Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet
Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, 9th Baronet (22 September 1807 – 17 June 1874)[1] was a Welsh landowner and Conservative Party politician. He is principally remembered as an assiduous antiquary and student of British church architecture. He was a brother-in-law of the Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.
For other people named Stephen Glynne, see Stephen Glynne (disambiguation).
Sir Stephen Richard Glynne
22 September 1807
17 June 1874 (aged 66)
Bishopsgate railway station, London
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- Sir Stephen Glynne, 8th Baronet (father)
- Mary Griffin (mother)
Catherine Glynne (sister)
Hawarden Castle, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales
Politics[edit]
Glynne served as Member of Parliament for Flint Boroughs from 1832[6] to 1837, and for Flintshire from 1837 to 1841 and 1842 to 1847.[6] He was also High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1831,[7] and Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire from 1845 to 1871. He was first elected as a Whig.[8] He later sat in the Conservative interest, and, although he remained on excellent terms with Gladstone throughout his life, he shared few of Gladstone's Liberal ideals.[9] He was an extremely shy individual who found public speaking an ordeal, and he never spoke in Parliament.
During the 1841 election campaign, Glynne found himself obliged to start libel proceedings against the Chester Chronicle for having published allegations of homosexuality against him. The newspaper was eventually forced to offer an apology.[10]
William Gladstone frequently consulted Glynne on ecclesiastical matters, including, for example the appointment of a Welsh-speaking bishop, Joshua Hughes, to the diocese of St Asaph in 1870.[11] Gladstone later wrote that Glynne's memory "was on the whole decidedly the most remarkable known to me of the generation and country".[12]
Death[edit]
Glynne collapsed and died outside Bishopsgate railway station, London, on 17 June 1874 after visiting churches in Essex and Suffolk.[25][26] He was buried in St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, where he is commemorated by a recumbent effigy by Matthew Noble in a tomb recess designed by John Douglas.
He never married, and the baronetcy became extinct on his death. The Hawarden estate and castle was left to his nephew William Henry Gladstone, the eldest son of William and Catherine.
Notebooks[edit]
Glynne's church notes, in 106 volumes, are now housed at Gladstone's Library (formerly St Deiniol's Library), Hawarden; but are made available to researchers through Flintshire Record Office.[27] A single notebook of a six-week tour made in 1824 is in the National Library of Wales.[18] Glynne generally made his notes on the right-hand pages of his notebooks, reserving the left-hand pages for later addenda and sketches.[28] His original manuscript notes for Kent, which were published by W. H. Gladstone in 1877, are believed to have been destroyed.