and Count Otto Franz Karl von Bismarck-Schierstein (1854–1910).[6]

References

  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2); Retrieved 8 November 2011
  2. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 4187.
  3. "Langelinie seen from Kastellet" (PDF) (in Danish). Bruun Rasmussen. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  4. Staley, Hélène Andorre Hinson (4 April 2011). Paper & Stone: A Leighton History in England & the United States. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4568-8730-8. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  5. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1900). "Wynn, Henry Watkin Williams" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  6. Raineval, Melville Henry Massue marquis de Ruvigny et; Raineval, Melville Henry Massue Marquis of Ruvigny and (1914). The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who," of the Sovereigns, Princes, and Nobles of Europe. Burke's Peerage. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-85011-028-9. Retrieved 5 January 2023.


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