William Gwavas (1676–1741) was an English barrister and writer in the Cornish language. William Gwavas 1873

Life

The eldest son of William Gwavas, by Eliza, daughter of Sir Thomas Arundell of Tolverne, near

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

, he was born at Huntingfield Hall, Suffolk, 6 December 1676, and baptised in Huntingfield Church on 1 January following. He was articled to James Holt, an attorney in

Lyon's Inn Lyon's Inn was one of the Inns of Chancery attached to London's Inner Temple. Founded some time during or before the reign of Henry V, the Inn educated lawyers including Edward Coke and John Selden, although it was never one of the larger Inns. It ...

, and then entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, where he purchased a ground chamber, No. 4 Brick Court. Gwavas moved back to Cornwall, living in a house in Chapel Street, Penzance. His father had left his Cornish property with debts, but he paid off the incumbrances, and redeemed the mortgage on the rectory of

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. With this rectory he had inherited a chancery suit, begun on 14 June 1680, as to the right of the rector to take

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

of fish landed at

Newlyn Newlyn ( kw, Lulyn: Lu 'fleet', Lynn/Lydn 'pool') is a seaside town and fishing port (the largest fishing port in England) in south-west Cornwall, UK.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Newlyn lies on the shore of Moun ...

and

Mousehole Mousehole (; kw, Porthenys) is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, England, UK. It is approximately south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay. The village is in the civil parish of Penzance. An islet called St Clement's Isle lies ...

. The case came before the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

on 26 February 1730, and went against the fishermen. Nevertheless, at the entrance to Newlyn there was for many years a notice affixed to a house which said "One and All, No tithe of fish". Gwavas was buried on 9 January 1741 in Paul Church, where a marble monument was erected to his memory.

Works

About 1710

Edward Lhuyd Edward Lhuyd FRS (; occasionally written Llwyd in line with modern Welsh orthography, 1660 – 30 June 1709) was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also named in a Latinate form as Eduardus Luidius. Life ...

visited Cornwall, and conferred with Gwavas, Thomas Tonkin, and

John Keigwin John Keigwin (1641–1716) was a Cornish antiquary, born at Mousehole, Cornwall. He was a leading member of a group of antiquaries in west Penwith: this group also included John and Thomas Boson, William Gwavas, Thomas Tonkin, William Borlase, ...

as to the formation of a "Cornu-British vocabulary". At this period they were the main authorities in the county on the old Cornish language, collectors of mottoes, proverbs, and idioms. In the dedication to Tonkin's ''Parochial History of Cornwall'',' 1733, the only part of the work that was printed, the author said Gwavas had helped him with Cornish vocabulary and texts. Gwavas's Cornish writings in manuscript went to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(Addit. MS. 28554). His

commonplace book Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...

, dated 1710, was in the sale of W. C. Borlase's library on 22 February 1887, and was purchased by

Bernard Quaritch Bernard Alexander Christian Quaritch ( ; April 23, 1819 – December 17, 1899) was a German-born British bookseller and collector. The company established by Bernard Quaritch in 1847 lives on in London as Bernard Quaritch Ltd, dealing in rare ...

Family

On 29 April 1717 Gwavas married Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Harris of

St. Ives, Cornwall St Ives ( kw, Porth Ia, meaning " St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent ...

, with whom he received a portion of £1,500. He left two daughters: Anne, who married the Rev. Thomas Carlyon, and died in 1797, and Elizabeth, who married William Veale, and died in 1791.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Gwavas, William 1676 births 1741 deaths English barristers Cornish-language writers People from Truro