Howell Gwynne (16 April 1718 – 1780) was a British politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for

Radnorshire Radnorshire () was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974, later becoming a Districts of Wales, district of Powys from 1974 to 1996. It covered a sparsely populat ...

from 1755 to 1761, and

Old Sarum Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, South West England, is the ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. Situated on a hill about north of modern Salisbury near the A345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest recor ...

1761 to 1768. Educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, Howell stood unsuccessfully at the 1754 general election as candidate for Breconshire. The following year he was chosen by chosen by the agents of the

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Willi ...

as their candidate for the Radnorshire seat which had been vacated by Sir Humphrey Howorth. He was elected unopposed, and his expenses £173 were paid out of secret service money. His subsequent appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire offended Lord Carnarvon, and a deal was eventually reached whereby Gwynne would remain Lord Lieutenant for five years, and at the next election abandon Radnorshire in favour of a seat in the

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

. Carnarvon took the Radnorshire seat, and Gwynne was duly returned for Old Sarum at the 1761 general election, and held it until 1768. Described as "dim", he not recorded as having ever spoken in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. By 1765 he was canvassing again in Radnorshire. However, Chase Price then entered the race and won such support that Gwynne did not contest the 1768 general election.

References

1718 births 1780 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Lord-lieutenants of Radnorshire Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub