Welsh Journals

Bulkeley that the Wynns became involved in the successful return of John Mostyn of Tregamedd for the county in 1624.65 Owen Wynn was busily assessing electoral prospects in north Wales before the election to James's final parliament and took the opportunity afforded by a funeral to win the approval of Richard Bulkeley and other leading Anglesey gentry to the candidacy of Sir John Wynn's kinsman by marriage, John Mostyn, for Anglesey. They were ready to back Mostyn but feared the competition of Sir Sackville Trevor, 'who dwelling in the country & are of them, must be preferred before a stranger'. However, Sir John Bodvel, Sir John Wynn's son-in-law, promised to nominate Mostyn at the next quarter sessions at Beaumaris, while Sir Thomas Holland suggested that Mostyn's father, Sir Roger, should 'procure Sir James Whitelocke's letter to the justices of the peace of their country in the behalf of Jack Mostyn & that would strike it dead'. Whether Whitelocke wrote or not is unknown; however, Owen Wynn's negotiations with Anglesey's leadership proved effective and Mostyn was returned.66 In 1625, Mostyn probably tried again, but the influential Trevor was not to be denied. The Wynns, it seems, were not involved. They may have been active, however, in Anglesey's 1640 election, when another kinsman, John Bodvel, whose uncle was Sir Richard Wynn, was elected.67 Neither Denbighshire's nor Flintshire's elections show any significant sign of Wynn intervention. In 1624, Sir John Wynn urged his son-in-law, Sir Roger Mostyn, to press for his son's election for Flintshire, but nothing came of it. Sir Roger was already committed to another candidate and deeply opposed to any London visits for his son, Sir Thomas.68 Sir John Wynn was involved in Denbighshire's 1625 election and on that occasion found himself in a potentially embarrassing situation. Sir John had promised to back his cousin, Sir Thomas Wynn, for Denbighshire when another candidate, Sir Thomas Middleton, junior, of Chirk Castle sought his support. Wynn's answer was a model of diplomatic tact and seems to have gotten him out of a 46 Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, p. 179. 44 John Mostyn, kinsman to both the Bodvels and Wynns through marriage, had entered the service of the lord keeper, John Williams, in 1621, thanks, no doubt, to his connections with the Wynns. Owen Wynn to Sir John Wynn, 2 December 1623, N.L.W., Wynn MSS. 1172 (MS.9059E). "Sir Roger Mostyn to Sir John Wynn, 15 April 1625, N.L.W., Wynn MSS. 1324 (MS.9060E). II Owen Wynn to Sir John Wynn, 2 December 1623, N.L.W., Wynn MSS. 1172 (MS.9059E); Sir Richard Wynn to Sir John Wynn, 24 December 1623, N.L.W., Wynn MSS. 1177 (MS.9058E); Sir Richard Wynn to Sir John Wynn, 3 January 1624, N.L.W., Wynn MSS. 1185 (MS.9059E); Sir Roger Mostyn to Sir John Wynn, 5, 8 January 1624, N.L.W., Wynn MSS. 1186, 1187 (MS.9059E); Ruigh, The Parliament of 1624, pp. 91-92.