Rowland Heylyn (or Heilin or Heylin) (1562–1631) was a successful London merchant,

sheriff of London Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...

in 1624–1625 and publisher of a Welsh bible in 1630.

Life

Heylyn was the son of David Heylyn of the historical Heylyn family of Pentreheylin in

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Wales. He entered the free school of Shrewsbury in 1570 and was a pupil of Thomas Lawrence. In 1576, he was apprenticed to Thomas Wade of London, and was admitted to freedom of the Ironmongers' Company in 1584. In 1601, he purchased considerable lands at

Laleham Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...

and Staines. He was assistant of the Ironmongers in 1612 and served as master in 1614. He continued to buy property and in 1619 acquired land at Mayfield, Colton, Haywood and Blithbury in Staffordshire. He lived in the Parish of St Alban Wood Street and was elected alderman of

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a city gate, gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England. The Cripplegate gate lent its name to the Cripplegate Wards of the City of London, ward of the City, which encompasses the area where the gat ...

ward in 1624 and was

Sheriff of London Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...

that year. In 1625, he was master of the Ironmongers company again. Heylyn supported with Thomas Myddelton publication of the Welsh

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

Bible of 1630, which was bound with the Welsh Prayer Book and the

Edmund Prys Edmund (Edmwnd) Prys (1542/3 – 1623) was a Welsh clergyman and poet, best known for Welsh metrical translations of the Psalms in his ''Salmau Cân''. Life Prys was born in Llanrwst, then Denbighshire but now Conwy, in 1542 or 1543, son of ...

translation of the

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

. Other works he saw into print were the Welsh-Latin dictionary of John Davies, and the ''Practice of Piety'' of

Lewis Bayly Lewis Bayly (died 26 October 1631) was a bishop of the Church of England. Life Bayly is thought to have been born in either Carmarthen or Biggar, Scotland, the curate of Carmarthen, Thomas Bayly, may have been his father. He was educated at ...

in the translation by

Rowland Vaughan Rowland Vaughan (1559–1629) was an English manorial lord who is credited with the introduction of a new irrigation system that greatly improved the grass and hay production of meadows through a system of periodic "drownings". This method so i ...

. A portrait of Heylyn by Henry Cocke in the Ironmongers' Hall is described as "Mr Rowland Heylyn a good benefactor. This gentleman's features are represented as emaciated, but pleasing; with white beard and whiskers; habited in a black gown and cap; his right hand on a book. He was described by Blakeway in the Sheriffs of Montgomery as "The pious and munificent Rowland Heylyn Alderman of London, promoter of the Welsh translation of the bible and of every other laudable undertaking in his day". He left £300 for the poor of Shrewsbury and 83 books to Shrewsbury School. Heylyn married Alice Aldworth, but had no surviving children. He owned property in Laleham and Staines in Middlesex, and manors in Staffordshire and other counties which he left to the children of his two sisters. He was the uncle of Henry Heylyn whose son

Peter Heylyn Peter Heylyn or Heylin (29 November 1599 – 8 May 1662) was an English ecclesiastic and author of many polemical, historical, political and theological tracts. He incorporated his political concepts into his geographical books ''Microcosm ...

was a notable ecclesiastic and author.The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 74, Part 2
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References

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Concise Dictionary of National Biography ''The Concise Dictionary of National Biography: From Earliest Times to 1985'' is a dictionary of biographies of people from the United Kingdom. It was published in three volumes by Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Heylyn, Rowland 1562 births 1631 deaths Welsh merchants Sheriffs of the City of London People from Powys 16th-century English merchants 17th-century English merchants 16th-century Welsh businesspeople 17th-century Welsh businesspeople People educated at Shrewsbury School